AJ Bell extends GBST partnership to support scalable wealth platform growth

By Aarav Garg

Today

Banks
Digital Banking
Digital Lending

GBST and AJ Bell have signed a new 10-year agreement, extending their long-running technology partnership and setting a roadmap for the next phase of AJ Bell’s platform growth.

Under the deal, GBST’s Composer platform will continue to support AJ Bell’s advised and direct-to-consumer operations. The system underpins core administration and operating capabilities across both channels.

Michael Summersgill, CEO of AJ Bell, said, “GBST has been a key technology partner for many years, supporting the development of both our advised and D2C propositions. This long-term partnership reflects the strength of our relationship and our confidence in GBST’s ability to help us scale and innovate, enabling our business to continue to grow.”

The extension comes as AJ Bell continues to scale its business. The company manages £109 billion in assets under administration across around 723,000 advised and direct customers. The renewed agreement is intended to support long-term growth with a modern and resilient operating model.

AJ Bell has expanded strongly in recent years, helped by its customer proposition, competitive pricing and service standards for both financial advisers and retail investors. As customer volumes have risen, GBST’s technology has supported the platform’s ability to maintain service levels while handling higher demand.

Rob DeDominicis, CEO of GBST, said, “AJ Bell is one of the UK’s leading investment platforms and we are proud to support its future growth through our Composer technology. Investment platforms play a central role in the UK wealth market and the technology that underpins them must adapt as adviser and investor expectations change.”

The latest agreement signals continued investment in platform infrastructure as wealth managers and investment platforms face rising expectations around digital servicing, efficiency and scalability. Long-term vendor partnerships have become increasingly important as firms seek to modernise operations while supporting growth across advised and self-directed investing channels.

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