Wealth manager and Financial Planner Foster Denovo has signed an exclusive deal for a bespoke Adviser-as-a-Platform (AaaP) solution with Third Financial, part of the Nucleus group.

The platform deal extends the two firms’ strategic partnership.

AaaP is when the proposition to clients, along with parts of the service usually provided by the platform, are branded and controlled by the advisory firm.

The model will allow it to take greater control of the products offered, customer experience as well as more of the value chain, Foster Denovo said.

Third Financial and Foster Denovo collaborated on the customised platform transformation project, which is designed to meet the needs of advisers and their teams, allowing them to service clients even more effectively. The new investment platform also features a two-way integration with the back-office system.

More than a £1bn of client assets are already administered on Foster Denovo’s platform, powered by Third Financial’s proprietary Tercero software, it said.

Helen Lovett, Foster Denovo chief operating officer, said: “Like many in our sector, we had evolved our services across a number of different retail investment platforms over time. We always strive to create a more unified experience for our clients which is why we took the strategic decision to develop our own platform.

“Partnering with Third Financial to deliver this is a big step forward. They’ve provided the support we need to deliver service to our clients and to continue to drive forward our growth strategy.”

Nucleus acquired Third Financial last year. The group offers a range of products, services and software options that allow large advisory firms and consolidators, investment managers and institutions, to take greater control of their platform propositions.

It has partnerships with consolidators such as Titan, Verso and Radiant, plus 60 investment managers.