Iress names Laura King to lead new function to accelerate focus on service excellence

Iress today announces the appointment of Laura King to the newly created role of Head of Operations and Relationship Management, as the firm accelerates its programme of service excellence.

The move brings Iress’ Operations and Relationship Management areas into a single function, providing Xplan users with more coordinated support and clearer engagement across all client-facing teams.

Ms King’s appointment follows a series of changes by Iress to strengthen its UK service model. Over the past 18 months, the firm has aligned all managed sites to a consistent standard, refreshed its client engagement approach and overhauled its support structure, alongside introducing a UK-specific product roadmap directly shaped by feedback from UK wealth managers. Together, these initiatives have driven a marked improvement in the firm’s customer satisfaction score, addressing previous feedback around response times, product understanding and communication. The reintroduction of User Groups and feedback channels has also increased client engagement and improved retention.

Commenting on the new role, Ms King said: “I am thrilled to be promoted to Head of Operations and Relationship Management and look forward to driving value across our growing client base. Our focus is on giving advice firms a clearer, more predictable and better-connected service experience. Combining these functions enables us to build on the progress we’ve made and keep strengthening the way we support clients.”

Iress’ Managing Director for UK Wealth, Alex Hore, said: “Laura has been a driving force behind our extensive service improvements. Unifying Operations and Relationship Management under her leadership will allow us to deliver an even more joined-up experience for Xplan users.”

Ms King joined Iress in 2018 and has more than 30 years of experience in financial services, including more than a decade of experience with Xplan, Iress’ flagship wealth management software. Prior to joining Iress, she spent six years at M&G (formerly Prudential Financial Planning), where she led the firm’s migration to Xplan and built an internal service and delivery team to support advisers.