Rob DeDominicis grew up in both Italy and Australia. At the time I interview him, he is visiting London for a few weeks to check in with the UK arm of GBST.
We have lunch before the interview in an authentic Italian restaurant. He orders in Italian and banters with the waiters — all of which goes over my head. He exudes a mix of Italian passion and Aussie charm, which makes him down-to-earth and chatty.
It is easy to forget he is chief executive of one of the biggest international financial services technology companies — a post he took up at the end of December 2015 when former chief executive Stephen Lake stepped down.
The rate of change will probably accelerate because people now have the capability in their hand, via a phone or tablet
DeDominicis had been with GBST since 2007, when it acquired InfoComp — a wealth management software solutions company that he had co-founded in the late 1990s.
“The original founders [of InfoComp] and I all knew each other from university [in Australia],” he says. “We did what was called the traineeship, where you work in IT but go to university kind of part time at night.”
He studied mathematics and computer science at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales.
After completing their degrees and, at the same time, their traineeships, DeDominicis and his co-founders left their employer, BHP Group — an Australian multinational mining corporation — and decided to form a company of their own.
This is a new technology stack. It’s a software rewrite from scratch
“It was a really different era,” he says. “There was no such thing as fintech start-ups; no one talked in those terms. The four of us just said, ‘Why don’t we start consulting?’
“When I say ‘consulting’, I mean go and talk to organisations that wanted software solutions built bespoke. At the time, there were few core packages in the industry.”
Bespoke software
InfoComp launched initially as an IT consultancy for a variety of industries. Its purpose was to build bespoke software for “just about anyone”, says DeDominicis.
“We built lots of things for local government, for mining, for transport and gas. We built a lot of bespoke software solutions, so we learned a lot about different industries,” he adds.
It’s really interesting listening to the problems we have in the UK because they’re identical in Australia
The business did this for about seven years before building its own product.
“We ended up coming across an organisation that needed a brand-new platform,” says DeDominicis.
This was around the time the compulsory pension savings regime known as superannuation was being introduced in Australia.
“There was no system built for it, and organisations were shoehorning just about anything you could think of to work as a pensions accumulation platform,” says DeDominicis.
“We made a deal with [one such organisation] that we would own the IP and they would have a licence to use it. So that’s what we ended up doing, which was unusual at the time.
I came to the UK to close the company down or keep it going — it was one or the other. We couldn’t continue as we were; we had to win new business
“We weren’t funded by private equity or venture capital. Our growth was organic; everything was reinvested. No one took a salary; all our partners worked for pretty much minimum wage. And let me tell you it was no fun. Your anxiety levels are always off the charts, wondering how you’re going to make payroll next month.”
InfoComp ended up building a few bespoke products, but the one that is still the main part of the business is the platform.
Platform launch
“We went live in 1999 — just before the Y2K, when everyone was in a panic about systems being Y2K compliant,” says DeDominicis.
We approached organisations that didn’t have what I’d call an open-architecture platform
For those who do not remember, Y2K — sometimes referred to as the ‘Millennium Bug’ — was a global computer programming flaw that could have caused problems when dealing with dates beyond 31 December 1999.
“You’d be surprised. It was crazy,” DeDominicis recalls.
“There were a lot of organisations that were frightened to death about their systems not working from 1 January 2000. They all needed retrofitting because a lot had been built with just two characters for the year, not four. So it would have been catastrophic for some industries.
“There was a massive amount of work to do in a short timeframe because a lot of companies left it to the last minute, thinking there would be an endless supply of people who could do this work. But there wasn’t.”
It’s really exciting because we will have moved our clients to a completely new architecture
Hysteria gripped industries as the media warned of aircraft falling from the sky and power plants going into meltdown as their systems collapsed.
As it turned out, there were no catastrophes. A lot of firms continued in business. Some, though, knew they had a problem they could not fix, so they closed down.
It must have been an interesting time to be in IT.
“Yeah, it was really quite dramatic when you think about it,” says DeDominicis.
“We started building the platform back then. And yes, that’s a long time ago. It’s been completely rewritten, redeveloped, added to and extended several times since then.”
‘Important step’
InfoComp was bought by GBST for A$56m (£31m) in 2007 and became the business’s wealth management arm. DeDominicis was put in charge of this part of the business.
GBST hailed the deal as an “important step” in its strategy to broaden its technology platform for the financial services sector, complementing its existing broker services arm.
We’ve always provided upgrades — this is version 20, so it’s been around for a while
At the time, InfoComp was the dominant provider to Australian wrap and master trusts. Its products included the Composer, Conductor and Unison brands. It also had a smaller business providing services to UK financial institutions.
In 2009, just after the global financial crisis, DeDominicis moved to the UK to decide whether the firm’s UK arm should be shut down or retained.
“We had projects under way to implement our software, and they got pulled,” he says. “Clients were really worried about what the crisis meant for their business.
“I came here to close it down or keep it going — it was one or the other. We couldn’t continue as we were; we had to win new business.”
DeDominicis successfully led the UK wealth management arm to do the latter and remained living in the country until 2017.
We did what was called the traineeship, where you work in IT but go to university kind of part time at night
“We approached organisations that didn’t have what I’d call an open-architecture platform — also known as a wrap. We explained to them the threat to their business if they didn’t adopt one and, as a result, many adopted ours.”
At the time of the InfoComp deal, GBST had around 250 staff at six locations: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Wollongong and London. It has since expanded and owns an offshore development centre in Vietnam.
In November 2022, the business introduced its Composer wealth management administration platform to the United Arab Emirates.
Alphabet soup: The FNZ/GBST saga
DeDominicis’s tenure as CEO has not been without challenges. In November 2019, after he had moved back to Australia, rival FNZ acquired GBST for around £150m after receiving the go-ahead from the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
Despite the deal getting approval in Australia, however, it wasn’t plain sailing in the UK.
Here, the purchase prompted competition concerns and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) quickly sprang into action. The two platform tech businesses had to remain separate while the CMA carried out its review of the deal.
Our growth was organic; everything was reinvested. No one took a salary; all our partners worked for pretty much minimum wage
The authority decided to block the merger but had to review that decision after FNZ lodged an appeal with the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
In the end, on 22 December 2021, FNZ completed the sale of GBST to private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners and opted to reacquire GBST’s capital markets division.
Anchorage said it was committed to supporting GBST’s experienced management team to execute its growth strategy and deliver market-leading solutions to clients.
This included support for continued investment, and the rollout of the technology transformation of GBST’s platform solution, Composer, to current and prospective clients.
Version 20
DeDominicis does not say much about the saga. But at the time he described the Anchorage deal as a “key milestone” for GBST. And the firm has big plans.
We built a lot of bespoke software solutions, so we learned a lot about different industries
“We’re releasing our new version of the software. And we’re upgrading our clients to that version,” he says.
“We’ve always provided upgrades — this is version 20, so it’s been around for a while. Over that time, we’ve released new features, new capabilities.
“This is a new version, which is a completely new technology stack. It’s a rewrite of the software from scratch.”
This huge initiative has taken quite some time but, by autumn 2023, GBST hopes all clients will be on the new version.
“It’s really exciting,” says DeDominicis, “because, once we have completed that, we will have moved our clients to a completely new architecture.
“This will give us the opportunity to lower the cost for our clients, and give them more flexibility around the cost of ownership of running the software.
There was no such thing as fintech start-ups; no one talked in those terms. The four of us just said, ‘Why don’t we start consulting?’
“Under the current structure, when you buy the infrastructure to run the software you always have to buy enough power for those peak times of the year.
“So, let’s say your average run is using a certain amount of cost per unit, but then at peak time that triples, you have to buy triple, and so mostly you’re not using the full amount you’ve bought.
“But in a cloud infrastructure environment you only have to buy that when you need it. So that’s going to be more efficient for our clients from a cost perspective. It’s more flexible, which is really important.”
Efficiency
As with many aspects of financial services, technology is changing. This, says DeDominicis, is a good thing because it makes the sector more efficient.
“There was a time when you would ring up to ask for your bank balance. And they would say, ‘Well, your balance last month was…,’ because they weren’t even doing up-to-date unit pricing. So you never really knew your real-time balance.”
We ended up coming across an organisation that needed a brand-new platform
Over just a couple of decades this has changed radically and DeDominicis believes, in a few more decades, the landscape will have changed radically again.
“If anything, the rate of change is probably going to accelerate because people have now got the capability in their hand, via a phone or tablet. We didn’t have that 20-odd years ago. But it’s changing.”
Worldwide problem
Are advisers adapting to these changes?
“Not enough,” he says. “But, if you put it in context, they’re doing probably the best they can, depending on the size of the firm.
“The truth is, to keep up with technology you’ve got to have reasonable revenue and be of a certain size to afford the expertise to allow you to take full advantage of everything that’s out there.
To keep up with technology you’ve got to have reasonable revenue and be of a certain size
“It’s really interesting listening to the problems we have in the UK because they’re identical in Australia. It just manifests itself with different players, different issues. It’s a worldwide problem.
“And it’s challenging; there are different motives and agendas that compete. Trying to get the entire industry to agree on what to do to make it work is very difficult.
“The only way to overcome that is through regulation. That’s the only way you can make changes.”
But, as they say in Italy: ‘Tra il dire e il fare c’è di mezzo il mare.’
Easier said than done.
Snapshot: Rob DeDominicis
Age: Younger than what I could be… 50-something.
Family: Three adult children (girl, twin boys).
Potted CV: I have been in software development from when I was at school. Back then I earned money developing software for retail.
Hobbies: Scuba diving, mountain biking, renovating.
Best book: There are so many, I honestly cannot narrow it down to one. Currently reading Start with Why by Simon Sinek, and have reread Atomic Habits by James Clear. It’s the little things that, accumulated, lead to bigger outcomes.
Favourite film: This changes all the time, and kind of dates as you see new films. At the moment The Stranger with Joel Edgerton comes to mind.
Desert island meal: It has to be seafood based; sushimi kingfish with lime and avocado…. Keep it simple.
This article featured in the February 2023 edition of MM. If you would like to subscribe to the monthly magazine, please click here.
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