Case Study: Benchmark Capital achieves rapid, compliant Fusion Wealth SIPP launch with Dunstan Thomas

Benchmark Capital - Customer Case Study

Benchmark Capital, an IFA-founded wealth group with £13bn AUM serving over 100,000 end-clients, faced a post‑Pension Freedoms decumulation challenge: it needed a unified, high‑functionality adviser and client journey across SIPP, GIA and ISA wrappers while reducing service fragmentation and legacy risk from multiple third‑party SIPP providers. Benchmark selected Dunstan Thomas — notably its Imago Administration and Imago Illustrations — for best‑of‑breed SIPP administration, rich out‑of‑the‑box features, regulatory controls and the ability to get a compliant product to market quickly.

Dunstan Thomas implemented Imago Administration and Imago Illustrations to build the Bright Square Pensions–backed Fusion Wealth SIPP, completing configuration between Oct 2018 and a formal launch in June 2019 after a January soft launch. The solution passed sandbox testing, delivered more than 100 entity‑level APIs to surface valuations, Benefit Crystallisation Events, transfers and contributions in the Fusion UI, automated apportionment to multiple portfolios, and embedded over‑drawdown controls and compliant illustrations (including ex‑ante MiFID II reporting). As a result, Benchmark launched its on‑platform SIPP within nine months, retained a large portion of the ~60% of Fusion assets already in pensions, reduced legacy provider risk, and cut manual administration while improving adviser and client visibility.

Benchmark Capital

Jo French

Chief Operating Officer