Customer story

The paper‑trail problem

Before Fundment, Clarus lived in a world that now feels antiquated. Client onboarding meant printing and posting forms, waiting for them to come back, and fielding a steady stream of questions about paperwork. It slowed everything down at the exact moment clients were most engaged.

“Pre‑Fundment for us, everything was still really paper‑based,” Director Sarah Roughsedge recalls. “The process that we would go through with a client would be much slower.”

It wasn’t just inefficiency. It was a barrier between advisers and the work that matters: understanding clients, building trust, and delivering thoughtful advice.

“Provider life before [Fundment] was harder work and more compromise,” Sarah says. “Fundment feels properly collaborative, with our clients at the heart of it.”

Finding a different approach

Clarus didn’t want a like‑for‑like replacement. They wanted a platform built differently. So they tested Fundment cautiously: first with their own money, then with a small group of clients, before committing to a wider migration.

What stood out immediately was the absence of friction. No multiple portals or clunky sign‑ups. “It was just that everything was straight through,” Sarah says. “From the moment we put our first clients on the platform, there was nothing difficult for them to have to deal with.”

Client queries dropped almost overnight.

The efficiency dividend

The operational shift was immediate. Sarah describes the change as “transformational”.

Fundment’s design meant the team no longer had to think about admin in the same way. Rebalancing and trading became automated. The tasks advisers didn’t want to spend time doing began to disappear into the background.

“I think the whole overall experience… it’s almost like I don’t have to think when I’m using [Fundment], which is brilliant,” Sarah says. “All the admin parts, the bits that you don’t want to be spending time on, I just don’t have to think about them.”

Beyond the technology

What Clarus didn’t expect was the depth of the relationship that came with the platform.

“Fundment feel like true partners,” Sarah says. “They listen, they act, and they genuinely want to work with us to get the best outcomes for our clients. That’s not something to take lightly.”

The team dynamic reinforced that impression.

“The team are welcoming, forward‑thinking, and easy to engage with,” she says. “They’re quick to fix problems, but more important they try to think several steps ahead. They actively want our feedback.”

And crucially, nothing feels off‑limits.

“One of the things I value most is that there isn’t anything we can’t ask them. Sometimes the answer is no, or not yet, which is fine. What matters is that we always feel comfortable raising it in the first place. That’s critical, and honestly quite rare.”

The proprietary difference

Like many firms, Clarus didn’t fully appreciate the impact of proprietary technology until they experienced it.

“I don’t think I realised the difference before using [Fundment] but it’s completely different,” Sarah says. “It was so much better.”

Because Fundment built everything in‑house – trading, execution, custody – the architecture is cleaner, faster, and easier to explain to clients. Pension transfers are smoother and conversations are simpler.

Underneath it all, Sarah says, sits something advisers rarely see but deeply value: “a strong governance and board structure, which gives real reassurance.”

The verdict

Years into the relationship, Fundment is no longer just “a platform” for Clarus. Instead, it’s how they work.

“I think it’s been one of the best business decisions for us to use Fundment as our platform of choice,” Sarah says. “It has brought a lot of efficiency into the business. Our whole team are really happy using the platform.”

Her advice to advisers considering a switch is simple:

You’ve got absolutely nothing to lose. Try some of your own money first, get a feel for it. We have not looked back at all.