Financial Objects has sidelined chief executive David Carruthers and put non-executive chairman and founder Roger Foster back in charge of the struggling back office systems business.
Foster, who stepped down as chairman and chief executive to make way for Carruthers in December 2000, has re-assumed control of the company following a a worrying slump in sales for the next-generation ActiveBank product.
Carruthers, one of the original founders and principal designers of Financial Objects' legacy Ibis banking system, has effectively been demoted to manage the Ibis business.
The company says it will invest £1.5 million over the next year to develop an ActiveBank reseller channel and open an offshore development centre in India.
The vendor has additionally recruited Peter Watts, previously of Tantus and Syntegra, as sales director with specific responsibility for ActiveBank sales. As part of the reshuffle, group development director Steve Lane will take on additional responsibility for ActiveBank implementation and support functions.
The last seven years of Watts' fifteen-year career in the financial technology business has involved spells at smaller, struggling companies. He effected the turnaround of front office dealing technology company Tantus plc, where he was managing director from 1996 to 2000 and oversaw the successful trade sale of the company. Following this he joined ABS and its subsidiary ABS Solutions Ltd as sales and marketing director, which shortly afterwards went into receivership and was subsequently sold as a going concern to COR Financial Solutions.