FNZ acquires New Access to expand wealth management tech services

Wealth management platform FNZ has acquired New Access, a Swiss financial software provider of core-to-digital solutions for private banking and wealth management. It bought out the firm from investor BlackFin for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition will add New Access’s activities in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg into FNZ’s portfolio, and will support the latter’s ambition to open up wealth and serve the global wealth market by adopting digital-first experiences.

FNZ will benefit from New Access’s more than 200 engineers and product experts serving over 60 private banks and wealth management firms.

“Combining our solutions and expertise with the global strength, scale and commitment of FNZ to the global private banking market is a great opportunity for New Access and our clients,” said Vincent Jeunet, CEO of New Access.

“New Access customers will benefit from FNZ’s significant investment and track record in the private banking sector that will help them to reduce operational complexity, generate significant efficiencies while freeing them up to focus on their client experience.”

FNZ currently operates in 21 countries serving over 650 financial institutions and over 8,000 wealth management firms.

The latest acquisition is the latest in the series of actions FNZ has taken this year in a move to expand its suite of services, as it seeks to compete with wealth and asset management managed services generalists.

In February, the group completed the acquisition of Appway, a Swiss client onboarding and servicing provider for financial institutions.

That same month, the group also raised $1.4 billion in new capital from investors CPP Investments and Motive partners to support its innovation and geographical expansion.

In June, FNZ led a Series A funding round for fintech start-up Bondsmith, provider of cash management and savings solutions for the wealth industry. Additionally, Bondsmith also integrated its solutions into FNZ’s wealth management platform.

FIs bet on digital wealth management in push to target younger consumers

FNZ’s push for digital-first experiences comes amid the growing need for wealth management firms to upgrade their legacy tech to cater to an increasing number of digitally savvy clients to secure their market share.

The increasing adoption of digital tools across the financial services industry has customers’ expectations for a greater range of tailored services.

In 2021 Global Wealth Research Report, consultant EY highlighted that over one-third of European clients believe that their relationship with their wealth manager has become less personal.

EY warned that “with the rise of fintechs and other innovative players, financial institutions that fail to tackle these issues run the risk of losing their dominant position.”

To cater to new consumer demands and expand their user base, wealth managers have sought fintech companies for solutions.

In January, Swiss banking giant UBS paid $1.4 billion to acquire digital wealth management services provider Wealthfront and expanded its reach in the US and among millennial and Gen Z affluent investors.

In May, Fideuram – Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking partnered with Swiss fintech group Alpian to combine the latter’s mobile-based services expertise with its own private banking knowledge for enhanced digital wealth management offerings.

Last week, Deutsche entered into a service agreement with Abbove to use the latter’s wealth planning platform in Belgium.

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