23 Dec 2020Jürg Hunziker
Avaloq's acquisition by NEC successfully completed

It is my pleasure to let you know that all the regulatory approvals have been granted and thus Avaloq’s acquisition by NEC has been completed as per 22 December 2020. With this step completed, we can now start to focus on our joint value proposition together with NEC.

Join forces for safer and smarter cities

NEC’s vision is to build safer and smarter cities. Robust financial institutions form a crucial part in this vision. Banks and financial institutions worldwide are embracing rapid digitization as a way of offering secure and seamless financial services and addressing a rapidly growing customer appetite and global market for digital-first financial services. And this is exactly where we come in: Avaloq’s and NEC’s joint value proposition will build on our reliable digital finance products & services coupled with NEC’s cutting-edge technologies, global business network and digital government domain knowledge. Our solutions will evolve for the better when leveraging NEC’s proven expertise with technologies related to digital identity, artificial intelligence, verification, blockchain, cybersecurity, and biometrics. In addition, our innovation capabilities will be elevated with NEC’s strong commitment to research & development, evidenced by the resources it has placed towards this, including dedicated facilities in Heidelberg, Germany.

Personally, I am very excited about this new chapter in our company’s history. NEC is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. The combination of NEC’s vision with ours, the technological strengths, and global presence, as well as NEC’s very strong track record and stability for more than a century will accelerate our long-term growth and global expansion, expedite our speed of innovation and foster our value creation strategy.

Avaloq will continue to operate as its own entity, headquartered in Switzerland. Our clients, you will continue to enjoy the high level of service they are used to from us. This transaction will not lead to a divestment in any of our key regions or offerings, and the management is fully committed to Avaloq’s growth story. One change that you will notice immediately, however, is our logo, which will be “Avaloq – An NEC Company” going forward.

New Avaloq Board of Directors

As part of the acquisition, NEC Corporation has installed a new Board of Directors with NEC’s Executive Vice President, Masakazu Yamashina, as the new chairman of Avaloq. Along with a new chairman, there will be four new members to the board, namely Tomoki Kubo, Tomonori Hira, Daichi Iwata and Asako Aoyama. Francisco Fernandez and Peter Schöpfer will remain members of the board of directors of Avaloq Group AG.

I am very much looking forward to starting this new chapter of our exciting growth journey together with NEC in the coming year. I want to thank our clients and partners for their continued trust and loyalty and wish you a very relaxing end of the year, a few quiet days over the holidays and a great start into a successful 2021.

Written by Jürg Hunziker
Jürg joined Avaloq in 2016 and assumed the CEO role from 2018-2021. Before this, he set up and then ran Sungard’s European division and was responsible for launching a number of capital market solutions. Armed with 30 years of experience in developing financial technology companies, he transformed Avaloq from a founder-driven firm to a mature, scalable business. His efforts culminated in Avaloq’s acquisition by NEC at the end of 2020.
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