Japan-based technology group NEC Corporation has closed its acquisition of Avaloq, a Swiss provider of banking software, first announced in October, which gives NEC 100% of Avaloq’s shares, including the 45% previously held by private equity firm Warburg Pincus and the remaining shares held by Avaloq’s founder Francisco Fernandez and employees.

Avaloq, founded in 1985, provides cloud solutions for banks and wealth managers around the globe through business process as a service (BPaaS) and software as a service (SaaS), along with on-premise solutions. The firm will continue to operate as its own entity, headquartered in Switzerland.

Avaloq’s vision for the future of wealth management is to maintain and enhance the human relationship an investor has with an adviser through technology and allow more people to have access to a greater quantity and quality of investment strategies and advice that was once reserved for ultra- and high-net-worth individuals only. 

“With its 35-year heritage and focus on innovation in digital banking solutions, core banking software and wealth management technology, Avaloq is uniquely qualified to launch NEC into the digital finance field, which together with digital government, is one of the pillars for building NEC’s global growth,” says Masakazu Yamashina, executive vice-president of NEC and new chairman of Avaloq. “Our joint value proposition will build on Avaloq’s reliable digital finance products and the trust it has established amongst its clients, coupled with NEC’s cutting-edge technologies, global business network and digital government domain knowledge.”