The specialist area of client onboarding, wealth management and private banking has seen the rise of new firms. A major acquisition deal in the space was announced today.

FNZ, the wealth management technology provider, announced today that it has agreed to buy Switzerland-based client onboarding and servicing business Appway. The global specialist business of onboarding wealth management clients has been an important growth area in recent years.

The financial terms of the deal, due to complete early in 2022, were not disclosed.

Private equity house Summit Partners put $37 million of equity funding into Appway in June last year.

Appway is used by firms including Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Pictet, LGT, AXA and LPL Financial (the US wealth management organization). Its solutions include onboarding for wealth and retail, know-your-client and regulatory reviews, a digital banking platform and solutions in the mortgages and insurance space.

According to modeled data from Dun & Bradstreet, Appway generates around $15.18 million in annual sales, and has about 120 employees. 

The transaction highlights how areas such as client onboarding – which has become increasingly automated to handle anti-money laundering and know-your-client requirements, for example – are important client experience differentiators. Appway has become one of the most prominent players in this space and has also won accolades from the publisher of this news service.

Under the terms of the agreement, Hanspeter Wolf (pictured), Appway’s founder and chief executive, will become chief technology officer of the FNZ Group and join its senior leadership team, effective on the acquisition closing date, FNZ said in a statement.

“With this acquisition, FNZ continues to add significant next-generation technology to its leading global wealth management platform helping financial institutions around the world to accelerate innovation and rapidly deploy personalized customer propositions across the wealth continuum that are differentiated, scalable and that meet regulatory requirements,” Edinburgh-based FNZ said. 

Appway, whose headquarters are in Zurich, said that it is used by “10 of the top 25 wealth managers to digitize, automate, and accelerate core business processes, such as the onboarding of new clients, managing changing client circumstances, and regulatory reviews." It says that its software is “proven to rapidly deliver unparalleled client experiences, a 90 per cent reduction in onboarding time, a 10 per cent increase in margin per client, and a 225 per cent return on investment.”

In the case of FNZ, the firm, founded in New Zealand in 2003, provides a technology, transaction and custody platform for wealth managers, banks, insurers and asset managers in 18 countries across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Its client base amounts to more than 150 large financial institutions and it has more than $1.5 trillion in assets under administration. In early November it agreed to buy Fondsdepot Bank, the German trading and custody platform.