just now
November 12, 2020 – Christian Frahm, the founder of CFH Clearing, has officially launched his new venture today: United Fintech. The mission statement of the firm is to "acquire and scale capital markets software companies...helping banks and financial institutions in their transition to a digital world."
According to today's press release, over the next five years, United Fintech plans to acquire and scale up a range of innovative small to medium sized engineering-led fintech companies, with an important criteria for investment being that any investable company needs to have a proven capital markets product. The United Fintech management team will work in partnership with the founders of these fintechs, scaling them into global organisations.
Christian Frahm, Founder and CERO United Fintech
The Founder and CEO of United Fintech, Christian Frahm, founded and was the CEO of his own fintech business, CFH Clearing, taking the firm from a start-up in 2008 to a 120M USD exit when it was acquired by Playtech in November 2016. Prior to CFH, he gained experience at two of the biggest fintech success stories over the past few decades: Saxo Bank and Bloomberg.
On the launch of his new company, Christian Frahm commented, “Most fintechs globally are focused on disrupting banks. We believe in the opposite. We believe banks serve as a core part of our society and we want to partner with banks to help them to transition to a digital world. We need banks and financial institutions to adapt if they are going to compete favourably with the global tech firms and disruptors which are rapidly making in-roads into the financial services sector.
“United Fintech can not only help banks and financial institutions to access the latest technology but can also help with implementation including technical onboarding, vendor onboarding, technical due diligence and credit due diligence. With the current trajectory it is simply too slow for any bank to launch or access new products.”
United Fintech addresses the issue that it is typically both complicated and resource intensive for larger institutions to onboard new technology solutions. Conversely, it is extremely daunting and time consuming for small to medium sized technology companies to deal with large financial institutions. Fintechs also often struggle to show the solid financial backing required by the banks as part of the procurement process. United Fintech, with its strong balance sheet and excellent relationships within the banking sector, bridges the gap between the larger financial institutions and the fintechs.
Tom Robinson, Partner and Head of Sales, United Fintech
United Fintech also announces the appointment of Tom Robinson as Partner & Head of Sales. Tom Robinson has over 20 years’ experience of growing businesses in the investment banking sector, having held senior roles at a number of prestigious global financial institutions. He joins United Fintech from Jefferies where he spent over three years as Managing Director and Head of e-FX Sales. His career history includes almost a decade at Goldman Sachs as Managing Director and Global Head of e-FX Sales. He has also held sales roles at Barclays Capital and Bloomberg.
Tom Robinson says, “Christian is truly a visionary for the industry who I’ve always wanted to work alongside. Having known him for 20 years and during my tenures with both Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies, I am very excited at the opportunity that I have been given. The timing is perfect for United Fintech’s launch – banks know they need to engage with fintechs and we are ideally placed to help them to execute their fintech strategy whilst also helping the fintechs to gain a seat at the table.”
Acquisition of NetDania
United Fintech has completed its first acquisition, gaining a majority stake in NetDania, a leading Danish fintech which provides market data, APIs, market terminals, charting components and full white-labels – whether web, mobile or desktop.
Thomas Elster, CEO, NetDania says, “We are very excited about starting this new chapter for NetDania and the prospect of working with United Fintech to grow our business and reach. At NetDania we have an excellent product range that already serves some of the world's largest financial institutions. There is no doubt that the timing is right for us to take this step to increase the reach of NetDania.”
Christian Frahm added, “I have worked with NetDania for many years and am confident that we can play a major role in helping them to scale their offering to completely new levels. They are an ideal fintech for our first acquisition and I look forward to working with Thomas and his team. I am also delighted to welcome Tom Robinson as Partner and Head of Sales. His appointment is a real coup for our organisation. He brings a wealth of experience which will be invaluable in helping us to achieve our vision, bringing significant benefits to the banks and our fintechs.”
United Fintech plans a series of strategic acquisitions which can enhance all aspects of banks and financial institutions’ operations. Its portfolio will include an extensive range of products from trading platforms, liquidity management and regulatory reporting tools through to AI and machine learning applications, Big Data tools, institutional Blockchain, Bots and Virtual Assistants.
United Fintech is headquartered in London, with a global sales network and regional offices in London, New York, Dubai, Singapore and China. Its team consists of world-class experts in each aspect of building, growing and scaling capital markets businesses. Additional senior team members will be announced within the next few weeks.
For further information, please visit www.unitedfintech.com.
