Formerly Standard Life Aberdeen, abrdn under CEO Stephen Bird has seen a strong push toward digitisation of services, and this acquisition will reinforce such ambitions.
Finimize charges its tens of thousands of users a £60 annual subscription for investment tips, and boasts over 1million subscribers to its daily newsletter. While Finimize will continue to operate as an independent brand and insights platform, the acquisition will also allow the abrdn group to deliver more focused capabilities for both its personal and institutional clients.
On the purchase, Bird commented: “The acquisition of Finimize by abrdn further supports our strategic ambition to deliver client-led growth through enabling our clients to be better investors. Finimize’s vision to empower smarter investors is a perfect fit for the group”.
In August, following news it had acquired the b2c digital wealth management arm of Nucoro, Exo investing, abrdn stated that the acquisition will allow it to offer 24/7 digital wealth management via an app.
On the Exo purchase, Bird stated: “This is an exciting and significant step forward in building out our Personal vector capabilities. Exo was the first of its kind to offer a fully automated wealth management platform, leveraging machine learning to feed into portfolio decision-making. There is a downward pressure on fees, changing customer expectations and increasing regulatory requirements. It’s important to address these issues by providing a highly-scalable, next-generation service to investors.”
Goldman Sachs is the lead advisor to abrdn on the Finimize deal.
This article has been updated following confirmation that the aquisition has now been finalised.
