United Fintech acquires Cobalt to strengthen opportunities for trading in currency and digital assets

by James · December 18, 2022

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LONDON–( BUSINESS WIRE )– United Fintech, the end-to-end solution for banking technology, announces the 100 percent acquisition of Cobalt, the provider of critical risk and data services to foreign exchange and digital asset markets. The acquisition elevates United Fintech’s position as the leading end-to-end solution that connects financial institutions with innovative fintechs to accelerate digital transformation.

This is United Fintech’s fifth acquisition since launching in 2020 and has quickly scaled the team to 150 in New York, London and Singapore. The acquisition of Cobalt is in addition to the acquisitions of FairXchange, TTMZero, Athena Systems and NetDania; demonstrating the ability to scale and grow despite the slowdown in the fintech space.

Founded in 2015, Cobalt provides core shared ledger infrastructure for banks in foreign exchange and digital assets. The company’s platform leverages blockchain-derived concepts to create a single, shared view of each transaction and remove the need for reconciliation across silos and multiple systems. This enables forex traders to reduce credit risk and cost effectively. Cobalt’s current customer base includes top tier banks such as Deutsche Bank, Citi Bank, Barclays, BNP, Natwest, ABN Amro and Standard Chartered Bank.

United Fintech will bring Cobalt, its customers and employees on board its platform, while Cobalt will continue to operate as a standalone company under United Fintech. United Fintech CEO and founder, Christian Frahm, will be appointed as the new chairman of Cobalt and Cobalt’s co-founder and Chief Product Officer Andrew Coyne and CEO Darren Coote will continue to lead the business on a day-to-day basis.

Commenting on the latest acquisition, Christian FrahmFounder and CEO, United Fintech said: “It is incredibly exciting to welcome some of the financial industry’s most accomplished leaders to the United Fintech family. Kobolt is at the forefront of critical institutional trading infrastructure for currency and digital assets, leading the field in innovation that provides the banks the opportunity to keep pace with the ever-developing capital markets.

“Currency is a core part of a bank’s infrastructure today. In the future, I am convinced that digital assets will become a key asset class in the sophisticated money management space, while financial institutions and banks will need a high level of expertise and knowledge to thrive in the coming digital banking era. Cobalt’s technology is a great addition to United Fintech’s global range of products and services, and I look forward to the new phase of our growth journey together.”

Andrew CoyneCo-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Cobalt, added, “I am very pleased that Cobalt is now part of the United Fintech family. They will help us accelerate the adoption of shared infrastructure for the benefit of all market participants. This will allow our customers to access markets more efficiently, with better control and lower costs.”

Royal Park Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to United Fintech and its shareholders throughout the transaction.

Commenting on the acquisition, Aman Behzadmanaging partner and founder, Royal Park Partners, said: “The future of fintech rests on pioneers like United Fintech, who expertly consolidate disjointed banking infrastructure and streamline digital transformation. Cobalt’s innovation will enable United Fintech to serve the urgent demand for institutional infrastructure for currency and digital assets. It’s an incredible combination of talent and infrastructure capacity and a huge step for the industry overall.”

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About United Fintech

United Fintech was launched in 2020 to unite the world’s most talented people in the capital markets, help drive change in the financial industry and have a positive impact in the process. The go-to platform for digital capital markets solutions is powered by partner companies including NetDania, Athena Systems, TTMZero and FairExchange. United Fintech empowers financial institutions to thrive and compete in the digital era by acquiring and scaling innovative fintech companies for growth.

About cobalt

Launched in 2016, Cobalt provides critical risk and data services to the FX market’s leading participants, leveraging these regulatory compliant solutions for the Digital Asset (DA) market.

By creating a single standardized version of each transaction and managing credit in real-time, Cobalt enables all market participants to connect and automate their post-trade functions, including confirmations, trade netting and credit relationship management.