Bux
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 08:00
ABN Amro is making an acquisition in the Netherlands for the first time since its nationalization fifteen years ago. The bank, which is still slightly less than half owned by the state, takes over Bux. With this investor platform, ABN Amro hopes to attract more young customers.
Through Bux, ABN Amro will gain half a million, mainly young, customers spread across eight countries. In addition to the Netherlands, these are Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain and Ireland. According to ABN Amro, the acquisition fits in with the desire to further grow in Europe.
The takeover of Bux follows shortly after the reduction of the state’s interest in ABN Amro had been at a standstill for about six years. In September it was announced that outgoing Finance Minister Kaag had reduced the state interest to 49.5 percent. Two weeks ago she announced that she would sell even more shares in the coming months, until the stake had reached 40 percent.
Crypto coins
Annerie Vreugdenhil, director of the division for private individuals, says that Bux offers something that ABN Amro does not have in-house: “It is a fast-growing investment platform where young customers learn to invest. They understand that target group better than we do. However, we can serve these customers as helping them as they get older with more complex investment questions. So it complements each other very well.”
At Bux, founded in 2014, customers can invest and save not only in funds, but also in crypto coins. Bux recently increased the savings interest rate to 2.75 percent. The company does not make a profit. Last year it fell into the red by almost 16 million euros.
It has not been announced how much ABN Amro will pay for Bux. The takeover still needs to be approved by regulators.
Acquisition options
Since its nationalization in 2008, ABN Amro has mainly been busy selling or even closing parts that no longer fit with the new bank. For example, three years ago the doors of all offices of the business division outside Europe were closed.
Only the European branch for wealthy customers, the private bank, made a few acquisitions during the state years. In Belgium, customers of Société Generale were acquired and in Germany those of Credit Suisse.
Two years ago, it was leaked that Goldman Sachs had been hired by ABN Amro to investigate whether there were interesting acquisition opportunities in Europe. After years of decline, ABN Amro wanted to see whether growth would be possible again. But it has never become clear whether the American bank has come up with a list.
Last summer it turned out that the French bank BNP Paribas in The Hague had inquired in vain whether it could buy ABN Amro.
2023-12-14 07:00:01
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