Dutch bank ABN AMRO has completed the acquisition of digital wealth platform Bux after announcing plans to acquire the firm in December last year.
The acquisition is a bid to boost ABN AMRO’s position in the retail investment space while making the new entity the leading investment platform in the Netherlands.
Bux – which offers ETFs to over one million European customers – will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and as a separate entity, with ABN AMRO branding now featuring in Bux’s logo.
Yorick Naeff, CEO of BUX, said: “Through this collaboration, we combine ABN AMRO's extensive expertise in personal finance and investing, and its years of experience with the capabilities offered by BUX's accessibility, knowledge of future generations and user-friendly investment platform.”
The digital wealth platform previously partnered with BlackRock to offer ETF savings plans in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Austria and Ireland.
Savings plans have been tied to the acceleration of the European retail market, with BlackRock predicting the number of investors contributing to ETF savings plans in Germany alone is set to hit 20 million by 2026.
Retail uptake of ETFs is continuing to accelerate across Europe, with two deals announced this week targeting French and Italian investors.
Amundi expanded its partnership with Scalable Capital to offer its ETFs on its platform.
Meanwhile, WisdomTree partnered with Moneyfarm to offer its thematic and commodity exchange-traded products (ETPs) on its Italian brokerage platform.
