NEC to acquire Swiss fintech firm Avaloq for $2.24 billion

NEC Corp. said Monday it will acquire Swiss financial software vendor Avaloq Group AG for 2.05 billion Swiss francs (¥236 billion) by April to strengthen its global financial services reach. The information technology giant hopes to add Avaloq's leading digital banking solutions to its own advanced biometric and artificial intelligence technologies to expand its offering to clients. Competition among fintech firms is intensifying due to the ongoing digitalization of the financial sector, boosted by cashless payment services and the possibility of central banks establishing digital currencies. The Swiss firm has a strong track record of developing software for financial institutions and currently does business with more than 150 customers in 30 countries, according to NEC. NEC "aims to create new solutions that combine Avaloq's software with NEC's cutting-edge technologies" through its broad sales channels, NEC President and CEO Takashi Niino said in a statement.