Cobalt rebrands to CobaltFX as United Fintech acquisition splits FX and Digital Asset divisions
“We believe both opportunities are huge and should be pursued, but not under the same banner. While FX and DA are similar in many ways, and likely to merge in the future, the two industries are currently at very different maturity stages of their evolution, largely operating independently and therefore requiring different approaches to be successful on their own. Hence the spin-off of Cobalt’s DA product as part of a bigger United Fintech play in this area; we’re very excited to announce this later in Q2.”
Following United Fintech’s announced acquisition of Cobalt late last year, the purchased business will be solely concerned with the FX industry thus leaving the company’s Digital Asset division outside the product offering, for now.
The Digital Asset division will form a new venture in Q2 2023, according to a Cobalt statement released today, which mentions that “rather than a ‘buy-up’ of Cobalt, it’s a United Fintech “buy-in” into the growing DA space perceived as the next thing banks will want to get ahead of in order to stay on par and future-proof their models. Thus, a much anticipated United Fintech DA spin-off is impending with further details to be disclosed in Q2.”
CobaltFX returns to roots
As part of the restructuring, Cobalt is being rebranded to CobaltFX, “returning to roots” and “become part of something bigger”, said founder Andrew Coyne, citing United Fintech’s partner offering with focus on removing “administrative distractions”, such as HR, Finance and Legal, and at the same time bolt-on to their global distribution, sales, and marketing as the key to success. CobaltFX will be able to focus on product development, client satisfaction, and further innovation.
In December 2022, United Fintech bought Cobalt from Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, S&P Global, and SGX, as part of its strategy to acquire fintech businesses and offer their services to banks and other institutions. The “fintech super-consolidator” has grown to service over 200 major banks and financial institutions across five platform companies with offices in eight countries.
Marc Levin, Group COO of United Fintech, will assume the CEO responsibility of CobaltFX while continuing in his current role at United Fintech.
Darren Coote will take a bigger role in United Fintech, working with other partner companies, and from United Fintech, Elizabeth Missfeld will step in as COO and Erik Nordahl as CTO to deliver on CobaltFX’s vision and commitment to clients.
CobaltFX’s goal is to re-engineer the world of FX
Andrew Coyne, Founder of CobaltFX, said: “CobaltFX’s goal is to re-engineer the world of Foreign Exchange through a rock solid platform focusing on credit optimisation and post-trade FX. Dynamic Credit being the most important starting point. As part of United Fintech, we join four other partner companies, retaining our formal status as a partner company. There are a lot of synergies between the partner companies and United Fintech. Not only from a client and solution perspective, but from a visionary perspective; together, we’re stronger than ever.
“United Fintech has a unique model that does not seek to absorb the partner companies, but rather exploit all the product synergies for clients making it easier for banks and financial institutions to adopt multiple products through a single platform, allowing clients to adopt and select solutions, contracting with United Fintech directly. Thus if you’re a client of one of the products, you can more seamlessly license and implement other products, significantly reducing procurement processes and onboarding.”
Marc Levin, Chief Executive Officer at CobaltFX, commented: “We believe both opportunities are huge and should be pursued, but not under the same banner. While FX and DA are similar in many ways, and likely to merge in the future, the two industries are currently at very different maturity stages of their evolution, largely operating independently and therefore requiring different approaches to be successful on their own. Hence the spin-off of Cobalt’s DA product as part of a bigger United Fintech play in this area; we’re very excited to announce this later in Q2. Until then, I’m very pleased I get to join this adventure with Andy Coyne and Darren Coote”.
