CM Financial and eToro going big on blockchain technology in China

China Minsheng Financial Holding Corporation Limited (“CM Financial”, SEHK stock code: 00245) signed a strategic cooperation agreement with eToro today, establishing a strategic partnership between the two companies. As a strategic platform of CMIG Asia Asset Management co., Ltd. (“CMIG Asia”), CM Financial will closely cooperate with eToro to strengthen its online platform and expand business together, so as to implement CM Financial’s global investment strategy, further develop its innovative fin-tech business and build an investment bank that can engage in financial services with blockchain technology.

According to the strategic cooperation agreement signed between the two parties, CM Financial will lead the investment of eToro’s E-round financing and invest in eToro’s preferred stock equity of US$50 million through the independent investment portfolio CM Equities SP of CM SPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CM Financial.

The proceeds raised from this round of financing is to expand its global business, research on and develop thoroughly the blockchain technology and deploy it. Such move can enable eToro to enhance the foundational technology with the aim of adding impetus to its growth on the back of a solid foundation.

In the future, eToro will continue to maintain the current growth pace in European market and accelerate the expansion in Asian market, and gradually enter North American market.

CM Financial hopes to jointly expand its business with eToro in the future, further strengthen customer acquisition and cross-selling, help eToro to expand its presence in China as well as Asian market, and seize the future development opportunities in the capital market. Leveraging its rich resources in the China market, CM Financial can help eToro to apply its technology to financial, property and new energy sectors and the trade in bulk commodities.

CM Financial expects to bring technology and product innovation to both parties through cooperation with eToro, and the increased business flow brought by market expansion will bring considerable growth for the Group’s future business.

Founded in 2007 in Israel, eToro is a world-leading asset trading platform, as well as one of the first financial technology companies to apply the copy trading technology. As of March 2018, eToro had over 9 million global users, covering over 140 countries and regions.

In 2012, 2015 and 2017, eToro was awarded with the highest honor, “Best Display Award” at Finovate, the most authoritative academic conference of the financial technology industry. Using artificial intelligence technologies of the Microsoft R Server and Azure Machine Learning, eToro has developed numerous CopyFunds offerings. eToro has become a cradle of development of a new generation of diverse traders and investors.

Leveraging on the strong backing from CMIG Asia, CM Financial takes full advantage of both the domestic and overseas markets and their resources to assist its business partners to invest in domestic market and expand internationally.

With the twin growth drivers of “Investment + Investment Bank”, CM Financial enables effective cooperation between the financial sector and different industries, provides comprehensive financial services for both the Chinese and overseas companies, and strives to develop a comprehensive platform for innovative financial services.

The strategic cooperation with eToro marks the first foray of CM Financial into the fintech field, and will certainly accelerate the Group’s goal of developing into an international comprehensive financial services platform.

CM Financial will continue to assist various industries in technological innovation, enable cooperation between the financial sector and different industries, and build an investment bank that can engage in financial services with blockchain technology.

The strategic cooperation between CM Financial and eToro is a win-win combination, it is also a step to show CMIG Asia and CM Financial’s support to the development of “The Belt and Road Initiative”, and to promote industrial upgrading and the development of real economy.
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CM Financial has been developing and implementing its twin growth drivers strategy of “Investment + Investment Banking”, with emphasis on building up asset management and securities businesses, to serve the high-end customer base both in China and abroad.

The Group strives to develop an international platform and to become the “financial partner of choice” that assists the leading domestic Chinese enterprises as they expand overseas, assists the business partners to access advantageous resources and advanced technology overseas, and helps international investors to seize the opportunities in China.

In the past, backed by CMIG Asia, CM Financial has also established close relationships with many leading enterprises. CM Financial thoroughly understands the requirements of enterprises in various stages of development and creates custom-made funding solution for their development. Looking ahead, CM Financial will focus on building up scale for each of its vertical businesses and continue to tap the potential for the synergy across various resources and platforms in securities, investment, investment banking and asset management, to provide better service to customers.

Furthermore, CM Financial will also seek opportunities for strategic mergers and acquisitions to further expand the scale of all its platforms. It will also participate in a new, emerging type of financial sector such as fintech, and will explore other promising and pioneering business models in the financial sector.