Finnova AG Acquires FinTech Contovista

Big news from our side! Contovista, the leading Swiss provider of innovative data-driven banking applications and analytics based on APIs and artificial intelligence, has a new owner. We’re happy to announce that we’ve become part of Finnova AG, the renowned Lenzburg-based banking software house. Together we now want to work on a future-oriented, data-driven banking ecosystem for Switzerland.

This opens a new chapter in Contovista’s success story. Since we were founded in 2013, we have grown from being a first mover to become the Swiss leader in data-driven banking. And now, thanks to the additional know-how of Finnova’s experts, we’ll be able to drive the development of successful products even more vigorously in the future – from the Contovista Data Enrichment Engine to white label solutions such as the Personal Finance Manager (PFM) or the Business Finance Manager (BFM). For our customers in the financial sector, however, nothing will change in terms of the many benefits they and over five million customers have already reaped. Except for the exciting prospect that these benefits will now be significantly extended.

Finnova was founded in 1974 and has since established itself as a leading provider of banking solutions in Switzerland. At its core is the powerful Finnova Banking Platform, which impresses thanks to its outstanding reliability and openness to third-party applications. The platform’s extensive functionality optimally supports banks in developing and implementing new business models efficiently. Finnova’s general strategic focus is on banking automation, digitalisation & ecosystem as well as data-driven banking. It offers products such as the Finnova Data Warehouse, the bank control solution Finnova Control® and the Finnova Analytical Framework. This is the perfect environment to develop our own data-driven solutions together.

For this purpose, a new, high-performing division will be established within Finnova in the future. The current Finnova Analytical Framework team will be combined with Contovista’s data experts to form a separate business unit comprising around 50 specialists. The management of this team will report directly to Finnova’s CEO Hendrik Lang. Finnova is anything but an unknown entity for us at Contovista. Our two companies have been partners since 2015, and Contovista solutions such as the BFM have been used by many of Finnova’s customers for years. We’re currently working together on the development and implementation of MAP4.
And now, together, we’re going one step further in building a digital ecosystem for end-to-end banking. With retroactive effect from January 1, 2022, Finnova is acquiring 100 percent of Contovista shares from the previous owner Viseca Payment Services SA. Our headquarters in Schlieren is now one of five Finnova locations – along with Lenzburg, Seewen, Chur and Nyon.

By selling the company, Viseca now intends to direct its focus to its core business, namely the issuing of payment cards and services in the banking world. Max Schönholzer, CEO of Viseca, comments: “Thanks to its strategy, culture and know-how, Finnova is the ideal new owner of Contovista and thus guarantees its ongoing business success – it is also in the interests of its customers and employees. Contovista is in good hands.”

René Fischer, CEO of Contovista, has a similar view: “As a software company in the banking industry, our new owner Finnova knows our customers and products very well. For Contovista’s employees, the acquisition will create interesting prospects, both technically and in terms of career opportunities. And above all, the developments concerning Open Banking and multibanking can now be pursued with increased vigour.”

Finnova’s products, like Contovista’s, are characterised by maximum flexibility and minimal costs. This will remain the case for our customers in the future, regardless of whether they use the Finnova Banking Platform or not. Finnova’s CEO Hendrik Lang explains: “Using the Finnova core banking system isn’t a prerequisite for operating the Finnova Analytical Framework or Contovista’s solutions. As a result, the merger has no negative impact on existing Contovista customers.”

The acquisition is not primarily focused on consolidation or synergies, but rather on innovation and growth. With combined strength, we’re now continuing to pursue our previous goal, namely the development of innovative data-driven, personalised banking solutions that meet the needs of banking customers in the digital age.