Powens Expands its Offering by Combining Open Finance and Embedded Banking Following Acquisition of Spanish EMI Unnax

• French Fintech Powens welcomes Unnax to form Powens Group, aiming to become the leader in Open Finance and Embedded Banking in Europe and Latin America, positioning itself as the only fintech to combine these solutions in a single platform.

• Bertrand Jeannet becomes CEO of Powens Group and will be supported by a mixed Executive team, including members from both Powens and Unnax.

Paris, April x, 2024 – The completion of Unnax’s acquisition by Powens marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the financial technology industry. Recently approved by the Spanish regulatory and supervisory authority – Banco de España – this acquisition gives rise to a powerful new entity, combining the strengths of two major players in the sector to offer innovative and comprehensive financial solutions.

The decision to unite with Unnax, one of the leading fintechs on the Spanish and Mexican markets, reflects Powens’ desire to keep disrupting the industry, evolving from a major European player in Open Finance to a market-leading position, combining Open Finance and Embedded Banking in a single platform, thus consolidating its position as a trailblazer in the industry.

The operation has been driven by PSG, a growth equity firm investing in software and technology services companies to accelerate their growth in Europe and the United States. PSG already invested in Powens in 2022 and is now investing in Unnax, bringing the two fintechs together under one group with the aim to create a European and transcontinental benchmark in the field of Open Finance and Embedded Banking.

 

A unique combination to respond to a constantly evolving market

This strategic addition enables Powens Group to provide a unique, modular platform, including access to financial data in over 12 countries, coupled with instant data categorization and analysis, as well as IBAN issuing, payment and collection solutions. Businesses will thus be able to facilitate and accelerate their payment automation and reconciliation processes via a single provider, guaranteeing unrivalled convenience and efficiency.

“This merger of two services allows us to offer our clients an unprecedented financial experience, combining financial data connectivity with the convenience of embedded banking solutions. With this new combined service, we consolidate our position in the market and our ability to anticipate and respond to the evolving needs of all our clients. The short-term goal of Powens Group is to become the leading provider of financial technology in Europe and Latin America,” emphasizes Bertrand Jeannet, CEO of Powens Group.

 

Powens Group: Nearly 300 clients, 3 offices, and a network of pioneering financial solutions

Following the acquisition, Powens Group will now have offices in Paris, Barcelona, and Mexico City, thereby strengthening its presence globally.

As part of this transaction, Unnax will preserve its brand and continue operating in the Iberian and Latin American markets, where it has a solid presence and reputation. Meanwhile, Powens, in addition to its presence in the French market, will be the reference brand for the rest of Europe.

To lead Powens group’s activities in Iberia and Latin America, Unnax founders will assume key roles. Julián Díaz-Santos will lead business activities in Iberia and Jordi Peréz in LATAM. They will also be part of the Executive Committee, bringing their experience and strategic vision to the company’s growth and development.

 

Further appointments within the group

Following the integration of Unnax with Powens, the composition of the management team has been modified.

Bertrand Jeannet, current CEO of the French fintech, becomes Powens Group CEO and will be supported by a mixed Executive team, including members from both Powens and Unnax.

Powens announces the appointment of five of its directors to key positions within the group. Olivier Maire will take up the reins as Chief Revenue Officer, bringing his expertise to the sales and marketing management of the group. Guillaume Lhoste will assume the crucial role of CFO. Bertrand Tillay-Doledec, as Group Chief Product Officer, will guide product development strategy. Benoît Fillon will be appointed CTO, responsible for driving technological innovation within the company. Finally, Justine Michel will take up the position of Chief Human Resources Officer.

Unnax announces three appointments. Eric Raduan, currently Chief Operations Officer of Unnax, will assume the same role within the Group, while Estefanía Ramos, until now Chief Compliance Officer of the Spanish fintech, will assume this role within the Powens Group. Similarly, Unnax’s current Chief Marketing Officer, Gwendoline Savoy, will lead the department worldwide.

 

The new group in figures:

With nearly 300 trusted clients worldwide and a growing volume of transactions, Powens Group is well positioned to become the partner of choice for financial institutions, fintechs, and software vendors seeking innovative and scalable solutions. Together, Unnax and Powens processed over 1.2 billion API calls and over 1.4 billion euros in payments in 2023. Powens Group has offices in Barcelona, Paris, and Mexico City.

 

About Powens

Powens was founded in 2012 in Paris as one of the pioneers in Open Finance for B2B clients in Europe. Today, Powens delivers Open Finance solutions through a unified API that go beyond PSD2 to enable more than 210 leading financial services institutions to create next-generation Open Finance experiences and access financial data from more than 1,800 institutions in 12 countries across Europe. Powens’ powerful end-to-end Open Finance platform not only enables access to more accurate financial data from multiple sources (current and savings accounts, loans, investments and assets) in a fully compliant way, but also provides solutions to streamline customer onboarding, enable credit decisioning and automate billing and payments. The company was originally founded under the name Budget Insight and in 2022 adopted the “Powens” identity to pave the way for its ambitious international growth strategy. The company is an authorized provider of Account Information and Payment Initiation Services with a passport to operate throughout the European Union.

 

About Unnax

Founded in 2016 in Barcelona, Unnax has become one of the leading Open Finance & Embedded Banking providers in Spain, offering both financial data aggregation in Spain and Mexico and powerful embedded finance capabilities through API technology. The company has a strong customer base of more than 60 leading financial services players in banking, consumer finance, fintech and software in both Spain and Latin America. The company is a licensed Electronic Money Institution (EMI) as well as an account information and payment initiation service provider, passported to operate throughout the European Union.

 

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