BME takes minority stake in social trading startup Finect

The Spanish stock exchange BME has acquired a 9.7% stake in local social trading community Finect as part of a tech-led diversification strategy.

Finect has close to two million users who have used its different services, among them a financial aggregator for complete portfolio tracking, interactive polls that address specific questions from users and a community of private and professional investors. In addition, nearly 50 investment firms, national and international, already use Finect to interact with their customers.

The transaction, which the BME says is “worth lower than 1 million euros”, fulfills a commitment to seek out and partner with up-and-coming fintech firms.

It follows an enterprise-wide project last year to integrate all of the Exchange’s IT, consulting, regulation and innovation added-value services into an overarching unit dubbed BME Inntech. BME also manages fintech services and projects through its Valencia-based Openfinance subsidiary.

Javier Hernani, CEO of BME, says: “This investment and the alliance with Finect is another step forward in the company’s diversification policy and growth of the business’ technological area. The objective of BME is to offer its clients and investors a wide range of services and products so that they can compete in the complex financial and digital environment in which they operate.”