Brussels, 9 June 2023
The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the creation of a joint venture by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale (‘DekaBank’), Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (‘LBBW’), both of Germany, and Standard Chartered UK Holdings Limited (‘SC’) of the UK.
The joint venture, SWIAT GmbH, will be active in the development, distribution and maintenance of software systems. It will also provide consulting services and deploy blockchain-based software systems for banks, asset managers and infrastructure service providers. DekaBank is the central provider of asset management and capital market solutions to the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (a network of public banks in Germany). LBBW is a universal bank, as well as a central bank to the savings banks in the German States of Baden-Württemberg, Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate and a savings bank in Stuttgart. SC is a member of the Standard Chartered Group, a multinational banking group with operations in consumer, corporate and institutional banking, and treasury services.
The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given its limited impact on the market, as well as the fact that the joint venture has negligible actual and foreseen activities in the European Economic Area. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.
More information is available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.11057.
Source – EU Commission