Accenture has acquired Allgemeines Rechenzentrum GmbH (ARZ), a technology service provider focused on the banking sector in Austria. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This is technology M&A deal number 516 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2022.
The Advocate Networks deal is part of a larger M&A strategy. Indeed, Accenture plans to spend roughly $4 billion on acquisitions during the current fiscal year. Roughly $1.8 billion of that $4 billion M&A budget was spent on 21 acquisitions during the first half of Accenture’s fiscal year 2022, CFO KC McClure indicated during an earnings call on March 17, 2022.
Accenture Acquires ARZ: Business Backgrounds
Accenture's acquisition of ARZ in Austria will help expand the global IT consulting firm's banking platform-as-a-service capabilities across Europe, the buyer said. ARZ has locations in Vienna and Innsbruck and operates a technology competence center for innovation and technology services in the banking sector in Austria. ARZ was majority-owned by Volksbanken Group and Hypobanken Group as well as other private banks.
The acquisition will expand Accenture’s cloud-based banking platform-as-a-service offerings, ranging from core banking services to online banking as well as regulatory services for banking clients across Europe, Accenture said. ARZ's approximately 600 employees will join Accenture and will continue to work in ARZ's existing offices.
Roland Smertnig, senior managing director in Accenture’s financial services practice in Europe, commented:
"Our vision is to develop an innovative cloud-based banking platform-as-a-service offering for new and existing clients across Europe. By acquiring ARZ, we are expanding our digital transformation capabilities to help banks of the future as they look to move more of their core functions to the cloud, enable new business models, and reinvent the services and experiences they provide to customers.”
Michael Zettel, Accenture’s country managing director in Austria added,
"With this acquisition, we are expanding our team in Austria and will develop a comprehensive center of excellence at the Innsbruck location to serve our clients in Austria and across Europe. The ARZ team has the experience and talent to help us grow and meet our banking clients’ needs now and, in the future, and we look forward to welcoming them to Accenture.”
Gerald Fleischmann, CEO of Volksbank Wien said,
"The move to Accenture is a strategically smart development. Volksbanken and their customers will benefit from the combined expertise, the innovative services and collaboration between ARZ and Accenture.”
Accenture's M&A Activity
Global IT consulting firm Accenture ($ACN) typically acquires dozens of companies each year. Many of the deals focus on cloud services, cybersecurity, digital transformation, data and analytics, managed services, sustainability and ad agencies. You can see a full list of Accenture acquisitions ChannelE2E has tracked here.
ARZ is the latest acquisition Accenture has made in the banking industry. Last year Accenture acquired Exton Consulting, a French consulting firm providing banking strategy support to financial services clients across Europe. Accenture also made a strategic investment, through Accenture Ventures, in Imburse, a cloud-based, payments-as-a-service enterprise platform.
