Two Australian fintechs — share trading and superannuation platform Superhero and digital currency exchange Swyftx — are no longer proceeding with their planned merger.
In a statement to InvestorDaily, John Winters, CEO and co-founder of Superhero, said: “We are announcing today that Superhero is demerging from Swyftx”.
“After discussions with Swyftx’s leadership and its board, we came to the decision that demerging is in the best interests of both Superhero and Swyftx, our teams and our customers,” Mr Winters said.
Behind their decision to step back from their original plan is “volatility in the market” as well as the current regulatory environment, Mr Winters said. Combined, these factors “made it increasingly difficult to achieve the initial vision that inspired the merger earlier this year”.
“Superhero will return to being independently owned by myself and my co-founder, Wayne Baskin,” the CEO explained.
“We thank Alex, Angus and the Swyftx team for their support over the last six months and wish them all the best for the future.”
Also confirming the news, Alex Harper, CEO and co-founder of Swyftx, said in an emailed statement on InvestorDaily: “It is a disappointing outcome, but ultimately, we took this decision in the best interests of both Superhero and Swyftx, as well as their customers”.
“The policy environment has changed significantly since we announced the merger, and neither party has been able to realise the vision of the merger in any meaningful way. We currently face a scenario where there might be no realised benefits to customers from the merger until 2024 at the earliest,” Mr Harper explained.
“Under these circumstances, we felt it best to focus on our core offering. The decision puts Swyftx in a strong position and frees us up to focus on consolidation and growth opportunities in digital assets.”
The merger, which was first announced in June, was described at the time as “historic” — a move that would create the country’s first digital and traditional finance powerhouse.
It was expected that the merged entity would be valued at $1.5 billion with over 800,000 combined customers.
