DZ Bank invests in receivables auction platform TrustBills
Jörg Hörster, TrustBills
Frankfurt-based DZ Bank has acquired a 25% share interest in the Hamburg receivables auction platform TrustBills.
This is the bank’s first strategic investment in fintech within the corporate customer business. The amount invested has not been disclosed.
TrustBills, a start-up founded in 2015, is an electronic marketplace for selling international receivables of companies to institutional investors. It says through its platform corporate customers not only gain liquidity but can also sell their receivables “without recourse and thereby free up more of their balance sheet”.
Jörg Hörster, founder and MD of TrustBills, welcomes the new deal and says it is currently holding talks with “other potential partners to achieve coverage of other regions”.
The bank has explained the reasons for the investment.
Stefan Zeidler, MD responsible for corporate banking, DZ Bank, says: “Our decision to invest at an early stage also gives us a structural and time lead.”
He adds: “As shareholders we can exert influence on the further development of the company in the interests of the co-operative financial network.”
The bank says the move has also been met with a “very positive response” from the co-operative banks.
Andreas Mertke, MD of Berliner Volksbank, expects its customers “will use this offer” and the “participation in a phase in which we can help to shape the platform, comes just at the right time”.
