Release Details

Belgian fintech company wants former Minister of Digital Agenda to join them at the helm

La Hulpe — November 13th  2020 — The board of directors of Unifiedpost Group, the fintech company that began trading on Euronext Brussels at the end of September this year, nominates Philippe De Backer as an independent director. Philippe De Backer is former Member of the European Parliament and Belgian federal Minister of Digital Agenda and Administrative Simplification. He brings a clear added value to the company, which creates digital document and payment platforms for SMEs. 

Unifiedpost Group creates global solutions for digital financial platform- and payment software. After several strategical acquisitions between November 2018 and April 2019, the company went public in September 2020 on Euronext Brussels. Currently operating in 15 European countries, the fintech company wants to continue their ambitious growth path in the next years.  
After joining the Euronext Brussels stock exchange at the end of September, Unifiedpost Group appointed Joost Uwents (CEO of WDP), Katya Degrieck (senior executive at Google), Marie-Ange Marx (COO of Keytrade Bank Belgium) and Katrien Meire as independent directors, whose valuable insight and experiences have already benefitted the board of directors. Fintech entrepreneur Jürgen Ingels also invested in Unifiedpost Group some years ago and is also still part of the board of directors. By nominating Philippe De Backer, Unifiedpost Group ads another expert to their board who can guide the company in its European and international expansion, in this case someone with European expertise and experience with SME’s and digitalization. 

Philippe De Backer holds several Masters degrees in Biotechnology and earned a doctorate from Ghent University in 2009. In 2012 he received an MBA from Solvay Business School. After some years of working in the world of business, he made his political debut in 2011 as Member of the European Parliament. In 2016, he became Secretary of State for Social Fraud, Privacy and the North Sea. In 2018 he was promoted to Minister, gaining responsibility for Digital Agenda, Telecom, Postal Services and Administrative Simplification. Philippe is praised for his thorough subject knowledge and for his solution-oriented approach. 

Unifiedpost Group states that Philippe De Backer, having regard to his unique experience and experience in the private and public sector, will bring a unique added value to the board and therefore proposes his appointment to shareholders at the next general meeting. The next scheduled general meeting is the annual meeting, which will take place on 18 May 2021.

Philippe De Backer is enthusiastic about this nomination: "I have been looking forward to returning to the world of business for a long time now, so I am hoping that the shareholders of Unifiedpost Group will vote positively. Being able to work with this ambitious Belgian company and help develop its strategy is a challenge that I am excited to take on. Unifiedpost Group operates in several European countries, meaning that it has to meet many different local requirements in its activities. Furthermore, the company's core business and its ambitious culture aligns perfectly with the areas of my personal interests, expertise and the domains I have always have been passionate about." 

Stefan Yee, Chairman of Unifiedpost Group, adds: "After joining the stock market, we have recently strengthened our board of directors with a number of independent directors. Philippe's policy experience in the field of digitisation and administrative simplification is extremely valuable and we also believe that working together in the future will bring significant added value to Unifiedpost. In addition, considering the very active and involved role that our directors have in the formulation and implementation of Unifiedpost's strategy, Philippe's profile perfectly complements our existing team."

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Press Agent

Sarah Heuninck 
0491 15 05 09
sarah.heuninck@unifiedpost.com

About Unifiedpost Group 

Unifiedpost Group wants to become the leading cloud-based platform for SME business services built on “Documents”, “Identity” and “Payments”. Unifiedpost operates and develops a 100% cloud-based platform for administrative and financial services that allows real-time and seamless connections between Unifiedpost’s customers, their suppliers, their customers and other parties along the financial value chain. With its one-stop-shop solutions, Unifiedpost Group’s mission is to make administrative and financial processes simple and smart for its customers. Since its founding in 2001, Unifiedpost Group has grown significantly, expanding to offices in 15 countries throughout Europe, with more than 350 million documents processed in 2019, reaching over 400,000 SMEs and more than 250 Corporates across its platform today.
 
Noteworthy facts and figures:

• Established in 2001, with a proven track record
• 2019 pro-forma turnover € 69 million
• 750+ employees throughout Europe
• 350+ million documents processed in 2019
• Diverse portfolio of clients across a wide variety of industries (banking, leasing, utilities, media, telecommunications, travel, social security service providers, public organisations, etc.) ranging from large internationals to SMEs
• Unifiedpost Payments, a fully owned subsidiary, is recognised as a payment institution by the National Bank of Belgium
• Certified Swift partner
• International M&A track record
• Listed on the regulated market of Euronext Brussels, symbol: UPG

(*) Warning about future statements: The statements contained herein may contain forecasts, future expectations, opinions and other future-oriented statements concerning the expected further performance of Unifiedpost Group on the markets in which it is active.  Such future-oriented statements are based on the current insights and assumptions of management concerning future events.  They naturally include known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which seem justified at the time that the statements are made, but may possibly turn out to be inaccurate.  The actual results, performance or events may differ essentially from the results, performance or events which are expressed or implied in such future-oriented statements.  Except where required by the applicable legislation, Unifiedpost Group shall assume no obligation to update, elucidate or improve future-oriented statements in this press release in the light of new information, future events or other elements and shall not be held liable on that account.  The reader is warned not to rely unduly on future-oriented statements.