diff --git a/vertx-db2-client/src/main/asciidoc/index.adoc b/vertx-db2-client/src/main/asciidoc/index.adoc
index 53acbe2f1..b49ef8449 100644
--- a/vertx-db2-client/src/main/asciidoc/index.adoc
+++ b/vertx-db2-client/src/main/asciidoc/index.adoc
@@ -143,6 +143,12 @@ The URI format for a connection string is:
 db2://[user[:[password]]@]host[:port][/database][?<key1>=<value1>[&<key2>=<value2>]]
 ----
 
+The IBM JDBC URL syntax is supported as well, using `:` to separate the database from the parameters and `;` between parameter key/value pairs:
+
+----
+db2://[user[:[password]]@]host[:port]/database:<key1>=<value1>;[<key2>=<value2>;]
+----
+
 NOTE: Configuring parameters in connection URI will override the default properties.
 
 Currently, the client supports the following parameter keys:
diff --git a/vertx-db2-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/db2client/impl/DB2ConnectionUriParser.java b/vertx-db2-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/db2client/impl/DB2ConnectionUriParser.java
index dbcc1c968..1a15b1fd6 100644
--- a/vertx-db2-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/db2client/impl/DB2ConnectionUriParser.java
+++ b/vertx-db2-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/db2client/impl/DB2ConnectionUriParser.java
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ public class DB2ConnectionUriParser {
   private static final String USER_INFO_REGEX = "((?<userinfo>[a-zA-Z0-9\\-._~%!*]+(:[a-zA-Z0-9\\-._~%!*]*)?)@)?"; // username and password
   private static final String NET_LOCATION_REGEX = "(?<host>[0-9.]+|\\[[a-zA-Z0-9:]+]|[a-zA-Z0-9\\-._~%]+)"; // ip v4/v6 address or host name
   private static final String PORT_REGEX = "(:(?<port>\\d+))?"; // port
-  private static final String DATABASE_REGEX = "(/(?<database>[a-zA-Z0-9\\-._~%!*]+))?"; // database name
+  private static final String DATABASE_REGEX = "(/(?<database>[a-zA-Z0-9\\-._~%!*]+)"
+    + "(:(?<jdbcattributes>[^?&]*))?)?"; // database name, optionally followed by IBM JDBC style attributes
   private static final String ATTRIBUTES_REGEX = "(\\?(?<attributes>.*))?"; // attributes
 
   private static final Pattern SCHEME_DESIGNATOR_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("^" + SCHEME_DESIGNATOR_REGEX);
@@ -84,8 +85,11 @@ private static void doParse(String connectionUri, JsonObject configuration) {
       // parse the database name
       parseDatabaseName(matcher.group("database"), configuration);
 
+      // parse the IBM JDBC style attributes, e.g. db2://localhost:50000/mydb:user=app;password=secret;
+      parseAttributes(matcher.group("jdbcattributes"), configuration, ";");
+
       // parse the attributes
-      parseAttributes(matcher.group("attributes"), configuration);
+      parseAttributes(matcher.group("attributes"), configuration, "&");
 
     } else {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong syntax of connection URI. Must match pattern: " + FULL_URI_PATTERN);
@@ -142,12 +146,12 @@ private static void parseDatabaseName(String schemaInfo, JsonObject configuratio
     configuration.put("database", decodeUrl(schemaInfo));
   }
 
-  private static void parseAttributes(String attributesInfo, JsonObject configuration) {
+  private static void parseAttributes(String attributesInfo, JsonObject configuration, String separator) {
     if (attributesInfo == null || attributesInfo.isEmpty()) {
       return;
     }
     Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
-    for (String parameterPair : attributesInfo.split("&")) {
+    for (String parameterPair : attributesInfo.split(separator)) {
       if (parameterPair.isEmpty()) {
         continue;
       }
@@ -185,7 +189,9 @@ private static void parseAttributes(String attributesInfo, JsonObject configurat
       }
     }
     if (!properties.isEmpty()) {
-      configuration.put("properties", properties);
+      JsonObject props = configuration.getJsonObject("properties", new JsonObject());
+      properties.forEach(props::put);
+      configuration.put("properties", props);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/vertx-db2-client/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/db2client/DB2ConnectionUriParserTest.java b/vertx-db2-client/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/db2client/DB2ConnectionUriParserTest.java
index 87ec28355..adf2b75d1 100644
--- a/vertx-db2-client/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/db2client/DB2ConnectionUriParserTest.java
+++ b/vertx-db2-client/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/db2client/DB2ConnectionUriParserTest.java
@@ -275,4 +275,78 @@ public void testPartialMatching(){
     actualParsedResult = parse(uri, false);
     assertNull(actualParsedResult);
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testParsingJdbcStyleAttributes() {
+    uri = "db2://localhost:50000/hreact:user=hreact;password=hreact;";
+    actualParsedResult = parse(uri);
+
+    expectedParsedResult = new JsonObject()
+      .put("host", "localhost")
+      .put("port", 50000)
+      .put("database", "hreact")
+      .put("user", "hreact")
+      .put("password", "hreact");
+
+    assertEquals(expectedParsedResult, actualParsedResult);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testParsingJdbcStyleAttributesWithoutTrailingSemicolon() {
+    uri = "db2://localhost/hreact:user=hreact;password=hreact";
+    actualParsedResult = parse(uri);
+
+    expectedParsedResult = new JsonObject()
+      .put("host", "localhost")
+      .put("database", "hreact")
+      .put("user", "hreact")
+      .put("password", "hreact");
+
+    assertEquals(expectedParsedResult, actualParsedResult);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testParsingJdbcStyleSingleAttribute() {
+    uri = "db2://localhost/mydb:user=other;";
+    actualParsedResult = parse(uri);
+
+    expectedParsedResult = new JsonObject()
+      .put("host", "localhost")
+      .put("database", "mydb")
+      .put("user", "other");
+
+    assertEquals(expectedParsedResult, actualParsedResult);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testParsingJdbcStyleCustomProperties() {
+    uri = "db2://localhost/mydb:user=hreact;securityMechanism=9;";
+    actualParsedResult = parse(uri);
+
+    expectedParsedResult = new JsonObject()
+      .put("host", "localhost")
+      .put("database", "mydb")
+      .put("user", "hreact")
+      .put("properties", new JsonObject().put("securitymechanism", "9"));
+
+    assertEquals(expectedParsedResult, actualParsedResult);
+  }
+
+  @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+  public void testParsingJdbcStyleAttributesWithAmpersandSeparator() {
+    uri = "db2://localhost:4444/hreact:user=hreact&password=hreact";
+    actualParsedResult = parse(uri);
+  }
+
+  @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+  public void testParsingJdbcStyleAttributesWithoutDatabase() {
+    uri = "db2://localhost:user=hreact;password=hreact;";
+    actualParsedResult = parse(uri);
+  }
+
+  @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+  public void testParsingJdbcStyleAttributeWithoutValueDelimiter() {
+    uri = "db2://localhost/mydb:user;";
+    actualParsedResult = parse(uri);
+  }
 }