ING has reached an agreement to acquire a 75% stake in Payvision, a fast-growing, leading international omnichannel payments service provider. Payvision has a total value of EUR 360 million. The transaction will enable ING to strengthen its footprint in omnichannel payments services and expand its merchant services for its business customers, in particular in the fast-growing e-commerce segment.
The transaction with Payvision is the latest investment in innovative financial services to support ING’s Think Forward strategy. Customers will strongly benefit from Payvision’s omnichannel payments platform complemented by ING’s lending and working capital solutions and its worldwide distribution network.
By offering Payvision’s solution, our business customers will be able to accept payments through any channel, including in store terminals and web shops and through any device. Payvision’s platform facilitates more than 80 payment methods, including Maestro, Visa, iDEAL, Alipay, JCB and Union Pay across more than 150 currencies. Consumers can benefit from increased choice in payment solutions and a convenient, seamless and uniform shopping experience.
Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING said: “The payments sector is one of the most dynamic areas of the financial services industry. In order to stay a step ahead, ING has to constantly innovate. We do that by starting up our own ventures and by strategically taking minority or majority stakes. Payvision’s founding team has developed a great business with a proven technology in an area where ING wants to grow. We are confident our customers will strongly benefit from this investment.”
Payvision is a fast growing, independent international card acquirer and payments platform, connecting payment service providers and their global merchants. Founded in 2002 in the Netherlands, it serves its clients from offices in 10 cities in the US, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. In 2015 Payvision launched next-generation Payment Service Provider, Acapture, to address the omni-channel and cross-border payments needs of merchants.
Rudolf Booker, founder and CEO of Payvision, said: “It’s with great excitement that we’re announcing the partnership with ING today. Within 15 years of the company’s inception, we feel it’s the right time to make such a strategic step to strengthen the company’s foothold in the payments industry. This investment in the payments market, made by one of the world’s most innovative financial and banking services brands, acknowledges our vision to deliver leading payments capabilities to support customers maximize their revenues.”
After completion of the transaction, Payvision’s founding management team will hold a 25% minority stake and will continue to lead the company. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018 and is not expected to have a material impact on ING’s CET 1 ratio.