Mastercard’s $920m acquisition of VocaLink officially closes
Mastercard has officially completed the acquisition of VocaLink with the all clear from the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) to buy 92.4% for $920 million.
The CMA gave final approval for the proposed set of remedies that address the competition concerns it identified earlier this year. As Banking Technology reported at that time, CMA gave a provisional nod to Mastercard’s purchase of VocaLink – as Mastercard agreed to reduce the costs to the Link ATM network for switching infrastructure providers, open up connectivity to the network for alternative providers, and transfer/license the intellectual property rights relating to the Link Liss messaging standard.
The deal first came to light in March 2016, and was followed by the usual drama and discussions.
Michael Miebach, chief product officer, Mastercard, says: “Adding bank account-based payments alongside our card network extends what we can do and how we can do it.”
Mastercard says the acquisition will give it more to offer in retail, person-to-person and business-to-business payments and a broader range of services. It wants to make a “deeper and sustained shift” from the use of cash and cheques in business, government and personal payments.
VocaLink’s technology powers immediate payments (also known as Faster Payments) in some of the world’s financial markets. Such as the UK, Singapore and Thailand, with the US scheduled to go live later this year.
As part of the deal, VocaLink’s CEO David Yates has joined the Mastercard management committee and become executive chair of VocaLink. VocaLink’s deputy CEO Paul Stoddart has been promoted to CEO of VocaLink.
This story was originally published on 11 April with the headline “Mastercard gets regulatory approval to buy VocaLink for $920m”. Information that the deal has been officially closed was added.
