Payment services companiesVocaandLinkare to merge to
create VocaLink, to become one of the leading payments processors
in Europe.
The pair said the merged company would create a payment
processor ready to compete on a pan-European scale when the Single
Euro Payments Area (SEPA) system comes into force in 2008.
When the merger is formally completed, subject to Office of Fair
Trading approval, VocaLink will have the range of services
necessary to compete in this environment, said the two firms.
The first services from the new company will include SEPA-ready
and real-time payment services designed to accelerate domestic and
cross-border payments.
The combined organisation will deal with over eight
billion transactions this year. VocaLink will be able to offer a
broad range of services for both cash machines and automated
payments.
Voca’s operations process 90% of the UK’s salaries and 15% of
Europe’s automated payment volumes. Link is an international leader
in ATM-based services and real-time transactions, operating one of
the biggest ATM networks in the world.
The two companies are already working together to build the
infrastructure behind the UK’s Faster Payments initiative, which
will deliver real-time payments to the UK market by the end of the
year.
Current Voca chief executive Marion King will be the merged
company’s CEO charged with running the business.
King said, “We’re already working together successfully to build
the UK’s Faster Payments system and the operational and
intellectual synergies are clear. The move will create the broad
product portfolio needed to compete in a wider European market in
light of the introduction of SEPA.”
Under the terms of the proposed agreement VocaLink will be
managed through a new board including independent non-executives.
Peter Presland, Link’s current chairman, will assume the role of
non-executive chairman.
But if the new company is to be successful, it has some
technical obstacles to overcome.
Gareth Lodge, an analyst at financial services advisory firm
TowerGroup, said, “The combined company is a giant in volume terms.
However, without the various kinds of payments processing the two
partners provide running on the same platform, it remains to be
seen as to what the actual benefits are in the short- to mid-term,
other than a broader range of services for both companies.”
Lodge added, “The OFT will be studying the merger in great
detail. The OFT has been studying retail banking closely for some
time, and the combined body will have a dominant position in
payment systems, something the OFT might object to.”
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