Mastercard Gains Regulatory Approval to Acquire VocaLink

Mastercard today commented on the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority’s decision that clears the way for the completion of the company’s planned acquisition of VocaLink Holdings Limited. The CMA gave final approval for the proposed set of remedies that address the competition concerns the CMA identified earlier this year. The deal is now expected to close in the coming weeks.

“We believe the future of payments will be defined by choice,” said Michael Miebach, chief product officer, Mastercard. “Adding bank account-based payments alongside our card network extends what we can do and how we can do it. Together, we’ll be one partner to meet all payment needs of businesses, governments and consumers.”

A leader in bank account-based payments, VocaLink’s technology powers immediate payments (also known as fast ACH) in the world’s largest financial markets. This includes the UK, Singapore and Thailand, with the U.S. scheduled to go live later this year. The acquisition will enable Mastercard to play a more strategic role in the UK as well as in other markets around the world.

VocaLink will add its outstanding team with specialized expertise, unique bank account-based technology and services such as fraud management analytics to the existing Mastercard business. The combination will enable a more holistic approach to retail, person-to-person and business-to-business payments and a broader range of services. This presents an additional opportunity to make a deeper and sustained shift from the use of cash and checks in business, government and personal payments.

“We have the opportunity to extend everything that we’ve accomplished with cards to bank account-based payments and redraw the lines of what’s possible in commerce. We’ll make it more inclusive, by expanding access to electronic payments. We’ll break down barriers, by innovating across payment types and payment flows. We’ll make it faster, bringing additional real-time payment options to more places and across more devices,” Miebach continued.

Now that the regulatory review has concluded, Mastercard and VocaLink will work to close the transaction within the next few weeks. Upon closing, David Yates will join the Mastercard management committee and become executive chair of VocaLink. Paul Stoddart will be promoted to CEO of VocaLink.