Deutsche Bank to Offload European Merchant Acquiring Business to Evo
Deutsche Bank is selling its European merchant acquiring business to the US processor Evo Payments International. Under the terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval and is for an undisclosed sum, Evo will buy 100% of Deutsche Card Services, which operates in 39 European markets. The two firms already have an existing cooperation arrangement in the US.
Deutsche Card Services provides merchant acquiring services to multi-national clients of the bank including online, point-of-sale (PoS) and ATM services, as well as other related services.
Evo Payments will cooperate with Deutsche Bank’s global transaction banking (GTB) division on joint marketing efforts under the new relationship and both firms says they will work closely together, despite the transfer in ownership. According to Ray Sidhom, chairman of Evo Payments International by, “supporting the Deutsche Bank relationship, we are confident in our ability to rapidly expand our market share”.
Deutsche Bank maintains that the deal does not mean it is abandoning its merchant clients. The head of the GTB unit, Werner Steinmueller, insists that the group is still committed to providing card acquiring services to its merchant client base.
“Our main goals with this transaction was to find a partner that we could trust to continue to deliver high quality products and services to our clients, as well as realising the significant long-term potential of the Deutsche Card Services business,” he said. “We feel that we have achieved both with Evo Payments.”