Instead of Plaid, Visa acquires Tink

A few months after the failure of the Plaid takeover, payment giant Visa has just announced the acquisition of Tink, leader in the open banking market in Europe. A major transaction that illustrates the tensions at work in this area and the effervescence of this market in Europe.

FACTS

• The partnership with Visa will allow Tink to further develop its organization, products and services in order to better serve its clients.

• Its brand will continue to exist as such, and independently, within the Visa group. It will also keep its management team and its head office in Stockholm.

• Tink will rely on this support to accelerate its deployment in Europe and worldwide.

• The value of the transaction is estimated at 1.8 billion euros. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

CHALLENGES

• Fighting disruption: the regulatory and political context, with PSD2 and the creation of a European Payment Infrastructure (EPI) scheme, is increasing pressure on traditional players and creating opportunities for emerging players to develop their own payment rails. Visa is counting on Tink to establish itself in the market at the European level and take advantage of its strong momentum while developing synergies. The American company plans to use its network to expand the Swedish solution.

• Consolidate the European market: the acquisition of Plaid was cancelled after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) opened an antitrust investigation linked to Plaid's quasi-monopoly situation on the US market; on the other hand, Tink operates on a very competitive market where the support of a player like Visa will allow it to develop its ambitions while protecting itself from those of Plaid and its slightly over-inflated valuation.

• Facing the competition. For Visa, it is also a question of positioning itself vis-à-vis its competitors: Mastercard, which is showing some maturity in open-banking and which, following failed discussions with Tink, had snapped up Finicity, an American player. But also with regard to American Express, which recently announced that it had signed a partnership with Tink to improve the integration process of its new cardholders.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• As a reminder, Tink claims 300 clients (both banks and fintechs) across 18 European markets. Among them: Lydia, PayPal, ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Sopra Banking, American Express, NatWest, Hello Bank!, Caixa Geral de Depositos, Nordea...

• In 10 years, Tink has succeeded in developing a technology that easily connects traditional bank accounts to a new generation of financial services. It has established itself as a reference in Europe and attracts numerous partners.