Mastercard Finalizes Deal For Nets Group’s Account-To-Account Unit

Mastercard has finalized its 2.85 billion euro purchase of Nets Group’s account-to-account (A2) division, which includes clearing and settlement, real-time payments and eBilling solutions.

Paul Stoddart, president of new payment platforms at Mastercard, said the acquisition marks a decisive point as the company advances multi-rail payments beyond cards. 

“This acquisition brings top talent and innovative technology, enhancing our existing multi-rail propositions to enable greater access, choice and flexibility in how people want to pay and get paid,” Stoddart said in a Mastercard press release on Friday (March 5).

Headquartered in Denmark, Nets is among the leading European PayTech firms after being approved by the European Commission in August 2020. The acquisition expands Mastercard’s account-to-account capabilities.

Mastercard has been on a mission to grow its influence outside of card payments. The acquisition of Nets Corporate Services and its real-time bill pay solutions, complements Mastercard’s expansive and growing menu of payment solutions.

“Combined with Mastercard’s global network and customer franchise, this acquisition further strengthens our position as the payment partner of choice for governments, financial institutions, consumers and businesses across all payment flows, in the Nordics and beyond,” added Stoddart.

The sale of the account-to-account business has given Nets Group the opportunity to turn its attention to strategic investment in its two remaining divisions — merchant services and issuer and eSecurity services. 

Bo Nilsson, Group CEO of Nets, said the A2A platform will flourish under Mastercard as the demand for digital payments continues to expand. The deal also gives Nets a chance “to refocus our business model … and to increase our exposure to high-growth regions and faster-growing business segments, such as eCommerce,” he said. 

The past year saw the demand for digital payments grow “across our pan-European footprint. With substantial potential for further penetration of digital payments in all our geographies, we are extremely well-positioned for growth in general, and in e-commerce in particular, as we continue our joint growth ambitions with Nexi to become the European PayTech leader,” Nilsson said.

Mastercard’s Nets acquisition was investigated by the European Union regulators to ensure it wasn’t in violation of competition law.