ANZ Bank has entered into a joint-venture partnership with French payments firm Worldline to offer rapid and secure payments services for small business, commercial and institutional customers in Australia.
Under the terms of the new joint venture arrangement, ANZ and Worldline will create a new merchant acquiring group, in which ANZ will hold 49% and Worldline 51% interest.
The combination of ANZ’s strong market position and Worldline’s global scale, technologies and payment expertise is expected to enable the alliance to grow revenue at a double-digit rate in the coming years.
Founded in 1835 and headquartered in Melbourne, ANZ is one of the top retail banks in the country.
Worldline chairman and CEO Gilles Grapinet said: “The strategic alliance announced today between Worldline and ANZ is a landmark transaction for the Group.
“Australia is a highly attractive strategic market as it is very close to Europe in terms of market structure, standards and technology, with a high-level adoption of electronic payments.
“Backed by a solid macroeconomic environment and a strong long-term growth potential, the Australian market represents a rare opportunity to scale-up our platforms and roll-out our innovative solutions in very close partnership with such a leading institution as ANZ.”
ANZ, Worldline will enter into a long-term strategic alliance
The companies will enter into a long-term strategic alliance, pursuant to which ANZ will exclusively refer new merchants to the joint venture, and the joint venture will exclusively refer merchants to ANZ for banking products.
ANZ will serve as an exclusive banking services provider to the joint venture, and provides certain financing facilities.
The alliance under new joint venture is valid for an initial term of 10 years, and its board will comprise five directors, of which three will be appointed by Worldline and two by ANZ.
ANZ Australia retail and commercial executive Mark Hand said: “We have a proven track-record of partnering with global leaders in specialist fields if it means providing a better service to our customers.
“Receiving fast and secure payments is key to running a successful business and this partnership will provide our customers with access to some of the most advanced payments technology currently available, as well as future innovations, to improve the speed and security of point-of-sale and online payments.
