French payment services provider Worldline and consumer banking company Crédit Agricole have agreed to create a new fully licensed merchant payments joint venture in France.
The partnership will combine Crédit Agricole’s merchant acquiring footprint, and distribution power in the French market, together with Worldline’s technology and global infrastructure.
The joint venture would require €80m investment, equally contributed by both companies, for the product design, and implementation.
Crédit Agricole deputy general manager, in charge of technology, digital and payments, Jean-Paul Mazoyer said: “The partnership with Worldline would allow us to strengthen our market leadership in France for merchant payment solutions and fully aligns with Credit Agricole’s 2025 ambitions to outperform the market growth by 2x on merchant payments solutions.
“Worldline is already a trusted partner of the Credit Agricole Group and, through this deepened strategic partnership, we would jointly develop comprehensive services for French merchants on the whole merchant services value chain (acceptance and acquiring) which is a fast-moving and critical area to their business.
“This integrated mastery would allow us to equip merchants with innovative all-in-one offers that integrate natively in their ecosystem and provide value-added business services.”
The joint venture will provide all-in-one solutions combining in-store and online capabilities at the large and local scale to serve French merchants and consumers.
The strategic partnership between Crédit Agricole and Worldline would provide an opportunity for both companies to expand their merchant services in the French market significantly.
Worldline CEO Gilles Grapinet said: “The contemplated strategic alliance we announce today between Worldline and Crédit Agricole is a landmark transaction for the Group.
“I am very proud that Worldline has been selected by Crédit Agricole for a strategic long-term partnership combining our merchant services capabilities, with the joint ambition to create a player able to deliver premier services to all merchants operating in France.
“The perfect fit of Worldline’s state-of-the-art products, technology and services at scale combined with Crédit Agricole Group’s unique distribution network and acquiring market leadership would be a key differentiating factor for our customers.”
