Worldline SA (EPA:WLN), an expert in the area of payment and transaction services, announces the completion of the acquisition of Eurobank Merchant Acquiring activities, as part of its European consolidation strategy.

Eurobank Merchant Acquiring (EBMA) is a meaningful card acquirer in the dynamic Greek market with 21% share of transaction volumes processed in the country. EBMA manages c. 219 million transactions acquired per year representing a payment volume of c. €7 billion from a c. 190,000 POS network. The company serves a well-diversified and high-quality portfolio of 123,000 merchants of which more than 50% are SMBs in MSV terms.

This acquisition represents an opportunity for Worldline to expand its Merchant Services activities in the Southern European market, still driven by the shift from cash to card with a significant electronic payments adoption rate and online and e-commerce development. In parallel, the exposure to the Greek economy fuelled by the travel & hospitality industry offers added growth opportunities.

In this rapidly changing industry, driven by the customers’ adoption of numerous and innovative payment methods, Eurobank Merchant Acquiring is the ideal cornerstone to further deploy Worldline payment offerings and value-added services capabilities in the Greek market, combined with the large acceptance network of Cardlink (acquired in 2021) to offer end-to-end payment services.

As part of the transaction, Worldline enters a long-term commercial partnership with Eurobank aiming to leverage its strong banking network as a key commercial channel in order to distribute Worldline’s and EBMA best-in-class payment product and services to physical and online merchants.