ANZ enters joint-venture with Worldline to provide payments services in Australia

By Edil Corneille

Today, ANZ announced it will enter into a joint-venture with European-based payments company Worldline to provide its small business, commercial and institutional customers in Australia with access to the latest technology for fast, reliable and more secure point-of-sale and online payments.

Worldline is an European player in payment services with a presence in 50 countries. It currently provides acquiring, payment processing, point-of-sale and other payment solutions to a million merchants and 1,200 banks and financial institutions globally.

ANZ Group Executive Australia Retail and Commercial, Mark Hand apprised, “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.

“The partnership also responds to the fast-changing way that consumers want to pay for goods and services, particularly in a post-COVID environment,” Hand said.

Worldline Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Gilles Grapinet enunciated, “The strategic alliance with ANZ is a landmark transaction for Worldline.

“In a rapidly changing industry Worldline will be at ANZ’s side to leverage focused technical capabilities to provide the best customer proposition and user experience across all segments. Our long-term and exclusive joint venture is based on our shared vision to deliver value added merchant acquiring products and services in Australia.

“Worldline continues on its growth path, and after the successful closing of Ingenico, the alliance with ANZ is a major step to expanding our footprint outside Europe. I look forward to combining Worldline’s global scale and best-in-class technologies with ANZ’s vast banking footprint and expertise to support our customers, wherever they may operate,” Grapinet said.

The joint venture arrangement involves ANZ and Worldline forming a newly created merchant acquiring group, with ANZ and Worldline holding a 49 per cent and 51 per cent interest respectively.

ANZ estimates that the completion of the transaction will increase its Level 2 CET1 capital ratio by ~5 basis points. The transaction is expected to be completed in late 2021 and is subject to regulatory and other approvals and card scheme arrangements.

As part of the joint venture, ANZ and Worldline will enter into a long-term strategic alliance under 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 be the exclusive provider of banking services to the joint venture, including providing certain financing facilities. The strategic alliance has an initial term of 10 years. The joint venture board will comprise five directors: three appointed by Worldline and two appointed by ANZ.