Marking another step toward consolidation in Europe’s payments
market, France’s largest retail bank Crédit Agricole and pan-European payments processor
Equens have entered into exclusive talks to explore the possibility
of what they term “aligning their payment platforms.” The objective
is to conclude the negotiations in 2010.
Should the consolidation get the go-ahead,
combining the payment processing operations of Crédit Agricole’s subsidiary CEDICAM with Equens’ would
create a payments processor with a combined volume of over 15
billion transactions annually. Of the total, about 9 billion
transactions would be attributable to Equens’ exiting services and
about 6 million transactions to Crédit Agricole’s.
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In a joint release Crédit Agricole and Equens explained that underlying the
concept of the consolidation are three key objectives:
• Combining volumes and developing synergies
to lower unit processing costs;
• Fostering growth dynamics from a unique
position as a European leader offering technical and commercial
expertise and broad regional coverage; and
• Sharing expertise that benefits the entire
product chain.
Commenting on the negotiations, the chairman
of Equens’ board, Michael Steinbach, said: “The intended
co-operation with CEDICAM is a major next step forward in our
strategy to become the premier pan-European processor. It will
enable us to further increase our scale, geographical presence and
product offering for the benefit of our current and future clients
and shareholders, like ABN AMRO, DZ Bank, ICBPI, ING and
Rabobank.”
From its perspective Crédit Agricole’s deputy
CEO Jean-Yves Hocher said that the mooted consolidation was in
response to what he termed the “major challenges within the rapidly
changing European landscape,” being faced.
“By discussing a partnership with Equens to
become the pan-European card and payment processor, we will be able
to combine expertise, technology, in-depth knowledge and the
processing of several billion transactions to serve our network,”
said Hocher. “This is fully in line with Crédit Agricole’s strategy
to build industrial partnerships with banks.”
