Banco Santander acquires Wirecard’s assets
After becoming embroiled in a scandal and filing for bankruptcy, disgraced non-bank payments firm Wirecard is being dismantled. First, it announced that Railsbank will be buying its UK operations, then Paynetics UK announced that it would acquire some of the assets of Wirecard UK & Ireland.
In between, Wirecard wrapped up its Singapore business.
This week, Spain-based Banco Santander has announced that it will be acquiring ‘highly specialised technological assets’ from the bankrupt Wirecard entity in Europe.
According to the press release the bank said that ‘the acquisition of Wirecard assets further strengthens Santander’s position in the global merchant acquiring space’.
As a part of the deal, around 500 employees who are currently managing the acquired assets will join Santander and will work under the umbrella of the Getnet global franchise.
Banco Santander said that the acquisition will accelerate Getnet’s expansion in Europe which will enhance its capabilities in e-commerce, multinational merchant servicing and other payment services.
The assets acquired by the bank will extend its global open banking platform architecture and create synergies in trade and payments, the press release noted.
The acquired assets include payment solutions for merchants for acquiring and issuance services.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the year but it is subject to regulatory approval. The acquisition does not include Wirecard companies and the bank will not assume any legal liabilities relating to Wirecard AG and Wirecard Bank AG or its past actions.
“The assets and talent we will gain as part of the acquisition will help us accelerate Getnet’s expansion plans in Europe, while also increasing our product development capacity”, said Ana Botín, Banco Santander executive chairman.