Visa Inc Finalises Buy Out of Visa Europe

Visa Inc has announced the completion of its acquisition of Visa Europe resulting in a combined global corporation servicing over 17,000 financial institutions and partners, 40 million merchant outlets and 3 billion card accounts across the world.

Visa branded cards and payment products currently enable approximately $6.8 trillion in global Payments volume annually.

The new world of online trading, fintech and marketing - register now for the Finance Magnates Tel Aviv Conference, June 29th 2016.

The acquisition follows the approval of the buyout from the European Commission earlier this month after Visa modified the terms of the deal to appease anti-trust concerns, ditching a planned earn-out in Exchange for an extra €1.75 billion in cash.

Visa expects to realise around $200 million in annual pre-tax cost synergies through the deal by 2020, representing about 30 percent of Visa Europe's operating expenses.

New Appointment

Visa Inc.’s board of directors also announced today that it has appointed Gary Hoffman, CEO of Hastings Group, as a Board member of Visa Inc. He is currently a director and Chairman of Visa Europe Limited.

Hoffman brings with him years of experience in the UK’s financial services space, including senior roles at Northern Rock, Barclays and Barclaycard. He has held the post of chief executive of Hastings Group, a UK-based insurance company, since November 2012.

Hoffman said: “It is exciting to be part of the next chapter in the Visa story. Visa Europe has performed strongly as a business and combining with Visa Inc. will provide European clients with greater access to the global scale, additional innovation resources and range of capabilities necessary to continue to offer the best payment services to their customers.”