HSBC & GLOBAL PAYMENTS FORM U

RNS Number : 8815W

HSBC Holdings PLC

17 June 2008

 



17 June 2008

HSBC FORMS UK CARD PROCESSING 

JOINT VENTURE WITH GLOBAL PAYMENTS INC.

HSBC Bank plc and Global Payments Inc., a leading electronic transaction processor, will establish a joint venture company to build the bank's point-of-sale card payments business.

HSBC processes card payments for UK merchants across 135,000 stores and outlets. The two companies, which already have a joint venture for card payments processing in Asia, aim to grow this customer base and provide a wider range of card payments solutions for customers.

The new company, HSBC Merchant Services Limited, will be 51 per cent owned by Global Payments and 49 per cent owned by HSBC Bank plc and headquartered in Leicester. Under the agreement, HSBC will transfer its existing UK card processing business to Global Payments for a consideration of US$439 million and, pending regulatory approval, plans to complete the deal within two months. For the calendar year 2007, HSBC's merchant acquiring business in the United Kingdom generated revenue of approximately US$229 million (£114 million).

HSBC's 400 card processing staff will become employees of Global Payments. No redundancies are expected.

Alan Keir, HSBC's Group General Manager, Commercial Banking, said: "The creation of HSBC Merchant Services builds on our partnerships with Global Payments in Asia and North America. Through the combination of HSBC's extensive business customer franchise, and Global Payments' experience in transaction handling, HSBC Merchant Services will offer a compelling proposition."

HSBC and Global Payments also have sale-and-referral agreements in the US and Canada.

Global Payments is one of the world's largest transaction processors and offers worldwide, world-class electronic transaction processing services. 

Paul R. Garcia, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Payments, said: "We are thrilled that HSBC, one of the world's most respected financial institutions, has agreed to expand its relationship with Global Payments into the United Kingdom. We expect to focus on growing the customer base by providing an expansive range of card payment solutions. Longer term, with the adoption of the Single Euro Payments Area initiatives, we expect to be in an excellent position to provide seamless acquiring services to merchants throughout Europe." 

HSBC and Global Payments have also agreed to a 10-year marketing alliance in which HSBC will refer customers to the joint venture for payment processing services in the UK. 

Media enquiries to Neil Brazil on [phone] or [e-mail] 

Notes to editors:

1. HSBC Bank plc
HSBC serves 15.6 million customers in the UK and employs more than 40,000 UK staff. HSBC is Britain's most recommended big bank. HSBC Bank plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc, and a member of the HSBC Group. 

2. Global Payments Inc.

Global Payments Inc. is a leading provider of electronic transaction processing services for consumers, merchants, Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), financial institutions, government agencies and multi-national corporations located throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Global Payments offers a comprehensive line of processing solutions for credit and debit cards, business-to-business purchasing cards, gift cards, electronic check conversion and check guarantee, verification and recovery including electronic check services, as well as terminal management. The company also provides consumer money transfer services from the United States and Europe to destinations in Latin America, Morocco, and the Philippines.

3. HSBC Holdings plc

HSBC Holdings plc serves over 128 million customers worldwide through around 10,000 offices in 83 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of some US$2,354 billion at 31 December 2007, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as 'the world's local bank'.

 

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