"In one fell swoop, this acquisition makes us a strong player when it comes to providing payment solutions for merchants," said Thomas Schaufler, chief retail officer of Erste Group.

The merchant business (acquiring) is a strategic business area for Erste Bank und Sparkassen, one of the largest banking groups in Austria. Erste Bank und Sparkassen had already successfully established its merchant business in recent years and will now expand further in this segment on the basis of this acquisition. The Global Payments s.r.o. team in Austria will triple in size as a result of this acquisition and will also be represented in all of the country’s nine states.

"The acquisition of Ingenico Group's merchant portfolio in Austria consolidates our joint venture with Global Payments and CaixaBank and underlines our strategy of offering innovative payments sector products for corporate customers and merchants. Strengthening our market position in Austria is therefore a logical and consistent step,” said Ingo Bleier, Erste Group’s Chief Corporates and Markets Officer and a member of the supervisory board at Global Payments s.r.o.

Card payments: a growth area

Customers increasingly want to pay for their purchases using cards, so the number of stores offering payment terminals and accepting cards is also on the rise. A record of more than 1.2 billion debit card transactions in Austria were conducted just in the Corona-impacted year 2020 alone.

Global Payments s.r.o. is Erste Bank und Sparkassen’s strategic partner responsible for offering payment terminals and other innovative payment solutions to merchants. It recently unveiled a new app that turns any Android phone into a payment terminal.

The entire transaction is subject to approval by the European Commission, as well as by the local supervisory authorities in Austria. The companies will continue to operate separately until the transaction’s closing, which is expected during the third quarter of 2021.

^{Global Payments
The world's largest provider of payment services and technology. The company operates in 100 countries, has 24,000 employees and 3.5 million clients. It processes over 50 billion transactions a year. GP focuses mainly on smaller traders and entrepreneurs and it ensures that customers can pay with their cards both in traditional stores and on the internet. Global Payments equip stores with terminals and e-shops with payment gateways. In shops customers can conveniently pay with their cards, mobile phones or watches.
Global Payments s.r.o. is a joint venture of Erste Group, CaixaBank and Global Payments Inc. The company operates in Central Europe and has more than 45,000 customers. Global Payments s.r.o. is the first company to bring a terminal in mobile to the market in Central Europe.}

^{Erste Group
Erste Group is the leading financial services provider in the eastern part of the EU. Its ca. 45,000 employees serve over 16 million customers in 2,176 branches in 7 countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia). For the first quarter of 2021, Erste Group had EUR 305 billion in total assets, posted a net profit of EUR 355 million and had a common equity tier 1 ratio (CRR, final) of 14.0%.}

^{CaixaBank
CaixaBank is Spain's leading retail bank on the basis of market share and is one of the ten largest banks in the eurozone by market capitalization. CaixaBank's activities cover Spanish and Portuguese retail banking, insurance, investment funds and pension plans, as well as the holding of industrial and real estate assets. CaixaBank, led by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri as Executive Chairman and Gonzalo Gortázar as CEO, has the largest customer base in Spain (approximately 21 million customers per March 2020), total assets of EUR 623.8 billion and a market capitalization of more than EUR 20 billion.}