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Decisions

Kvika Banki‘s Purchase of Merchant Acquiring Contracts from the Merged Company of Rapyd and Valitor

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  • Case number: 14/2022
  • Date: 24/3/2025
  • Company:
    • Valitor hf.
    • Kvika banki hf.
    • Rapyd
  • Sectors:
    • Financial services
  • Policy Area:
    • Mergers
  • Summary

    With this decision, the Icelandic Competition Authority (ICA) authorises Kvika banki hf. ("Kvika") to purchase a specified quantity of merchant acquiring contracts from the merged company of Rapyd Financial Network (2016) Ltd. ("Rapyd") and Valitor hf., pursuant, on the one hand, to commitments made by Rapyd in a settlement with the ICA in relation to a merger investigation that lead to ICA‘s decision No. 13/2022, The Merger of Rapyd and Valitor – and pursuant, on the other hand, to commitments made by Kvika in a settlement with the ICA in relation to the purchase of the acquiring contracts which constitutes a merger within the meaning of competition law. The commitments made by Kvika are published at the end of the decision.

     

    The merged company will temporarily provide Kvika with services, particularly in the areas of technical implementation and settlement with the international payment card companies. This service provision also entails that Kvika will temporarily operate on the basis of the merging parties' principal membership with the international payment card schemes. Based on Kvika‘s settlement with the ICA, Kvika has inter alia committed to transfer the aforementioned service purchases to another service provider that is not a major acquirer in Iceland before a certain deadline. This is important to ensure Kvika's lasting competitive independence from the merged company. The settlement also includes inter alia provisions that ensure Kvika's acquiring services will not be operated in a subsidiary of Kvika unless certain conditions are fulfilled.

    The ICA does not consider that further intervention is required in relation to Kvika's purchase of the aforementioned merchant acquiring contracts than is reflected in Kvika‘s commitments in its present settlement with the ICA and in the provisions of the aforementioned previous settlement Rapyd made with the ICA.