The Financial Service Authority in the United Kingdom has authorized Euronet Worldwide Inc. to acquire ATM and credit card transactions throughout most of Europe without the requirement of a sponsor bank, the e-payments provider announced last week.
After receiving the authorization, Euronet applied for membership and was accepted as an acquirer for Visa Europe and MasterCard Worldwide, enabling the processor to acquire ATM transactions, the Leawood, Kan.-based company stated in a Nov. 23 press release.
When business opportunities present themselves, Euronet intends to apply for membership with the card schemes for point-of-sale merchant acquiring, the company stated. Euronet is a wholly owned subsidiary of Euronet Payments & Card Services Ltd.
The authorization allows Euronet to issue e-money products and to provide payment services in the European Economic Area, which includes European Union member countries, plus Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway, the release noted.
Euronet benefits from the authorization and acquiring license because it allows the company to conduct business in an entirely new manner, according to Nikos Fountas, Euronet’s senior vice president and managing director of the European division.
“Previously, any time we deployed ATMs in new markets we had to engage in lengthy negotiations to secure a sponsor bank,” Fountas stated in the press release.
In the future, an acquiring sponsor bank will no longer be required, allowing Euronet to directly acquire transactions and independently deploy ATMs directly with card schemes, Fountas added.
Euronet provides payment processing services and ATM deployment through much of central and Eastern Europe, but the company expects to move into new markets more quickly without the constraints of additional licensing or sponsor bank requirements, Fountas explained.
The company last month reported a healthy increase in third quarter revenue and positive adjusted cash earnings (
