By Ian Walker
Danske Bank AS said Friday that Finland’s Pivo will no longer be part of the planned merger of mobile payment providers after the European Commission’s competition regulator expressed concerns over the deal.
Last year the Copenhagen-based bank agreed with OP Financial Group in Finland and the consortium of banks behind Vipps in Norway to merge the three mobile payment providers MobilePay, Vipps and Pivo.
However, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition expressed concerns over the deal given that it would lead to the merger of two large players in Finland.
Following talks with the regulator the parties agreed that Pivo will no longer be part of the deal, resulting in Danske Bank’s share of the venture–to be called Vipps MobilePay AS–rising to 27.8% from 25%.
“Danske Bank and the banks behind Vipps remain convinced that the merger of Vipps and MobilePay should go ahead, since it will create one of the most complete mobile wallets in Europe,” Danske Bank said.
It added that this change does not change its expectations and that it expects to book a 400-million Danish kroner ($53.8 million) one-off gain in its accounts from the deal.
The merger is still conditional approval from the relevant authorities, including the EU Commission, expected in the second half of this year.
Write to Ian Walker at [email protected]
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