After receiving unconditional authorization from the European Commission, Crédit Agricole and Worldline announce the creation of their joint-venture for digital payment services for merchants in France

The commercial brand of the joint venture will be unveiled very soon.

„The joint-venture aims to become a major player in payment services in France. It will leverage Worldline’s technological performance and innovation capabilities, particularly in the area of acceptance, and Crédit Agricole group’s merchant acquiring performance in the French market.” – according to the press release.

The joint-venture will also be responsible for the commercial development of this alliance with merchants, while providing active support to the banks within the Crédit Agricole group. The joint venture is 50% owned plus one share by Worldline and will therefore be fully consolidated. Crédit Agricole holds 50% of the capital less one share and will supervise the joint venture.

„The joint venture will integrate the „Cartes Bancaires” (CB) domestic payment scheme. In addition to French merchants, Worldline will offer its international merchants access to the CB scheme, thereby extending its wide range of local payment methods through access to one of the most powerful European domestic payment schemes.” – the company explained.

Gilles Grapinet – CEO of Worldline: “With the unconditional approval received from the European Commission at the beginning of March, we are particularly pleased to announce today the finalization of the agreements enabling the implementation of our joint-venture. This is another key step in our strategic partnership with the Crédit Agricole group in France, a market offering extremely important development prospects for Worldline. By combining Worldline’s technological expertise and offerings in payments with Crédit Agricole’s performance and distribution power, this unique collaboration promises to meet the ever-changing needs of merchants. Together, we have the greatest ambitions for our joint-venture, which will offer the best of our two groups to merchants and retailers operating in France in both physical and online commerce.”

Jean-Paul Mazoyer – Deputy General Manager of Crédit Agricole S.A. in charge of Technology, Digital and Payments: „After a period of preparation, the launch of our joint-venture marks the real starting point of our partnership with Worldline. This partnership with a major player in the payments business reflects Crédit Agricole’s ambition to strengthen its leadership in the payments business, a service at the heart of the banking relationship. Our joint-venture, which combines Worldline’s technological expertise in the acceptance business with the performance and commercial dynamism of the banks in Crédit Agricole group, indeed reflects our shared ambition to offer our merchants customers the very best payment solutions.  Under the responsibility of Meriem Echcherfi, Managing Director, our joint-venture will rapidly become a key player and leader in the French market.”

Calendar                                                 

2023-2024: joint investment phase of €80 million financed by Worldline and Crédit Agricole, to develop products and offerings and implement the joint venture;

2024: finalization of commercial agreements, establishment of the operational structure, regulatory procedures and preparation of dedicated offers and announcement of the new brand;

Early 2025: thejoint venture becomes fully operational and starts generating sales and gross operating income.