GoCardless to buy Nuapay

Bank payment company GoCardless has agreed to acquire Nuapay, the Open Banking business of EML Payments, to create a full-service bank payment provider.

The financial details of the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals, have not been disclosed.

GoCardless said that the acquisition will “significantly scale” its indirect channel proposition, thereby consolidating its position as a “key” payment provider to existing and new customer segments, including independent software vendors and payment service providers.

GoCardless will incorporate Nuapay’s offering into its bank payment platform, enabling it to “fast-track” the rollout of new disbursement capabilities to its customers and prospects.

In doing so, GoCardless will unlock new vertical sectors and use cases in areas such as payroll, financial services, utilities, insurance, gaming and gambling.

GoCardless CEO Hiroki Takeuchi

Hiroki Takeuchi, co-founder and chief executive officer of GoCardless, said: “Nuapay is an established account-to-account payment provider and Open Banking specialist with a blue-chip customer base.

“Its business is perfectly aligned to our growth strategy, and will accelerate our vision to become the world’s bank payment network.”

“How the world pays and gets paid is being transformed, with account-to-account payments and Open Banking playing the central role in that shift,” added Brian Hanrahan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nuapay.

“Building on that shared vision, this acquisition will result in a combined organisation with deep domestic and international payments and Open Banking expertise, plus the scale to harness these opportunities for our clients and partners.”

Last year, GoCardless launched ‘Embed’, a white label product enabling third-party payment providers to integrate its global bank payment network into their platform through a single API.

More recently, GoCardless became a named supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System, meaning it can bid for account information services and payment initiation services ‘Request for Tenders’ issued by any UK public sector body that uses the procurement system.