Visa makes another Open Banking grab with €1.8bn purchase of Tink

Visa is snapping up Swedish Open Banking platform Tink for €1.8bn.

Tink, founded in 2012, is a leading fintech in Europe which focuses on Open Banking, a disruptive market which has been growing at breakneck speed in recent years.

Tink originallly concentrated on building a personal finance management app but now uses its technology to help hundreds of banks and fintechs across Europe build products through aggregating customers’ financial data.  

It offers a single API so that customers can connect to bank accounts from their own apps and services.

The announcement of deal mark Visa’s second attempt to make a major play in Open Banking after its proposed $5.3 takeover of San-Fransicso based fintech Plaid, which ultimately was scrapped amid concerns from regulatory that it would curb competition.

“In Tink, we have found a strong partner with whom we can accelerate innovation in open banking for the benefit of our collective clients and the citizens of the U.K. and the E.U., while investing in high-skill tech jobs on the continent,” said Charlotte Hogg, CEO of Visa Europe in a statement.

“As we got to know Visa, it became clear that we share a common mission – to connect the financial world and accelerate the growth and adoption of digital financial services,” Tink said in a blog post.

“Teaming up with Visa means we’ll now be able to move faster and reach further than ever before, and we know that Visa is the perfect partner for the next stage of our journey.”

Visa says it intends to keep Tink managment team and brand, following the deal which remains subject to regulatory approval.