The buy-out comes a year after the two formed the HSBC Merchant Services JV to provide payment processing services to merchants in the United Kingdom and Internet merchants globally. At the time, Global Payments paid HSBC $439 million in cash to acquire a 51% majority stake in the bank's UK card merchant acquiring business.

Under the new agreement, HSBC will extend the current ten-year exclusive marketing alliance agreement whereby the bank provides merchant referrals and bank sponsorship to Global Payments to June 2019.

Global Payments' chairman and CEO, Paul Garcia says: "Our performance in the United Kingdom this year has provided a strong foundation for long-term growth, as we continue to provide a wide range of high-value payment solutions and world-class service to merchants."

Global Payments and HSBC already work together in North America and Asia. In 2005 Global Payments paid the bank $67.2 million in cash for a 56% interest in a payments processing joint venture covering 10 countries and territories in Asia.

Noel Quinn, HSBC's UK head of commercial banking, says of the transfer: "We are focused on ensuring that our commercial banking relationships benefit from a combination of HSBC's core service capabilities, including our international distribution, and from high quality support services."