Santander splashes £350 million for majority stake in Ebury

Banco Santander is to pay £350 million to acquire a 50.1% majority stake in Ebury, a provider of corporate banking services to SMEs that trade internationally.

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Santander splashes £350 million for majority stake in Ebury

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Ebury, which operates in 19 countries and 140 currencies, has processed £16.7 billion in payments for its 43,000 clients trading across Europe and the Americas.

Under the terms of the transaction, Santander will acquire a 50.1% controlling stake for £350m, of which £70m will be new primary equity to support Ebury’s plans to enter new markets in Latin America and Asia.

Santander serves more than four million SME clients worldwide, of which more than 200,000 do international business.

Ana Botín, group executive chairman of Banco Santander, says: “Small and medium-sized businesses are a major engine of growth around the world, creating new jobs and contributing up to 60% of total employment and up to 40% of national GDP in emerging economies. By partnering with Ebury, Santander will deliver faster and more efficient products and services for SMEs, previously only accessible to larger corporates.”

For Ebury, the deal will enable it to leverage Santander’s capabilities, brand and correspondent bank network to establish new bank partnerships.

Juan Lobato and Salvador García, co-founders of Ebury, says: “Combining a big bank with nimble fintech means we can offer our clients the best of both worlds: they can benefit from our technology and high quality service safe in the knowledge that they are counterparty to one of the world most important financial institutions."

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Comments: (2)

Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith Founding CTO at RTGS & ClearBank

I think this is a wise wise move. Hopefully will show how powerful good FinTech companies can be when backed sufficiently to deliver on their vision, and have access to the rails and networks that enable them to execute....

Hamish Anderson

Hamish Anderson CEO at Money Mover

This type of collaboration makes a great deal of sense. My view is that similar partnerships represent an even bigger opportunity for the challenger banks which are looking to innovate, differentiate and grow BCA marketshare in an increasingly competitive sector.

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