ING is to shut down Payvision, the controversial international card acquirer and payments platform that the Dutch bank acquired in 2018 for €360 million.
A competitor to Adyen and Worldline, Payvision has been mired in controversy relating to dubious business practices undertaken prior to its acquisition by ING. Dubbed the "Wirecard of the Netherlands" by the European Funds Recovery Initiative, Payvison been held responsible for processing hundreds of millions of euros in payments that were generated from investment scams.
Last year ING sold half of Payvision’s operations for a nominal 1 euro - the part of the business that included payments processing for gambling and pornography customers including PornHub - leaving it with less profitable online payment processing activities.
In a statement, the Dutch lender says: "After a thorough evaluation of all options in the context of the rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive and capital intensive e-commerce merchant market, ING has concluded that it is not feasible to achieve its ambitions with Payvision. The aim is to complete the phase-out process by the second quarter of 2022."