The Danish owned company PBS International AS has now been licensed as credit institution by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Kredittilsynet).
This is likely to increase competition in the Norwegian market and is a significant step in PBS' plans to expand its domestic market to include Scandinavia in its entirety.
A new major player in financial services is making its way into the Norwegian acquiring market, i.e. collection, verification and settlement of payment transactions made with credit cards in Norway.
Through its Norwegian subsidiary PBS International AS, the Danish owned company, PBS A/S, has already concluded an agreement with Norwegian Fokus Bank ASA to acquire Fokus Bank's credit card acquiring services.
The agreement covers acquiring of credit cards issued by MasterCard and Visa. However, in the long term, the plan is for the company to manage acquiring of credit cards from other issuers as well.
"Taking over the acquiring services from Fokus Bank is an important step in expanding our domestic market to include all of Scandinavia. The acquisition is a logical step following the establishment of NETS, which we own together with Norwegian BBS. Furthermore, we have just announced the acquisition of Swedish Strålfors Payments. So now we have a strong foothold in Scandinavia ", says CEO Flemming L. Jensen, PBS A/S.
NETS offer processing services to card acquirers and card issuers in the European market. In all PBS has 25 years of experience in the field of acquiring services.
Increased competition
With the acquisition of the portfolio of Fokus Bank, PBS takes over a small share of the Norwegian market for credit card acquiring. The plan is for this small share to increase over time:
"We have extensive experience and well-tested technology, and so we have an excellent basis for optimising the acquiring process. There is no doubt that our acquisition of Fokus Bank's acquiring activities will increase competition in Norway significantly", says CEO Ketil Fridheim, PBS International AS.
Fokus Bank ASA will continue to operate as an agent responsible for selling acquiring services to potential new users.