Money movers sold for £869m

Payments and cashpoint giant VocaLink is being sold to Mastercard in a d e a l wor t h up to £869million.

Mastercard is snapping up a 92.4% stake in UK-based VocaLink for £700million, with a further potential £169million due if performance targets are met.

VocaLink runs services for banks, including Bacs, Faster Paym e n t s and Link cashpoints, as well as mobile app Zapp.

It is owned by a group of 18 banks, including HSBC, RBS, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays.

The deal comes after the Payment Systems Regulator called in February for banks to sell their stake in VocaLink to “open the market and allow for more effective competition and innovation”.

It said at the time that banks should loosen

“VocaLink is a company with outstanding technology”

their grip on the way payments are processed, with VocaLink processing more than 90% of salaries, over 70% of household bills and almost all state benefits in the UK. The banks will retain a 7.6% stake for at least three years.

Taxpayer- backed lender RBS is one of the largest shareholders in VocaLink, with a 21.4% stake, and said it will see a profits boost of around £150million initially.

Barclays confirmed it is set to gain up to £133million from the sale for its 15.2% stake, while the Co-operative Bank will get up to £28.3million for its 3.3% shareholding.

Ajay Banga, president and chief executive of Mastercard, said: “We’re excited about the opportunity to play a bigger role in payments in the UK. “VocaLink is a unique company with outstanding technology, assets and people.”