Worldline Sells India Payments Arm to BillDesk for ~€60M
Hey Payments Fanatic!
Worldline is selling its Indian payment activities to BillDesk for an estimated equity value of around €60M.
This is part of its broader strategy to refocus on core European payment operations. Important nuance: this isn’t a full exit from the ecosystem.
Worldline will enter into a long-term technology and software agreement with BillDesk. The Indian business changes hands. The software layer stays connected.
For reference: ~€90M revenue impact; ~€8M adjusted EBITDA; Free cash flow broadly neutral; ~Combined disposal proceeds across recent sales now estimated at €540–590M.
The message is clear…
Worldline is narrowing its scope, strengthening its balance sheet, and concentrating capital on Europe.
India remains a talent and innovation hub through its Global Competence Centres. But operational ownership of payments is moving to a domestic champion with local scale.
Less geographic spread. More strategic focus. In payments, sometimes discipline is the growth story.
Scroll down to see what else is moving in Payments today 👇I'll be back tomorrow with more stories from the sector.
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
📊 EVIDENT AI INDEX | PAYMENTS: Benchmarking the AI maturity of the largest payment networks and processors in North America and Europe. It evaluates four key pillars: talent, innovation, leadership, and transparency, offering a comprehensive view of who is leading in AI and how the payments sector is evolving.
NEWS
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GOLDEN NUGGET
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 — 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 👇Created by Arthur Bedel 💳 ♻️
Open Banking is not a product and not a new type of bank. It’s an API-based data and payment layer that allows customers — individuals or businesses — to securely share their bank data with third-party applications, only with explicit consent.
Instead of financial data being locked inside one institution, it becomes portable, permissioned, and usable in real time.
That shift is already changing how merchants handle payments, onboarding, and risk.
𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐬 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠
In traditional banking:
→ Customers interact directly with each bank
→ Data sits in silos
→ Every new service requires a new integration
With Open Banking:
→ Customers authorize access once
→ APIs connect banks to fintech and merchant apps
→ Data and payments move securely between systems
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲
• Direct bank payments at checkout
Merchants like Zalando and Ryanair enable account-to-account payments by connecting directly to banks such as ING, Santander, or BNP Paribas, reducing card fees, fraud exposure, and chargebacks.
• Faster onboarding and credit decisions
Platforms and marketplaces use live bank data from institutions like Barclays or HSBC to verify income, cash flow, and business activity — removing manual document uploads and accelerating approvals.
• Real-time reconciliation and treasury visibility
Large merchants and PSPs pull transaction and balance data directly from banks like JPMorganChase or Deutsche Bank to automate reconciliation, improve cash-flow forecasting, and reduce operational overhead.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞:
Open Banking laid the groundwork for:
→ Open Finance
→ Embedded finance
→ Real-time payments
→ Programmable money flows
The global Open Banking market is growing fast — with payments, value-added services, and data-driven products leading the expansion. A ~27% CAGR through 2030 isn’t hype; it reflects real adoption across banks, PSPs, and fintechs (DashDevs LLC)
Open Banking didn’t replace banks.
It opened the data layer — and merchants are already building on it.
Source: DashDevs LLC
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