Mastercard expands open banking reach in Europe with acquisition of a new specialized platform, the third in two years

Mastercard today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Aiia, an European open banking technology provider offering a direct connection to banks through a single API, allowing its customers to develop and launch new digital solutions that meet the needs of everyday life, work and play..

Aiia is a licensed Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) and Account Information Service Provider (AISP) and operates under the supervision of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA).

The connectivity of Aiia in Europe will enable Mastercard to deliver the credit decisioning and credit scoring applications of Finicity to European clients. Similarly, the connectivity of Finicity in the U.S. will help deliver the account information services and payment applications of Aiia to U.S. clients – giving customers globally easier, faster and safer access to open banking services..

Today, Aiia has connections to more than 2,700 banks across Europe, processes more than 10 million bank logins, and more than a million account-to-account payments every month for large banks and e-commerce payment gateways. Aiia provides open banking services to a long list of banks, challenger banks, fintechs, accounting system providers and payment companies.

The transaction, which is anticipated to close by year’s end, is subject to customary closing conditions. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

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In 2019, Mastercard launched its first open banking connectivity offering in the UK and Poland through a partnership with Token.

With the acquisition of Finicity in 2020, Mastercard bolstered a strong commitment to its customers by bringing together top-tier technology platforms, dedicated resources and a global infrastructure to catalyze innovation and continue to deliver localized customer service. This commitment continued earlier in 2021 with Mastercard Payment Services, a broader set of account-to-account payment and open banking capabilities gained in the acquisition of the majority of Nets’ Corporate Services business..