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05/12/2018

PayPal Allays Price Rise And Competition Concerns Of CMA From Its Izettle Deal




PayPal Allays Price Rise And Competition Concerns Of CMA From Its Izettle Deal
Concerns of consumers and investors about the increase of the costs and price for PayPal’s payment services and the concerns by anti-trust bodies about reduced competition because of the acquisition of European technology start-up iZettle in a deal worth $2.2 billion were completely dismissed by the payments transfer company.
 
The acquisition of the European technology start-up iZettle was the largest ever takeover of the U.S.-based fintech giant PayPal in its history and the two companies closed the deal for Swedish payments company iZettle this September.
 
But the deal has not gone down well for the united Kingdom’s antitrust watchdog — the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) — and has been saying since the completion of the deal that PayPal "could face insufficient competition in the U.K. after acquiring its market-leading rival."
 
"We absolutely believe that we will demonstrate that we are bringing more choice (and that) we are pro-competition," said PayPal's Chief Operating Officer (COO) Bill Ready while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Slush technology conference in Helsinki recently. .
"We are really looking to expand the market in ways that are great for small business and great for consumers alike," Ready said.
 
The concerns and warnings of the British antitrust body were published last month and has since further added that the acquisition has caused the rising of concerns that "could result in customers, which include small and medium sized-businesses, paying higher prices or receiving a lower-quality service."
 
The deal would get referred to for an in-depth scrutiny and investigation if the companies - PayPal and iZettle, are not able to adequately satisfy the concerns expressed by the British regulators.
 
"While iZettle is a relatively recent entrant to payment services, it has already established a market-leading position in mobile point of sale devices and was well-placed to compete against PayPal in other emerging markets," said Andrea Gomes da Silva, CMA executive director, in a statement.
 
He further said that this is the reason that the British watch dog is worried there can be higher pricing for customers because of the acquisition of the Swedish form by PayPal. He also said that the body was also concerned about possibilities of reduction in competition and thereby quality of the services rendered to customers.
 
In order to address and allay the fears and concerns expressed by the CAM, PayPal was "engaging productively" with the CMA, informed PayPal's Ready to reporters.
 
(Source:www.cnbc.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell

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