Greece’s National Bank teams up with EVO on merchant acquiring business

National Bank of Greece has clinched a deal to form a joint venture with EVO Payments that will provide merchant acquiring and payment services, it said Friday.

Under the deal, EVO will purchase 51% of NBG’s merchant acquiring business for 158 million euros, with NBG offering card acceptance solutions via EVO’s products and processing platforms.

NBG’s agreement follows similar moves by other Greek banks that have offloaded their payments infrastructure, including Eurobank and Piraeus Bank. The transaction is expected to boost NBG’s capital ratio by about 60 basis points, the bank said.

[Reuters]