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HSBC Malta to sell card acquiring business to subsidiary
HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. has agreed to sell its card acquiring business to HSBC Merchant Services Ltd (Global), a Maltese subsidiary of Global Payments Inc.
28 December 2011, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
1 min read
Under the terms of the agreement, HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. will transfer its existing card acquiring business to Global for a consideration of €11.075 million (US$14.4 million), pending regulatory approval.
The new business will be HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c.'s preferred strategic provider of card acquiring services. HSBC's card acquiring staff will become employees of Global.
HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c.'s chief executive officer, Alan Richards, said: "this transaction builds on our partnerships with Global Payments in the UK, Asia Pacific and North America combining HSBC's extensive business customer franchise and Global Payments' experience in transaction handling."
The sale to Global represents further progress in HSBC's execution of the strategy set out in May 2011.
Nazzareno Pace •
It seems that the employees could not refuse to go with the new company and remain in their original role as bankers as an EU law allows for such transacotions. Is this the EU the employees have voted for? Obviously such cases were never mentioned during the referendum campaign.
Something else that needs to.be considered is the fact that the new company will be taking over the handling of the EPOS in the shops, which may mean an increase in charges for shops and businesses. Such charges will obviously be incurred by the consumers and hence an increase in prices is very much on the cards.
Last but not least, when the old Mid-Med Bank was purchaesed, employees were promised new positions and opportunities. Besides the fact that the highest positions were always in the hands of foreigners at HSBC Malta, it seems that people who had opted banking as their career, will now no longer be allowed to further develop their choice. Furthermore, it is possible that since the same employees will not be part of HSBC anymore, most of their benefits will cease from the day of the new employment. Where is the MUBE now?
