Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS to benefit from sale of Visa
Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and RBS are set to receive multi-million pound windfalls from the £15bn sale of the European arm of Visa to New York-listed Visa Inc. They will together net well over £1bn from the sale, with Barclays predicted to receive over £1bn alone, since it handles around 10% of Visa Europe's payments. However, there are concerns that the deal may mean extra costs long-term as it is expected that Visa will try and raise its fees at the expense of the banks, which may be passed on to customers.

Barclays will be the big winner from the buyout of Visa Europe by its US counterpart, which could be worth as much as €21.2bn (£15bn).

Visa Inc will initially pay €16.5bn in cash and shares, followed by a deferred consideration of €4.7bn if the European business meets certain performance targets. This will provide a windfall to the 3,000 banks and payments services firms that collectively own Visa, with several British banks set to pocket the biggest gains.

Top of the list is Barclays, which the Financial Times says handles about ten per cent of Visa Europe's transactions and could be in line for proceeds of as much as £1.3bn. The Daily Telegraph also says Barclays will receive the largest sum but much less at around £400m, while fellow British banks Lloyds (£300m), Royal Bank of Scotland (£200m) and HSBC (£150m) will also profit handsomely.

All of the stakeowners hold a single share in the business to equalise their voting rights, but these are valued very differently depending on the amount of business transacted. While all will welcome the financial boost from the sale, the Telegraph warns that they "may now get a worse deal from Visa as they will be customers of the firm rather than its owners".

In the UK, the Bank of England is reported to be seeking to limit the impact of the move on cyber-security capabilities by requesting Visa commit to retaining a sizeable UK presence. Visa Europe currently employs 1,700 people in London. In the wake of the deal being announced it confirmed London will remain the headquarters for its European operations.

The FT says the deal is designed to let Visa compete more effectively on a global basis with its arch rival MasterCard, but analysts warned there is a risk that the latter could win back some of the business that was previously tied to Visa Europe.

Barclays and Lloyds in line for £1bn windfall from Visa sale

02 November

The US arm of the credit and debit card business Visa is to re-merge with the European arm it split from eight years' ago in a deal that will generate a windfall of around £1bn for the British banks Barclays and Lloyds.