Trustly finalises acquisition of Ecospend

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but it was confirmed that the deal was able to complete following approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.

Together, Trustly and Ecospend’s capabilities will include connectivity with more than 80 banks in the UK, as well as a reach of over 50 million consumers in the UK and payments volume in excess of £7.50bn (€8.53bn/$9.27bn) in the region.

Founded in 2017, Ecospend specialises in pay-by-bank payments and holds a contract with HM Revenue and Customs, the tax authority of the UK government.

“We are very excited that we have now officially closed the acquisition; this is an important milestone and is fully in line with Trustly’s ambitious target to be the game-changing market leader in the UK,” Trustly group chief executive Johan Tjärnberg said. 

Ecospend chief commercial officer James Hickman added: “The UK is the largest digital payments market in Europe and represents a huge opportunity for us. We have seen an incredible appetite from both consumers and businesses to embrace open banking and the simple and secure payments that it enables. 

“Trustly and Ecospend will be able to excel in this space with the most comprehensive and compelling solution on the market.”

In February last year, Trustly was fined SEK130m by Sweden’s financial supervisory authority Finansinspektionen for failing to comply with anti-money laundering regulations in the country.

An investigation led by Finansinspektionen found that Trustly had not complied with the authority’s regulations or Sweden’s Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (Anti-Money Laundering Act).

Shortcomings were identified in the areas of risk assessment, procedures and guidelines, customer due diligence and monitoring and reporting.