The takeover of Fjölgreiðslumiðlun hf. (now Greiðsluveitunni hf.) by the Central Bank of Iceland

Samkeppniseftirlitið hefur með ákvörðun sinni í dag heimilað yfirtöku Seðlabanka Íslands á Fjölgreiðslumiðlun hf. (nú Greiðsluveitunni hf.) Eru yfirtökunni þó sett ýmis skilyrði. Fjölgreiðslumiðlun var áður í eigu flestra viðskiptabanka og sparisjóða landsins auk Valitors hf., Borgunar hf. og Seðlabanka Íslands. Kaup Seðlabanka Íslands á öllu hlutafé fyrri meðeigenda fela í sér samruna í skilningi 17. gr. samkeppnislaga. Eftir breytingar heitir félagið Greiðsluveitan hf.

The Competition Authority has concluded that the takeover will, on balance, have a positive competitive effect on the market for payment services and payment clearing in Iceland, but Greiðsluveitan will m.a. operate a system for the settlement of payment instructions and an electronic payment channel for the use of payment cards in Iceland (the RÁS system). Furthermore, the Payment Service Provider will operate various important activities in this field.

It is recognised that this activity is very important and necessary for general financial operations, and it must therefore be ensured that all operators, both existing and new, can connect to these systems and use their services. This access must be transparent and based entirely on the principles of equality and objective criteria and conditions.

In light of the position of the Payment Institution in the defined markets of this case and all circumstances related to them in this country, the Competition Authority considers it necessary to impose various conditions on the merger concerning the company's operations and management, and to intervene on the basis of the comcompetition law. Negotiations with the merging parties have led to an agreement on the conditions in the case. The Competition Authority considers that the conditions resolve the competition concerns arising from the merger. The merging parties have agreed to comply with them.