JP Morgan snaps up stake in Greek fintech Viva Wallet
JP Morgan has snapped a 49 per cent stake in Athens-based payments fintech Viva Wallet, the firm announced today.
The American banking giant is expected to inject around $1.15bn into the firm, including a capital increase in Viva Wallet which will not dilute the founders’ stake of 51.5 per cent, Reuters reported.
Viva Wallet, which provides payment and card payment services in 23 countries across Europe, is the latest in a spate of acquisitions for the bank which announced plans to ramp up its annual tech investment to $12bn in January.
JPMorgan’s head of global payments Takis Georgakopoulos told Reuters: “We are very excited to make a strategic investment in Viva Wallet to support their vision to empower new growth and payments innovation targeted at European small and midsize businesses.”
Georgakopoulos said that European payments sector represented a major opportunity for the firm with 17m merchants ready to roll out digital payments systems.
JPMorgan’s stake will be acquired from Viva Wallet’s minority shareholders, the Latsis Family office, which owns a 13 per cent stake, and Hedosophia, a British hedge fund which owns around 23 per cent of the firm.