DOJ Approves Mastercard’s $825M Acquisition Of Finicity

Mastercard’s $825 million move to acquire Finicity, which provides access to financial data in real time, is inching ahead after the deal gained the approval of federal regulators.

“We have been notified that the Department of Justice completed its review of our planned acquisition of Finicity and has cleared it to move forward,” said Craig Vosburg, Mastercard’s president of North America. “We are pleased to have reached this milestone. “

Mastercard inked the deal to buy Finicity – which is based in Salt Lake City, Utah – in June. Finicity shareholders have the opportunity to take in an additional $160 million if performance targets are met.

At the time, Mastercard said the addition of Finicity’s technology and its 500 employees worldwide would strengthen its open banking platform and allow the company to offer more financial services choices.

“Enabling people to access and control their data, while ensuring best practices to protect that data, will continue to drive tremendous innovation that increases financial literacy, inclusion and health,” said Steve Smith, chief executive officer and co-founder of Finicity, at the time.

Finicity is part of the open banking movement, which lets third-party financial service providers access consumer banking, transactional and other financial data from financial institutions (FIs). Open banking allows for such services as money management programs or the initiation of payments.

“The acquisition of Finicity accelerates our open banking strategy and strengthens our ability to offer consumers and businesses more choice in how they pay and how they simplify their lives and maximize their financial relationships,” said Vosburg on Monday (Nov. 16). “We look forward to closing the deal and bringing the companies together to provide further value to consumers, banks, merchants, businesses and governments.”

Mastercard has worked on open banking for several years, including the 2019 launch of a set of comprehensive open banking solutions in Europe.

“We are optimistic that closing will take place in the fourth quarter,”  Vosburg added.