Visa’s plans to acquire financial technology startup Plaid Inc. were thwarted yesterday when the US Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit. The DOJ contends that Plaid, that powers Paypal’s Venmo and other payment apps, competes with Visa, and that the $5.3 billion acquisition would create a monopoly in online debit leading to higher prices and discouraging industry innovation.
CardLinx Insight:
The US antitrust lawsuit to block Visa’s planned acquisition of Plaid alleges that Visa offered to pay a huge price for the tiny company because Plaid was planning on launching a rival debit payment network to undercut Visa’s debit network. The suit is likely to effectively end the planned acquisition.
Data is increasingly the front line in the payment and fin-tech wars. Plaid has a developed a powerful financial data network that asks users to share their bank account credentials and then enables the company to access consumer data for free from leading bank portals.
Register Now for CardLinx East
“Looking Beyond 2021: The Age of Digital Commerce Post Covid-19”
via Zoom
December 8, 2020
9:00AM – 12:15PM (EST)
Personal and professional lives have been upended, yet industry innovation is in full swing. At this CardLinx Conference hear from leaders as they discuss opportunities presented since the pandemic began, including: Online-only card-linked offers that drive e-commerce spending; the convergence of ecommerce and brick-and-mortar shopping to boost consumer satisfaction; and the role delivery is taking in vitalizing merchants large and small.