Clifford Chance advises ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank on EPI’s planned acquisition of iDEAL, to create a new pan-European digital payments solution

International law firm Clifford Chance has advised ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank in relation to the planned acquisition of Currence iDEAL (iDEAL), the leading Dutch payment scheme, by European Payments Initiative (EPI) from its shareholders ABN AMRO, ING, and Rabobank. EPI is also acquiring payment solutions provider Payconiq International (PQI). EPI, iDEAL and PQI will join forces to set up a new, innovative and unified payment solution for Europe.

EPI was launched in 2020 by fourteen commercial banks and partners from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France to create a new instant payment solution. As part of the transaction, ABN AMRO and Rabobank will join as shareholders of EPI alongside existing Dutch shareholder ING.

The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant national and European authorities. This transaction builds on Clifford Chance’s market-leading Corporate M&A practice and broad expertise advising on complex and innovative transactions in the financial institutions and payment services sector.

The Clifford Chance team was led out of Amsterdam and the core team consisted of Gregory Crookes, Jeroen Thijssen, Tim Heerschop, Merel Vermolen, Polly Huls and Samuel van Eijnatten (Corporate/M&A) and Jaap Tempelman and Tamlin Higgins (TMT). The wider team consisted of Richard Blewett, Frans Muller, Jurre Jurriëns, Bruno Weisser Lopez (Antitrust), Marian Scheele, Wouter van den Bosch, Sam Akkersdijk (Regulatory), Michiel Sunderman, Alec Sanderson, Cile Arnoldy (Tax), Floris van de Bult, Wijnanda Rutten, Sanne Blankestijn, Iga Mamczarz (Employment and Pensions), Mark-Jan Arends, Leen Kranenburg (Notary) and Alexander Tanguy (Finance).