Paysafe Limited (formerly known as Optimal Payments PLC) is a multinational online payments company. Paysafe offers payment processing, digital wallet and online cash systems to businesses and consumers, with particular experience of serving the global entertainment sectors. The group offers services both under the ''Paysafe'' brand and subsidiary brands that have become part of the group through several

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

, most notably

Neteller Neteller is a global payments platform and digital wallet used to transfer money to and from merchants, such as forex trading brokers, social networks, and gambling websites. Users in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom can ...

Skrill Skrill is part of Paysafe Limited, a global payments platform. It is one of Paysafe's digital wallet brands and was established in 2001 to offer multiple online payment and money transfer services. Skrill operates in more than 100 countries wi ...

, SafetyPay, PagoEfectivo, Paysafecash and paysafecard. Legally domiciled in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

, Paysafe’s corporate headquarters are in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Various Paysafe group companies hold a number of licences from different national and state regulators including the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financi ...

and the

Central Bank of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland () is the national central bank for Ireland within the Eurosystem. It was the Irish central bank from 1943 to 1998, issuing the Irish pound. It is also the country's main financial regulatory authority, and since 2 ...

. The company was listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and was a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 250 Index, also called the FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 250, or, informally, the "Footsie 250" , is a stock market index that consists of the 101st to the 350th mid-cap blue chip companies listed on the London Stock ...

until it was acquired by a consortium of

The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter G. Peterson, Peter Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman, Stephen Schwarzman, who h ...

and

CVC Capital Partners CVC Capital Partners plc is a Jersey-based private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately €186 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, European, ...

in December 2017. Paysafe then listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

on March 31, 2021 (ticker PSFE) following a merger with

special purpose acquisition company A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a blank check company or a blind-pool stock offering, is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring (or merging with) a private company, thus taking t ...

Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp II.

History

The company was formed from the combination of Neteller PLC, Netbanx Ltd and Optimal Payments Limited. Netbanx was founded in 1996, Optimal Payments in 1997, and Neteller in 1999. In April 2004, Neteller PLC raised about $70 million in its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) on the London Stock Exchange. In November 2005, Neteller PLC acquired Netbanx Ltd. In November 2008, Neteller PLC renamed itself to Neovia Financial PLC. In February 2011, Neovia Financial PLC acquired Optimal Payments of Montreal, Canada. Next month, Neovia Financial PLC changed its name to Optimal Payments PLC. In early 2012, the acquisition was revealed to be a reverse takeover with the purging of a number of the senior management along with the chairman of the board. In July 2014, Optimal Payment PLC expanded its United States interests by purchasing Meritus Payment Solutions, a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

based payment processing company, and Global Merchant Advisors, Inc. based in the U.S. in a deal worth over $235 Million. In March 2015, Optimal Payments PLC revealed that it would acquire rival

group, including pre-paid voucher provider paysafecard, for a fee of around €1.1 billion. In the same year, Optimal Payments rebranded as Paysafe Group. The company moved to the main market of the London Stock Exchange in December 2015. On 25 November 2016, Paysafe Group, owner of Neteller and Skrill, restricted the use of the Net+ Prepaid MasterCard to countries within the

Single Euro Payments Area The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a payment integration initiative of the European Union for simplification of bank transfers denominated in euros. , there were 41 members in SEPA, consisting of the 27 member states of the European Union ...

(SEPA). This left users in over 100 countries unable to withdraw cash from ATM's, which left no recourse but to make purchases with Neteller/Skrill merchant partners or transfer funds to a bank account. In August 2017, it was announced that Paysafe would be sold to a consortium of

and

for £2.96 billion, making it the largest

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

backed takeover of a London-listed company since the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. The acquisition was approved by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

on 22 November 2017. On 21 December 2017, Paysafe got delisted from the London Stock Exchange. In April 2019, with the likelihood of the upcoming withdrawal of the

(UK) from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU), the so-called "

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

", Paysafe Group announced their plans to prevent any negative effects for their users and merchants. Since Brexit came into effect, the company has transferred its European Economic Area (

EEA The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Assoc ...

) business to newly incorporated group companies based in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, namely Paysafe Payment Solutions Limited and Paysafe Prepaid Services Limited. Each company is authorized and regulated as an electronic money institution by the Irish financial services regulator, the

. In July 2020, it was announced that Paysafe bought payment gateway Openbucks for an undisclosed amount of money. It was announced that the Openbucks team would become part of the parent company's eCash solutions group. In December 2020, the company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to merge with

special-purpose acquisition company A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a blank check company or a blind-pool stock offering, is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring (or merging with) a private company, thus taking ...

, Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp, in a US$9 billion transaction. In April 2022, Paysafe announced a new partnership with US-based auto finance company Exeter Finance, allowing for eCash payments for US auto loans. That same month, the company also announced Bruce Lowthers would replace Philip McHugh as CEO and executive director from May 1, 2022.

Products and services

The company provides the following products and services: *

is an

electronic money Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...

digital wallet A digital wallet, also known as an e-wallet or mobile wallet, is an electronic device, online service, or software program that allows one party to make electronic transactions with another party bartering digital currency units for goods and s ...

service that allows consumers to add, withdraw and transfer funds to and from merchants and other people. Net+ prepaid payment card available in eight currencies is mainly intended to be used with Neteller and is accepted as normal MasterCard payment card. *

is a product that allows payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet, with a focus on low-cost international money transfers. * paysafecard and Paysafecash are payment methods that allow customers to make payments online without the use of a bank account or credit card information. * SafetyPay, an open banking and eCash platform based in Latin America. * PagoEfectivo, a Peruvian-based alternative payments (APM) platform. * viacash which enables consumers to make deposits or withdraw cash from their digital bank accounts at a nearby retail store using a barcode. * Income Access is an affiliate marketing and business intelligence provider.

Sponsorship

Optimal Payments was the official sponsor of

Crystal Palace Football Club Crystal Palace Football Club, commonly referred to as Crystal Palace or simply Palace, is a professional football club based in Selhurst, South London, England, which competes in the Premier League, the top-tier of English football. The club ...

for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons, with the front of the team's shirts displaying Neteller's logo. In February 2018 it was announced that Paysafe would sponsor the No. 19

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series and Indy NXT. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known ...

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

, shared by Zachary Claman DeMelo and

Pietro Fittipaldi Pietro Fittipaldi da Cruz (born 25 June 1996) is a Brazilian and American racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Pratt Miller Motorsports, and in the 2025 European Le Mans Series, European Le Mans Series for Vector S ...

, in the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series.

References

External links

{{Authority control Digital currencies Payment service providers Merchant services Financial services companies of the Isle of Man Financial services companies established in 1996 2017 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Special-purpose acquisition companies Financial services companies of Bermuda Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange CVC Capital Partners companies Blackstone Inc. companies