Mastercard / Aiia 2021
Mastercard acquired Aiia on September 8, 2021.
- Target
- Aiia
- Acquirer
- Mastercard
- Deal type
- Undisclosed
- Announced
- September 8, 2021
- Sub-sector
- Regtech
Transaction overview
- Mastercard announced the acquisition of Aiia on September 8, 2021; financial terms were not disclosed.
- Aiia is a Danish open banking platform that connects banks, fintechs, and businesses via a single API.
- The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Aiia's platform covered connections to more than 2,500 banks across Europe at the time of the deal.
- Mastercard pursued the deal to expand its open banking capabilities in Europe.
- The transaction closed in November 2021 following regulatory clearance.
- Mastercard is a global payments network listed on the NYSE, processing billions of transactions annually.
Why it matters
- The deal extended Mastercard's open banking footprint in Europe, where PSD2 regulation has driven demand for account-to-account payment infrastructure.
- Aiia gave Mastercard a direct-connectivity layer to European bank APIs, complementing its 2019 acquisition of Nets' account-to-account business.
Strategic rationale
Mastercard buys Nordic open-banking aggregator with PSD2 coverage across European banks to extend its Finicity open banking franchise into Europe.
Deal terms & multiples
About Aiia
Aiia is a Copenhagen-based open banking technology company founded in 2017. The company operates a platform that aggregates connections to banks across the Nordic and broader European markets through a single API, supporting use cases including account data access and payment initiation. Its customers include banks, fintechs, and corporate clients building financial products on top of open banking infrastructure. At the time of the acquisition, Aiia had connections to more than 2,500 European banks.
- Founded
- 2017
- HQ
- Denmark
- Key metric
- Connections to 2,500+ European banks at time of acquisition
About Mastercard NYSE: MA
Mastercard is a global payments technology company headquartered in Purchase, New York, founded in 1966. The company operates a four-party card network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and governments across more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard reported net revenue of approximately $18.9 billion in 2021. Beyond card payments, the company has expanded into open banking, data analytics, and cyber and intelligence services through a series of acquisitions over the past decade.
- Founded
- 1966
- Ticker
- NYSE: MA
Frequently asked questions
How much did Mastercard pay for Aiia?
Mastercard did not disclose the purchase price. Financial terms were not made public at announcement or close.
What does Aiia do?
Aiia operates an open banking platform that connects banks and businesses via API, supporting account data access and payment initiation across Europe.
Why did Mastercard acquire Aiia?
Mastercard acquired Aiia to expand its open banking capabilities in Europe, adding direct API connectivity to more than 2,500 banks on the continent.
When did the Mastercard and Aiia deal close?
The transaction closed in November 2021, approximately two months after the September 8, 2021 announcement.
Where is Aiia headquartered?
Aiia is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was founded in 2017.
How does the Aiia acquisition fit Mastercard's open banking strategy?
Aiia followed Mastercard's 2019 acquisition of Nets' account-to-account payments business, continuing a pattern of building European open banking infrastructure through M&A.
Sources
- mastercard.com /news/europe/en/newsroom/press-releases/en/2021/september/mastercard-to-acquire-aiia/