UK banking group HBOS is teaming with US payments processor First Data to provide merchant acquiring services in Australia.
Under the deal, HBOS's BankWest business in Australia and First Data will establish a new unit, called BWA Merchant Services, which will initially offer a range of transaction processing services to BankWest merchant clients.
First Data says BWA will move to its merchant processing platform over a course of eight months.
Greg Nash, MD of First Data International in Australia, New Zealand and South Asia, told reporters that the new venture had received regulatory approval. He believes the unit could capture up to a 15% share of the processing market in Australia in the next two and half years.
Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.