Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.7886 — PostFinance/SIX Group/SIX Paynet) — Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2016-02-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: bank, economic concentration, financial services, merger control








C_2016039EN.01000301.xml










2.2.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 39/3





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.7886 — PostFinance/SIX Group/SIX Paynet)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2016/C 39/04)






1.


On 26 January 2016, the European Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which PostFinance AG (Switzerland), controlled by Schweizerische Post AG, and SIX Group AG (Switzerland) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and Article 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of SIX Paynet AG (Switzerland), currently controlled by SIX Group AG alone, by way of purchase of shares.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


PostFinance AG operates as a bank and offers payment transaction services for its final customers as well as interbank transactions. In addition, PostFinance offers a basic provision of services for payment transactions, including its own solutions for the handling of direct debit transactions. It also offers electronic invoicing to users of online and mobile banking in the form of its ‘e’ and ‘m’ banking solutions (‘E-Finance’), and to Electronic Data Interchange recipients.










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SIX Group AG operates the Swiss financial centre infrastructure and offers extensive services internationally in securities trading and settlement, financial information and payment transactions. SIX also offers solutions for Swiss Interbank Clearing, as well as for electronic direct debit transactions and e-billing for users of ‘e’ and ‘m’ banking, workflow users and EDI recipients.










—


SIX Paynet AG provides services in connection with electronic invoicing, receipt of e-bills, and online payments, and offers the requisite system solutions. These include the operation, development and marketing of a new solution for the transfer of invoices and direct debit transactions to ‘e’ and ‘m’ banking users, known as LEON.














3.


On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved. Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (2), it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.










4.


The Commission invites interested third parties to submit to it their observations on the proposed operation.
Observations must reach the Commission no later than 10 days following the date on which this notification is published. They can be sent to the Commission under reference M.7886 — PostFinance/SIX Group/SIX Paynet by fax (+32 22964301), by email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post to the following address:





European Commission




Directorate-General for Competition




Merger Registry




1049 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË










(1)  OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘Merger Regulation’).

(2)  OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.