CardOne to be sold for £15m

CardOne, the Chester-based provider of pre-paid cards and online banking platforms, is to be acquired by a listed payment services business for £15m.

Founded in 2007, CardOne is an independent, FCA authorised busine ss which provides current accounts and a digital banking platform, not only for personal account customers, but also to SMEs.

The CardOne Group has around 80,000 accounts and has processed around £3bn of customers’ money. Its products and services are complemented by desktop, mobile and app account management platforms.

In 2016 it had a revenue of £5.5m with gross profits of £3.9m and a net profit of £800,000.

FairFX said it believes CardOne is one of few providers that have a combination of regulatory compliance, technology stack and payment scheme memberships required to produce digital banking, adding that the deal will help it to achieve faster growth in the business sector.

FairFX is funding the acquisition through a share placing, which it expects to raise £25m.

Ian Strafford-Taylor, chief executive of FairFX, said: “The acquisition of CardOne is a major step forward for FairFX as the Group looks to broaden its offering and build a digital banking services company.

“To date, FairFX has been successful in disrupting the currency payments market by offering its customers a better service and value. CardOne has done much the same in the banking space, and together we believe we can provide a product offering which will deliver greater services and faster growth.”

Gateley is advising the shareholders of CardOne on the sale.