European card processing: the decline of the old order

Continuing its aggressive European expansion, First Data has agreed to acquire Austria's local interbank processor Austrian Payment Systems Services (APSS). This is unlikely to be the last such transaction in the current round of M&A activity sweeping the European card processing market, as regulation and cross-border banking consolidation push banks to abandon the interbank processors.

Published By Datamonitor

Health insurance: Austrian private market recovers

Published By Datamonitor

Investments: EU causes alarm and despondency

Published By Datamonitor

KPMG Consulting: Teutonic triumph follows Anglo failure

Following the US consultancy unit's float in 2001, KPMG is now separating its consultancy and auditing businesses elsewhere. This deal is good news for the US firm, which last week lost out to Atos for KPMG's UK and Dutch consultancy units: a global offering is increasingly vital for IT services firms. However, M&A alone won't end the ongoing industry downturn.

Published By Datamonitor

OMV: focusing on value-added services to drive market share

Through a partnership with Western Union, fuel retailer OMV is set to offer international money transfer facilities across its network in eight Central and Eastern European countries. This is the second recent venture into the financial services space for OMV, and highlights its high focus on expanding and diversifying its service offering to drive customer satisfaction.

Published By Datamonitor

Plastic cards: Swiss to spend E17 billion via plastic in 2004

Published By Datamonitor