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Yes. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) cleared Global Payments’ proposed acquisition of Worldpay at phase 1 on 20 October 2025, deciding not to refer it for an in-depth phase 2 investigation. The acquisition later closed on 9 January 2026. The CMA’s decision concerned competition in UK markets; it was not a global approval of every aspect of the transaction.
What happened, and when?
Global Payments announced its agreement to acquire Worldpay from FIS and GTCR on 17 April 2025. The proposed transaction also included a separate sale: Global Payments agreed to sell its Issuer Solutions business to FIS.
| Date | Event | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 17 April 2025 | Global Payments announced the two linked agreements. | The announced net purchase price for Worldpay was approximately $22.7 billion, or $24.25 billion including $1.55 billion of anticipated tax assets. Global Payments valued the Issuer Solutions divestiture at $13.5 billion. These are announced transaction values, and the acquisition and divestiture are distinct legs of the deal. |
| 20 October 2025 | The CMA issued its phase 1 decision. | It concluded that the merger would not create a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition in any UK market it assessed, and would not refer the deal to phase 2. |
| 5 November 2025 | The CMA published its full decision. | The published decision records the reasoning behind the earlier outcome. |
| 9 January 2026 | Global Payments reported completion of both the Worldpay acquisition and the Issuer Solutions divestiture. | The buyer’s completion announcement and SEC filing confirm that the transaction closed. |
The CMA’s operative decision sentence was: “The Merger will not be referred under section 33(1) of the Act.” The decision, signed by Richard Flanagan, Director, Mergers, was made under the UK Enterprise Act 2002.
What competition did the CMA assess?
The parties primarily overlapped in merchant acquiring: services that let merchants accept digital payments. The CMA examined the UK market and considered two payment channels:
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- Card-present (CP): payments made at a physical point of sale, such as in a shop or restaurant.
- Card-not-present (CNP): payments made without the card being physically presented, such as ecommerce purchases.
The CMA did not define CP and CNP as separate product markets, but considered competition in both channels. It took a cautious approach to geographic scope because the evidence was mixed on whether CNP competition was national or wider.
The assessment also distinguished merchant sizes: Enterprise, Large, Mid-market, SMB and Micro. The CMA noted that there is no consistent industry-wide categorisation of merchant size. The needs of those customers can differ: larger merchants may require analytics, omnichannel services and bespoke integrations, while smaller businesses may prioritise straightforward setup and integrated services. The available alternatives and competitive evidence therefore varied by segment.
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Why did the CMA clear the deal?
The parties were not especially close competitors
The CMA’s horizontal unilateral-effects assessment found that Global Payments and Worldpay were not close competitors, particularly for the largest Enterprise customers. Bidding and switching evidence showed that the two competed infrequently for Enterprise opportunities.
Enterprise customers had other suppliers
Enterprise customers identified several alternative providers, including Barclaycard, Adyen, JPMorgan Chase, Fiserv, Lloyds Cardnet, Elavon and Stripe. The CMA considered the presence of these alternatives alongside the evidence about how often the merging parties competed against one another.
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Published market shares were ranges, not exact percentages
The CMA’s 2025 decision reported share-of-supply estimates based on 2024 card transaction value. It used ranges where commercially confidential information could not be disclosed; the figures should not be read as exact point estimates.
| Area assessed | Worldpay | Global Payments | Combined position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall UK merchant acquiring | 20–30% | 0–5% | 20–30% |
| Card-not-present (CNP) | Not stated as a separate range in the findings summarised here. | Increment below 5%. | 20–30% |
| Card-present (CP) | Not stated as a separate range in the findings summarised here. | Increment below 5%. | 30–40% |
| Micro customers | Not stated as a separate range in the findings summarised here. | Not stated as a separate range in the findings summarised here. | Below 25% overall and in each of CP and CNP |
| Large segment | Not stated as a separate range in the findings summarised here. | Not stated as a separate range in the findings summarised here. | Below 30% |
For micro customers, the CMA also found that many competitors served the segment and that barriers to entry were low. In the Large segment, it expected a range of competitors to remain. These segment findings should not be confused with the overall market estimate.
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What the clearance does—and does not—say
Phase 1 clearance means the CMA decided not to send the transaction to a more detailed phase 2 investigation under the UK merger-control process. Its conclusion was that the deal did not create a realistic prospect of substantially lessening competition in any UK market it assessed.
That is a UK competition finding, not a statement that the merger could have no effect on any merchant, nor proof that every regulator worldwide reviewed the deal or reached the same conclusion. The CMA decision mentions other jurisdictions only in redacted form in the record available here; it does not establish a complete global approval timeline.
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For the CMA’s case status and timeline, see its Global Payments / WorldPay merger inquiry. The full reasoning is in the CMA decision (ME/2258/25). Global Payments’ 17 April 2025 transaction announcement describes the announced terms; its completion announcement reports the closing.
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