The Post Office has been given the go-ahead to complete its acquisition of the Payzone bill payments business by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK and the deal is set to formally complete in the next week.
Bill payments are a core part of the Post Office’s retail offering; they provide an over-the-counter service to customers, generating footfall across its 11,500 branches. The move means Post Office will acquire an additional network of more than 13,000 Payzone bill payment outlets open more than 100 hours a week, along with their bill payment technology.
We’re thrilled to welcome Payzone’s bill payments network into the wider Post Office group. Bill payments are a vital service for customers, particularly for many vulnerable or elderly customers and people who don’t have online access so rely on paying their bills over the counter. This deal allows us to more than double our bill payment network. Through our combined reach of 25,000 bill payment outlets we are now in an even stronger position to compete for new and bigger bill payment contracts, helping to bring in more customers for Post Office branches and Payzone retailers alike.
– Debbie Smith, Retail Chief Executive, Post Office
With over 500 million bill payment transactions made across the UK last year, it is a market which presents a strong growth opportunity for both the Post Office and Payzone networks. They say that this acquisition will allow the Post Office to be a more attractive partner to a wide range of organisations, providing even greater convenience to their customers, who will be able to access a total of nearly 25,000 bill payment points across the UK.
