The British Competition and Markets Authority has fined PayPal over its $2.2bn acquisition of iZettle

PayPal has been slammed with a £250,000 fine after failing to clearly separate itself from iZettle, despite an order from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The CMA issued the order after PayPal acquired the Swedish startup for $2.2bn. The acquisition happened one day before the plug-in card readers and point of service providers was due to file for an IPO in 2018.

Following the acquisition, the CMA ordered PayPal to keep its and iZettle’s businesses separated in the UK while the authority investigated the deal. The two were to remain competitors in the UK, whilst they were allowed to be integrated outside of Britain.

However, the CMA has now found that the American payment giant failed to live up to its promise to comply. Instead, PayPal cross-promoted the iZettle business in France and Germany which led to it contacting 76 UK customers.

“Moreover, because PayPal failed to put in place sufficient safeguards to ensure that only non-UK potential customers were included in its cross-selling pilot campaigns, there remains a risk that significantly more UK potential customers were contacted given the total number of customers contacted,” the CMA wrote in its penalty notice.

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