Valitor is a merchant services, acquirer, card issuer and payment gateway solutions company headquartered in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland. Valitor is Visa's and Mastercard's partner in Iceland and offers various online and e-commerce solutions internationally.[1]
History
Valitor was founded in 1983 by five banks and thirteen savings banks under the name Visa Iceland.[2][3] In 2007 Greiðslumiðlun hf. changed its name to Valitor in a move to further its international services.[4]
On 7 December 2010, following the leak of the US diplomatic cables in February 2010 and the leak of Afghan War documents in July 2010, Valitor suspended payments towards the data company DataCell, the company processing donations for WikiLeaks.[5] On 12 July 2012 a Reykjavík court ruled that Valitor had to start processing donations within fourteen days[6] on pain of daily fines to the amount of ISK 800,000 for each day after that time, to open the payment gateway. Valitor also had to pay DataCell's litigation costs of ISK 1,500,000.[7]
In 2015, Valitor was selected as one of six companies to service ApplePay in Europe.[8]
In July 2017, Valitor bought UK based Chip & PIN Solutions.[9]
In April 2020, Valitor courted controversy as it was accused of using the COVID-19 pandemic to sack staff. The issue arose when Valitor fired 14 entry level staff at its Glasgow branch, claiming they were “restructuring the business”. However, the company is said to have kept on all its HR and senior management by putting them on furlough.[10]
Acquisition by Rapyd
Valitor is now part of Rapyd, a global payment processing and fintech-as-a-service company founded in 2016 as a consumer-mode e-wallet called CashDash.[11] It was the first e-wallet launched in 2017 and the company built an API that enables customers to access a range of financial services, including payouts, foreign exchange fund collection, card issuance, fund disbursements, and virtual IBAN accounts, among others.[12][13]
References
- "About Us", valitor.com. Retrieved 18 July 2013.^
- Útgefin greiðslukort bráðum 100 þúsund Morgunblaðið, 19 August 1988, retrieved 22 June 2021^
- Nýtt greiðslukortafyrirtæki Dagblaðið Vísir, 6 August 1983, retrieved 22 June 2021^
- Tækifærin liggja í útrásinni Morgunblaðið, 13 September 2007, retrieved 22 June 2021^
- Valitor dæmt til að greiða 1,2 milljarða Vísir.is, 24 April 2019, retrieved 10 July 2021^
- Tvingas öppna för Wikileaksdonationer Sveriges Television, 12 July 2012, retrieved 22 June 2021^
- "Judgement Reykjavík District Court, 12 July 2012 in case number E-561/2012: Datacell ehf.", English translation of judgment. Retrieved 9 November 2012.^
- Valitor þjónustar Apple Pay í Evrópu Viðskiptablaðið, 11 June 2015, retrieved 22 June 2021^
- Valitor kaupir Chip & PIN Solutions Kjarninn, 5 July 2007, retrieved 22 June 2021^
- One of UK's largest retail merchant services company slammed for "using pandemic to sack staff" Deadline News, 6 April 2020, retrieved 22 June 2021^
- Rapyd to Acquire Valitor Expanding Access to Global Payments for its European Customers Rapyd, retrieved 2023-07-19^
- Rapyd, which offers fintech-as-a-service via a single API, adds $20M more to its coffers at a $1.2B valuation 3 December 2019^
- Rapyd raises $40 million to expand its payments network worldwide 13 February 2019^