Nexi

Nexi is the largest payments group headquartered in Italy and one of the largest in Europe, covering card issuing, merchant acquiring, digital corporate banking and open banking infrastructure for banks, retailers and public-sector bodies.

The current group was formed in 2017 when ICBPI and CartaSi merged, then grew through the 2021–2022 combination with Denmark's Nets and Italy's SIA, a deal the company describes as building "the European PayTech leader". Nexi listed on Borsa Italiana in April 2019 and has since extended acquiring operations into Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Finland.

Nexi S.p.A. is headquartered at Corso Sempione 55 in Milan and registered with the Milan, Monza Brianza and Lodi companies register, governed under Italian company law as a listed entity.

No single shareholder holds a majority: Nexi's own disclosures show Evergood H&F Lux — a vehicle linked to the US private equity firm Hellman & Friedman — at just over 20%, the Italian state-backed Cassa Depositi e Prestiti close behind at around 19%, and the remainder in free float on the exchange.

That is far more dispersed than a single foreign-owned parent, but it is worth knowing the largest single shareholder traces back to a US buyout fund rather than an Italian or European one.

Nexi competes with Adyen and Worldline at the enterprise end of this category rather than with SumUp or Mollie, and like both of those it has no self-serve pricing: quotes are negotiated per bank or merchant, with no published rate card or trial to point to.

What Nexi brings that neither Adyen nor Worldline can claim outright is scale assembled from three national payment infrastructures at once — Italian, Nordic/Baltic and pan-European — which matters most to a bank or a large retailer buying acquiring as infrastructure rather than as a checkout button.

What Nexi does well

• Formed from ICBPI/CartaSi, Nets and SIA into one pan-European group
• Listed on Borsa Italiana since 2019, no single controlling owner
• Acquiring, card issuing and digital banking on one platform
• Operations across a dozen European markets, not just Italy
• Serves banks as infrastructure as well as merchants directly

Where Nexi falls short

• Enterprise engagement only, no self-serve pricing or signup
• Nothing published on rates; every quote is negotiated
• Wrong choice for a small merchant wanting to start this week
• Largest single shareholder is a vehicle linked to a US private equity firm

Standout feature. Three of Europe's national payment infrastructures — ICBPI/CartaSi, Nets and SIA — merged into the single, publicly listed Nexi Group.