What Servired does

ServiRed, Sociedad Española de Medios de Pago, S.A., is a privately held, cooperative-owned Spanish payment card scheme headquartered in Madrid (C/ José Bardasano Baos, 9, Edificio Gorbea 3, 28016 Madrid) that holds Principal Member licenses from Visa Inc., Mastercard International, and Union Pay International. Through these aggregated licenses, the company enables its member financial institutions—including major Spanish commercial banks (BBVA, CaixaBank, Banco Sabadell, Bankinter, Deutsche Bank Spain) and cooperative banking groups (Banco Cooperativo Español, Cajamar, Laboral Kutxa, Banco de Crédito Social Cooperativo)—to issue and acquire Visa and Mastercard card transactions and to acquire China Union Pay card transactions without each institution maintaining its own direct principal membership with the global schemes.

The core product is the ServiRed Payment System, an integrated payment card processing and transaction-switching infrastructure supporting Visa, Mastercard, and Union Pay card schemes. Reported operational scale (per the 2016 annual report) included 44.8 million+ cards in circulation, €94.3 billion in card purchase volume (10.6% year-over-year growth), €109.4 billion in merchant purchase volume (10.8% growth), approximately 32,400 ATMs distributed across Spanish territory, and 723,000+ contracted merchants. The company operates as a unified payment network rather than a modular platform, with no discrete add-on offerings.

ServiRed generates revenue through licensing and royalty arrangements with its member financial institutions; pricing is not publicly disclosed and the company has no public listing. Distribution is exclusively B2B, executed through direct membership relationships with financial institutions. In February 2018, ServiRed transferred its domestic payment system activity to Sistema de Tarjetas y Medios de Pago, S.A. through a spin-off that merged the transferred activity with the other two Spanish domestic payment schemes, Sistema 4B and EURO 6000; ServiRed retains the three principal member licenses and continues to operate as the licensing and international interoperability entity for its members.

Name

Servired

Legal name

SERVIRED, SOCIEDAD ESPAÑOLA DE MEDIOS DE PAGO, S.A.

Website

https://servired.es

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ServiRed is a privately held, cooperative-owned Spanish payment card scheme headquartered in Madrid that holds Principal Member licenses from Visa, Mastercard, and Union Pay, enabling its member financial institutions—including major Spanish banks and cooperative banks—to issue and acquire card transactions through a shared licensing platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Madrid

HQ country

Spain

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Payment Processing and Licensing Fees: Generates revenue through licensing arrangements with financial institution members, enabling them to issue and acquire payment cards under Visa, Mastercard, and Union Pay brands.

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

ServiRed is a Spanish card payment scheme that holds Principal Member licenses from Visa Inc., Mastercard International, and Union Pay International. The company licenses its member financial institutions (banks and credit cooperatives) to issue and acquire Visa and Mastercard branded payment cards and to acquire China Union Pay card transactions, operating the underlying payment processing infrastructure, ATM network access (32,400+ terminals), and merchant payment terminal acceptance across Spain.

Product overview

ServiRed operates as a unified payment card system rather than a modular platform. The company serves as the central payment network infrastructure providing Principal Member licensing from Visa Inc., Mastercard International, and Union Pay International to its member financial institutions. Through these licenses, associated members can issue and acquire transactions under Visa and Mastercard brands, and acquire operations made with China Union Pay cards. The system encompasses a network of over 44.8 million cards, contracted merchants, and approximately 32,400 ATMs distributed throughout Spanish territory. There are no discrete product modules or add-on offerings mentioned—the company functions as a single, integrated payment processing and card licensing infrastructure for its member banks and credit cooperatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ServiRed Payment System Unified payment card network infrastructure providing Principal Member licensing from Visa Inc., Mastercard International, and Union Pay International to member Spanish banks and credit cooperatives, enabling card issuance, card acquisition, ATM network access across 32,400+ terminals, and merchant payment terminal acceptance across 723,000+ merchants in Spain.

Quantifiable outcome

• 44.8 million+ cards in circulation (2016)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Visa Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationServiRed holds Principal Member license from Visa Inc., enabling member financial institutions to issue and acquire Visa-branded payment cards.
• Mastercard InternationalcoreTechnology or IntegrationServiRed holds Principal Member license from Mastercard International, enabling member financial institutions to issue and acquire Mastercard-branded payment cards.
• Union Pay InternationalcoreTechnology or IntegrationServiRed holds license from Union Pay International, enabling member financial institutions to acquire transactions made with Union Pay cards.
• CaixaBankcoreOthersBoard member and owner of ServiRed through its cooperative banking structure.
• Banco de SabadellcoreOthersBoard member and owner of ServiRed through its cooperative banking structure.
• Banco Cooperativo EspañolcoreOthersBoard member representing the cooperative banking sector (Ruralvía network) in ServiRed.
• Banco de Crédito Social CooperativocoreOthersBoard member representing the Caja Rural cooperative banking network in ServiRed.
• BankintercoreOthersBoard member and owner of ServiRed.
• Laboral KutxacoreOthersBoard member and owner of ServiRed through cooperative banking structure.
• Deutsche Bank SpaincoreOthersBoard member and owner of ServiRed.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Sistema de Tarjetas y Medios de Pago: Spanish domestic payment scheme formed by the 2018 merger of ServiRed's domestic payment activity with Sistema 4B and EURO 6000. Operates the same B2B card processing and switching infrastructure that ServiRed used to provide domestically, making it the closest direct comparable.
• Cartes Bancaires (Groupement des Cartes Bancaires CB): French national card scheme governed by a consortium of banks, similar in cooperative structure and Principal Member model. Operates the dominant domestic card scheme in France and licenses its member banks to issue and acquire cards globally.
• Iberpay: Spanish payment infrastructure operator owned by banks, providing interbank clearing and settlement for retail payments. Operates in the same Spanish payments ecosystem as ServiRed and serves the same member-bank customer base with shared regulatory and infrastructure economics.

Regional players

• Interac: Canadian national debit card network operated as a cooperative-like association by Canadian financial institutions. Comparable to ServiRed in being a domestically organized payment scheme providing shared card acceptance and processing infrastructure to member banks.
• LINK Scheme: UK ATM network operated on a cooperative basis by UK banks and building societies. Comparable to ServiRed's domestic ATM and shared infrastructure model, with member-owned economics serving the UK banking sector.
• Consorzio Circuiti Nazionali (CCN): Italian bank-owned payment scheme that licenses debit and prepaid processing to Italian banks. Comparable to ServiRed in operating as a domestic, bank-cooperative payment network providing shared card processing to its member institutions.
• PROSA (Procesadora de Medios de Pago): Mexican payment processor owned by a consortium of banks, providing card transaction switching and processing infrastructure. Operates a comparable bank-cooperative model to ServiRed in a Latin American payments market.
• Red Link: Argentine bank-owned ATM and payments network operator providing shared switching infrastructure to member banks. Similar in cooperative ownership, ATM network focus, and member-bank service model to ServiRed's domestic infrastructure role.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Servired