The figures above reflect the FY2025 company overview where available.2

Origins

The roots of nexi trace back to 1939 with the establishment of the Istituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane (ICBPI) by several Italian cooperative and popular banks. Its original mandate was to coordinate and provide services to member banks, eventually expanding into financial infrastructure and payment-related services over subsequent decades.3

Significant growth occurred through expansion into card and payment services, including the 2006 acquisition of Key Client Cards & Solutions, a business originating from Deutsche Bank. In 2009, ICBPI acquired control of S.I. Holding, whose portfolio included CartaSi.4

Birth of the nexi brand

The modern nexi brand emerged in November 2017 when ICBPI was renamed nexi and its card business, formerly CartaSi, was rebranded as Nexi Payments. This reorganization aimed to create a unified entity focused on digital payments and payment technology.5

Expansion through mergers

Following its rebranding, nexi pursued an aggressive European expansion strategy. In 2020, the company announced a merger with SIA, another major Italian payment-infrastructure provider, combining complementary capabilities in payments, banking, infrastructure, and technology.6

In 2021, nexi agreed to combine with Nets, a prominent Danish and European payment-services group. This transaction significantly broadened the company’s European footprint and technological capacity. From 2022, nexi, Nets, and SIA have operated together under the broader Nexi Group structure.7

Nexi functions primarily as a payment infrastructure company, operating behind many consumer and business transactions without necessarily interacting directly with end-users under the nexi brand. Its operations are divided into three principal areas.

Merchant Solutions

This segment enables companies to accept payments through various channels. Solutions include point-of-sale (POS) terminals, card acceptance, contactless payments, e-commerce checkout, omnichannel payment solutions, processing, and fraud prevention technologies. For instance, retailers utilize this technology to accept Visa, Mastercard, mobile wallets, and online payments. The merchant business covers both card-present and card-not-present environments, including multi-channel commerce.8

Issuing Solutions

Nexi provides technological infrastructure to banks and financial institutions that issue payment cards. Rather than acting as a consumer bank, it manages the backend systems for debit, credit, and prepaid cards issued by partners. Services encompass card processing, transaction management, and digital payment capabilities. The company reports managing approximately 140 million payment cards across its business.9

Digital Banking Solutions

The third core area involves technology for banks and financial institutions, supporting digital banking, payment accounts, interbank transactions, and banking-related connectivity. This division reflects the company’s historical origins in banking infrastructure alongside its evolution into a broader PayTech provider.

Nexi is distinct from traditional consumer banks such as UniCredit or Intesa Sanpaolo. Instead, it serves as a technology and infrastructure provider connecting various participants in the payment ecosystem. A typical transaction flow involving nexi infrastructure follows this path:

Customer → Card / mobile wallet → Merchant POS → Payment infrastructure → Acquirer / issuer → Bank

At a European level, nexi is comparable to firms such as Worldline, Fiserv, Global Payments, and Adyen, although business models and geographic exposures differ.

The group positions itself as “European by scale, local by nature,” operating in more than 25 countries while maintaining local businesses and brands throughout the continent.10 Markets served include Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Serbia.11 While headquartered in Milan, European operations are distributed across numerous local offices and subsidiaries.

The name nexi represents a modern, technology-oriented payment company rather than a conventional financial institution. The corporate purpose is stated as: “We simplify payments for People.” Key themes in its positioning include simplicity, digitalization, innovation, security, customer experience, and local market expertise at a European scale. A broader objective is facilitating Europe’s transition from cash-based to digital payments.12

A central component of the business strategy is the transition toward cashless commerce. As adoption of contactless cards, smartphones, digital wallets, e-commerce, and account-to-account payments increases, the demand for robust payment infrastructure grows accordingly. Nexi operates in a sector that benefits from the long-term expansion of electronic payments, with technology designed to support the wider digital economy and global payment ecosystem.13

It is necessary to distinguish between the nexi brand and the Nexi Group. The modern group resulted from combining several major European payment businesses, specifically nexi, SIA, and Nets, creating a large-scale organization with operations spanning numerous countries.14 The portfolio continues to develop; for example, in 2025, nexi announced it would become the full owner of German payment-service provider Computop Paygate GmbH after previously holding a minority stake.

Nexi S.p.A. is a publicly traded Italian company listed on Euronext Milan and included in the FTSE MIB stock index.15 Corporate headquarters are located at Corso Sempione 55, 20149 Milan, Italy.16

According to the FY2025 company overview, the group maintains approximately:

• 3 million merchants/terminals
• 140 million cards managed
• 250 banks and corporates served by issuing solutions
• 9,600 employees
• Operations in 25+ countries
• More than 60 offices in Europe17

The company states it holds leading positions in European acquiring and card issuing based on metrics such as merchants served, transaction value, and cards managed.18

As of 2026, Bernardo Mingrone serves as CEO, having succeeded Paolo Bertoluzzo following a management transition. Leadership operates the group as a large European financial-technology organization rather than solely as an Italian card company, reflecting the transformation achieved through the Nets and SIA integrations.19

Revenue is generated primarily from processing and infrastructure surrounding payments. Sources include merchant payment processing, card acceptance fees, terminal services, e-commerce solutions, card issuing and processing, banking infrastructure, and value-added services. This model provides exposure to the volume and value of digital transactions across served markets.

Nexi operates in a competitive international payments industry. Companies with overlapping market segments include:

• Worldline (France/Europe)
• Adyen (Netherlands)
• Fiserv (United States)
• Global Payments (United States)
• Stripe (United States/Ireland)
• PayPal (United States)
• Checkout.com (United Kingdom)
• Various national payment processors

A distinguishing characteristic is its strong European footprint combined with merchant acquiring, issuing, and banking/payment infrastructure capabilities.

Consumers may encounter the nexi name on cards or terminals without understanding its specific role. The following table clarifies its position relative to other industry players:

In practice, these categories often overlap, and a single transaction may involve multiple entities simultaneously.

Payments have become critical digital infrastructure. When a card is tapped at a POS terminal or an online purchase is made, numerous systems must communicate in fractions of a second across the chain from customer to merchant, gateway, acquirer, card network, and issuer. Companies like nexi provide much of the underlying infrastructure enabling this process. Consequently, while less visible to consumers than brands like Visa or Mastercard, it remains essential to the banks and businesses utilizing its services.20

1. Nexi: digital payment solutions | Nexi
2. Nexi, The European PayTech
3. Simplifying Payments for People: Nexi, Europe’s PayTech Leader
4. Nexi
5. Nexi
6. Find out more about us and our services | Nexi
7. Group Locations: Nexi brands all over the world | Nexi
8. Nexi – Wikidata
9. Category:Nexi – Wikimedia Commons
10. nexi-20221231
11. nexi-20211231
12. File:Nexi Logo.svg – Wikimedia Commons
13. File:Nexi logo.png – Wikimedia Commons
14. Nexi Values: innovation, diversity, and customer focus
15. Sitemap | Nexi
16. Nexi – WikiZero
17. Find out more about us and our services | Nexi
18. Payment Systems & Payment Solutions for Business | Nexi
19. Nexi: Innovative Digital Payment Solutions
20. Nexi: Our Mission & History