The Payments Association (TPA) has acquired its European sister organisation, The Payments Association EU (TPA EU), creating a combined network of more than 350 member organisations, a move that matters to association and institute professionals as a national trade body buys a sister association to build a cross-border membership. The deal followed a unanimous vote by TPA EU members.

TPA is the UK trade body for the payments industry. It received an investment in 2025 from Nineteen Group, an events and communities business. Financial details are not publicly disclosed.

TPA EU is a non-profit association registered in Luxembourg, representing more than 80 payments organisations. It will keep its European identity and remain based in Luxembourg under general manager Thibault de Barsy.

Emma Banymandhub, CEO of TPA, said, "Our ambition is to improve payments globally, not only in the UK, and this acquisition is the first tangible step towards the international footprint we have set out to build."

Thibault de Barsy, general manager of TPA EU, said, "What changes is the breadth of resources and expertise we can draw upon."

The acquisition responds to regulatory divergence that makes a single national voice harder to sustain for payments firms.

The EU's PSD3 and Payment Services Regulation reached final compromise texts in April 2026, according to Lexology, while the UK is pursuing its own reform agenda, which will require jurisdiction specific compliance strategies and add complexity for cross-border operations, according to Morrison Foerster.

For the sector, a trade body that owns both a UK and an EU arm can carry policy intelligence across the Channel in a way that two separate associations with informal links cannot. For the sector's cross-border members specifically, a single network offers one point of contact for regulatory change in both jurisdictions.

Consolidation of this kind raises a governance question for membership bodies: how far an acquired association can keep its local identity once its resources and programmes are shared.

Whether TPA EU retains the trust of its Luxembourg based members while drawing on UK programmes will indicate whether acquisition becomes a viable growth model for the membership sector.

Source: Dealroom / Lexology / Morrison Foerster