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, expanding over subsequent decades into financial infrastructure and payment-related services.3

A significant development occurred with the expansion into card and payment services, including the 2006 acquisition of Key Client Cards & Solutions, a business originating from Deutsche Bank. ICBPI subsequently acquired control of S.I. Holding, whose businesses included CartaSi, in 2009.4

Birth of the nexi brand

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

Expansion through mergers

Nexi subsequently pursued an aggressive European expansion strategy. In 2020, the company announced a merger with SIA, another major Italian payment-infrastructure provider, combining complementary payment, banking, infrastructure, and technology capabilities.6

In 2021, Nexi agreed to combine with Nets, a major Danish and European payment-services group. This transaction significantly expanded the company’s European footprint and technological capabilities. Nexi, Nets, and SIA have operated together under the broader Nexi Group structure since 2022.7

Nexi operates primarily as a payment infrastructure company, facilitating transactions for consumers and businesses often without direct brand interaction. Its operations are divided into three principal areas.

Merchant Solutions

This division 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 utilise this technology to accept Visa, Mastercard, contactless cards, mobile wallets, and online payments. The merchant business covers both card-present and card-not-present payments, encompassing e-commerce and multi-channel commerce.8

Issuing Solutions

Nexi provides technological infrastructure for 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 partner institutions. Services include card processing, transaction management, digital payment capabilities, and related technology. The company manages approximately 140 million payment cards across this business line.9

Digital Banking Solutions

The third major area comprises technology for banks and financial institutions, supporting digital banking, payment accounts, interbank transactions, digital financial services, payment infrastructure, and banking connectivity. This segment reflects the company’s historical roots in banking infrastructure alongside its evolution into a broader PayTech provider.

Nexi is distinct from traditional consumer banks such as UniCredit or Intesa Sanpaolo. It functions as a technology and infrastructure provider operating between various participants in the payment ecosystem. A typical transaction flow involving its services 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, geographic exposure, and product mixes differ among these entities.

Nexi describes itself as “European by scale, local by nature.” The group operates in more than 25 countries and maintains local businesses and brands throughout Europe.10 Its presence includes markets such as 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 company’s stated purpose is “We simplify payments for People.” Corporate positioning emphasises simplicity, digitalisation, innovation, security, customer experience, European scale, and local market expertise. 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 towards cashless commerce. As consumers increasingly adopt contactless cards, smartphones, digital wallets, e-commerce, in-app payments, and account-to-account transfers, payment infrastructure becomes critical. Nexi operates within the financial-technology sector benefiting from the long-term growth of electronic payments, describing its technology as supportive of the wider digital economy and global payment ecosystem.13

The modern Nexi Group resulted from combining several major European payment businesses, specifically Nexi, SIA, and Nets. This created a substantially larger European payment-technology organisation with operations spanning numerous countries.14 The group continues to develop its portfolio; for example, Nexi announced in 2025 that 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 with shares 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 has 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

Nexi states that 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 as part of a management transition announced by the company.19 Leadership operates the group as a large European financial-technology organisation rather than solely as an Italian card company, reflecting the transformation resulting from the Nets and SIA integrations.

Revenue is derived primarily from processing and infrastructure surrounding payments. Depending on the service, income sources include merchant payment processing, card acceptance fees, terminal services, e-commerce payment services, card issuing and processing, banking infrastructure, digital-payment technology, 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 and banking infrastructures

The company’s 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 distinguishes its function from other ecosystem participants:

In practice, these categories can overlap, and a single transaction may involve several entities simultaneously.

Nexi is significant because payments constitute critical digital infrastructure. When a card is tapped on a POS terminal, an online purchase is made, or a digital payment method is used, numerous systems must communicate in fractions of a second through a chain involving the customer, merchant, gateway, acquirer, card network, issuer, authorisation, and settlement. Companies such as nexi provide much of the infrastructure enabling this process. Consequently, while less visible to consumers than brands like Visa or Mastercard, it remains essential to the banks and businesses utilising its infrastructure.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