MA MasterCard Incorporated

   By Allison Prang 
 

Mastercard Inc. (MA) said it is buying cross-border money transfer network Transfast but did not disclose the terms of the deal.

The credit-card company said there's unpredictability over when transfers across borders will be done and it is more expensive for businesses to do those transactions. Mastercard said it will be able to be more transparent in those transactions and fix those problems in buying Transfast.

Transfast is already used for the credit-card company's Mastercard Send service.

Mastercard walked away from plans to buy Earthport PLC, another company focused on cross-border transactions, after it found itself in a bidding war with Visa Inc. Mastercard said it did so in order to focus on the Transfast deal and growing Transfast.

Mastercard expects the Transfast deal to close in the second half of this year.

--Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com

Twitter: @AllisonPrang

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 08, 2019 11:22 ET (16:22 GMT)

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