From TheDeal.com

Brazil is one of if not the most attractive large emerging payments market. New merchant acquirers and processors will come.

Potential entrants include Banco Santander, Global Payments, First Data Corp. and U.S. Bancorp's Elavon Inc.

The challenge for those without a Brazilian branch network is to establish relationships through which they can cost-effectively reach merchants.

For Global Payments, which is an accomplished multinational operator, the logical local partner would be HSBC Holdings plc with whom it has an acquiring JV operating in 11 Asian markets, and from whom earlier this year it acquired the U.K.'s third-largest acquirer, HSBC Merchant Services LLP.

Today acquiring and processing are bundled. In the future Redecard and VisaNet may well sell processing to competing bank acquirers. Total System, Global Payments, First Data and Fidelity Investments are also likely to sell processing-supporting acquiring businesses.

What does the future hold for Brazil's card payments industry? Growth. Competition will boost acceptance and use as well as network and issuer revenue. It will also reduce prevailing merchant service charges, Redecard's and VisaNet's share of growth, and, consequently, their valuation multiples.