The value of financial services transactions in Europe reached $22.1bn in 2018, up from $6.5bn in 2011, according to Bain & Company. In the US, such deals were worth $34.3bn, up from $5.3bn in 2011.

Mike Smith, a partner with Bain & Company, says private equity firms are increasingly shifting away from balance sheet heavy businesses such as payments companies, as they are seen as more resilient restructuring in the industry, and there has been sustained growth in capital being deployed in financial services, which reached a high watermark last year, Smith told Private Equity News. “We continue to see GPs being really active in putting money to work.”