Skrill

Skrill (formerly Moneybookers) is a digital wallet provider established in 2001 which offers a multiple online payment and money transfer services.[4]

This article is about the payment service. For the electronic music artist, see Skrillex. For the fictional species, see Earth: Final Conflict.
Skrill Limited
TypePrivate
IndustryOnline payments
Founded27 July 2001 (2001-07-27)
Headquarters2 Gresham Street, London, United Kingdom
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Chirag Patel (CEO)[1]
ProductsPayment gateway
Digital wallet
Prepaid card
PSP
RevenueIncrease $331 million (2014)[2]
Number of employees
2000+ (2018)[3]
ParentPaysafe Group
Websiteskrill.com

Skrill operates in 131 countries with the digital wallet offered in 40 currencies.[5][6] Customers can transfer money to their Skrill wallet using multiple payment options which include by card, bank transfer, and others. The funds can then be used to pay merchant and users that accepts payments via Skrill or turned into cryptocurrency.

Skrill also has cross-border payments accessible to customers via its remittance service.[7] The service enables customers to send money to a bank account overseas using their bank card.

In 2015, Skrill was acquired by the Paysafe Group [8][9] along with former competitor Neteller and prepaid payment provider paysafecard.[10]

Skrill is operated by Paysafe Payment Solutions Limited, a company incorporated in Ireland and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland,[11] for its European regulated activities. Skrill's activities outside the European Economic Area are operated by Skrill Limited – a company incorporated in the United Kingdom and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

History

Early history (2001 to 2015)

Skrill was originally founded in 2001 in the United Kingdom as Moneybookers, a digital wallet provider.[12] By 2007 it had become established as one of the top three e-payment solution providers in Europe[13] when it was purchased by Investcorp in March of that year.[14] In August 2010, Skrill blocked the account operated by WikiLeaks as a donation collection account, citing the organisation's addition to Australian blacklists and American watchlists.[15] In September 2011, Moneybookers announced that they would rebrand their service as Skrill, completing the rebrand in 2013.[16] As Skrill, they completed the acquisition of Austrian-based prepaid payment method paysafecard in February 2013,[17] before being acquired by CVC Capital Partners for €600 million in August 2013.[18]

Paysafe subsidiary (2015 onwards)

In 2015, Skrill was acquired by Optimal Payments, the parent company of rival digital wallet Neteller, for €1.1 billion.[19] During this period, Skrill Group announced in April 2015 that it had completed acquisition of Ukash, a UK-based competitor of paysafecard, which was merged during the same year.[20] In November 2015, Optimal Payments rebranded as Paysafe.[21]

In 2018, Skrill began to extend the amount of services offered to its customers, launching an international money transfer service in February 2018,[22] and a crypto service in July 2018 allowing users to buy and trade cryptocurrencies.[23] This was followed by the launch of Skrill's customer loyalty programme, KNECT, in November 2019[24] and the extension of the international money transfer service to US customers in June 2020.[25]

Sponsorship and relationships

In 2011, Skrill first sponsored the PokerStars owned European Poker Tour for its eighth season, sponsoring the event again in 2013 for its tenth season.[26]

In July 2013, English football's National League signed a one-year sponsorship deal with Skrill[27] with the Conference's divisions being known as The Skrill Premier, The Skrill North and The Skrill South.

In May 2020, Skrill announced a four-year AC Milan sponsorship deal.[28]

In March 2021, Skrill announced a new partnership with the English Premier League football team Leeds United.[29][30]

Service

Skrill is a digital multi-currency wallet provider for handling online payments, making transfers and storing money.[31] Skrill can also be used to buy and trade cryptocurrency. Customers in certain locations can obtain a Skrill Card linked to their account.

Awards

Skrill was named Best Digital Wallet in 2019 by Juniper Research at their Future Digital Awards.[32][33]

Paysafe, Skrill's parent company, received the Payments Processor of the Year award at the 2019 American Gambling Awards for the Skrill digital wallet and sister product Paysafecard.[34][35]

In 2019 Paysafe won the ‘Best Online Payments Solution – Consumer’ at the Payments Awards. The accolade recognised Paysafe's suite of online consumer payment methods, including its digital wallets Skrill and Neteller.[36][37]

References
  1. Menmuir, Ted (11 August 2021). "Paysafe appoints Chirag Patel as new CEO of Skrill and Neteller wallets". SBC News. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  2. "Proposed acquisition by Optimal Payments of Skrill to create a leading global player in online payment and digital wallets services" (PDF). Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  3. "About Us". Paysafe. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  4. "Skrill Holdings Limited: Private Company Information". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  5. "E-Wallet Comparison: Skrill serviced countries list". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  6. "Sending money with Skrill made easier than ever with new send to phone number feature". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  7. "Skrill Money Transfer Review: Is it safe? How does it work? What are the rates?". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  8. "Board of Directors". Paysafe. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  9. "Skrill taps football legend to publicise its prepaid Mastercard Skrill prepaid". Cards International. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  10. "Optimal Payments to buy e-wallet rival for $1.2 billion". Reuters. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  11. "Skrill Account Terms of Use". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  12. "Company information for SKRILL LIMITED (04260907) incorporated 27-07-2001". Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  13. "Investcorp and the Moneybookers Bid". hbr.org. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  14. "Investcorp Technology Partners Undertakes Buyout of Moneybookers Limited for EUR105 Million" (Press release). 28 March 2007. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  15. Leigh, David; Evans, Rob (14 October 2010). "WikiLeaks says funding has been blocked after government blacklisting". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  16. "Moneybookers to rebrand as Skrill - hopes to become a verb". 6 November 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  17. Moss, Karen (11 February 2013). "Skrill acquires paysafecard.com". retail-systems.com. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  18. Williams, Christopher (19 August 2013). "CVC buys PayPal rival Skrill for £500m". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  19. PYMNTS (24 March 2015). "Optimal Payments' Billion Dollar Bet On Online Gaming". www.pymnts.com. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  20. "Skrill Group completes Ukash acquisition" (Press release). Finextra. 1 April 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  21. "Optimal Payments Becomes Paysafe in Game-Changing Global Rebrand". 11 November 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  22. "Paysafe – Money transfers made easy with Skrill Send Direct". 2 May 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  23. "Skrill opens crypto wallet". 25 July 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  24. "Skrill launches customer reward programme: Skrill Knect". 22 November 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  25. "Paysafe launches Skrill money transfer in US". 8 June 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  26. "Skrill returns as Official Payment Provider Sponsor of European Poker Tour for Season 10". 3 July 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  27. "Skrill is the new title sponsor for the Football Conference Leagues". 26 July 2013. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  28. "AC MILAN ANNOUNCES SKRILL AS ITS OFFICIAL GLOBAL PAYMENTS PARTNER". 12 May 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  29. "LEEDS UNITED ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH SKRILL". Leeds United. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  30. "Leeds United announces partnership with Skrill". Skrill. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  31. "Pay online". Skrill. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  32. "Fintech and Payments - 2020 Winners Announced". Juniper Research. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  33. "Skrill named Best Digital Wallet 2019 by Juniper Research". Skrill. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  34. "American Gambling Awards Winners". American Gambling Awards. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  35. "Paysafe wins 'Payments Processor of the Year' American Gambling Award". Skrill. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  36. "Hall of fame 2019". Payments Awards. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  37. "Paysafe wins two Payments Awards". Skrill. Retrieved 21 March 2021.

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