| Skrill, a Paysafe company | |
| Type: | Public company |
| Industry: | Online payments |
| Products: | Payment gateway Digital wallet Prepaid card PSP Cryptocurrencies Money transfer |
| Location: | London, United Kingdom |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Key People: | Bruce Lowthers (CEO)[1] |
| Revenue: | US $1.496 billion (Paysafe’s FY 2022 revenue)[2] |
| Num Employees: | 3,300 |
| Parent: | Paysafe |
Skrill is part of Paysafe Limited, a global payments platform. It is one of Paysafe's digital wallet brands and was established in 2001 to offer multiple online payment and money transfer services.[3] Skrill operates in more than 100 countries with the digital wallet offered in more than 40 currencies.[4] [5] The company facilitates multiple payment options including card payments, bank transfers and local payment methods. The funds in a Skrill account can then be used to pay merchants and other Skrill users or converted into cryptocurrency.
Skrill also has cross-border payments accessible to users via its remittance service.[6] The service enables users to send money to a bank account overseas using their bank card.
In 2015, Skrill was acquired by Paysafe [7] [8] along with former competitor NETELLER and prepaid payment provider paysafecard.[9]
Skrill is operated by Paysafe Payment Solutions Limited, a company incorporated in Ireland and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland,[10] 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.[11]
Skrill, formerly known as Moneybookers, was founded in 2001 in the United Kingdom as 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 an 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]
In 2009, Skrill, then known as Moneybookers, suffered a large security breach which exposed the data of almost 4.5 million customers. The breach was not discovered until October 2015 and included names, e-mail addresses, home addresses and IP addresses.[19]
In 2015, Skrill was acquired by Optimal Payments, the parent company of rival digital wallet NETELLER, for €1.1 billion.[20] During this period, Skrill Group announced in April 2015 that it had completed the acquisition of Ukash, a UK-based competitor of paysafecard, which was merged during the same year.[21] In November 2015, Optimal Payments rebranded as Paysafe.[22]
In 2018, Skrill began to extend the amount of services offered to its users, launching an international money transfer service in February 2018,[23] and a crypto service in July 2018 allowing users to buy and trade cryptocurrencies.[24] This was followed by the launch of Skrill's customer loyalty programme, KNECT, in November 2019[25] and the extension of the international money transfer service to US users in June 2020.[26]
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.[27]
In July 2013, English football's National League signed a one-year sponsorship deal with Skrill[28] 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.[29]
In March 2021, Skrill announced a new partnership with the English Premier League football team Leeds United.[30] [31]
Skrill is a digital multi-currency wallet that handles online payments and money transfers.[32]
Skrill was named ‘Best Digital Wallet’ at The Digital Banker’s Global Payments Innovation Awards 2023 and the Juniper Research Future Digital Awards 2019.[32]
Paysafe, Skrill's parent company, was named one of CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies 2023. Paysafe also won the ‘Payments Provider of the Year’ award at the 2023 EGR North America Awards – its third consecutive win in the category.[33]
In 2022, Paysafe was named Payment Service or Solution Provider of the Year at the VIXIO Gambling Compliance Global Regulatory Awards,[34] won in the ‘Payment Solution & Innovation of the Year’ category at the 2022 SBC Awards Latinoamérica[35] for a second consecutive year, and won ‘Payment Innovation of the Year’ at the 2022 SBC Awards North America.[36]