Mastercard's proposed $1bn acquisition of Finicity has been approved by the US Department of Justice after a review.

The addition of Finicity’s data analytics technology and teams is aimed at strengthening Mastercard's Open Banking platform.

The deal was announced this June subject to approval, and sees Mastercard paying $825 million up-front, with another $160 million potentially being paid to existing Finicity shareholders if performance targets are met.

Mastercard said of the approved deal: “The acquisition of Finicity accelerates our Open Banking strategy and strengthens our ability to offer consumers and businesses more choice in how they pay and how they simplify their lives and maximise their financial relationships.

“We look forward to closing the deal and bringing the companies together to provide further value to consumers, banks, merchants, businesses and governments.”

Mastercard launched its first Open Banking solutions in Europe last year.

The combination of this technology with Finicity's will be used to power platforms such as Quicken Loans Rocket Mortgage and Experian Boost, with the “potential to shape the next generation of services", said Mastercard back in June.

Following the completion of the transaction, the combined tech promises to streamline the credit decisioning process for consumers and small businesses, and the integration of Finicity’s account owner verification tools will deliver an “improved real-time payments experience to consumers, merchants and businesses”, added Mastercard.

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