The size of the mooted merged company’s position in the payments sector and data concerns may be issues that regulators would look at, said Paul in an article for Mergermarket.

Paul noted that the deal is “exactly the kind of thing that antitrust regulators are going to scrutinise closely”. He pointed to the concentration of control across different parts of the payments ecosystem as particular concerns, while highlighting data aggregation and privacy as important issues for regulators as well that would need addressing.

Stripe and its backers Advent International made a joint cash offer in July to buy PayPal in a deal worth $53.4 billion, valuing it at $60.50 per share, a 28% premium. It was rejected. The market is awaiting further moves in the takeover battle.