The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally cleared PayPal’s $2.2 billion acquisition of mobile point of sale terminal provider iZettle, a deal which formally completed seven months ago.

CMA conducted a detailed investigation into the impact of the transaction on competition in the “omni-channel payment services” sector. It conducted 6,000 consumer interviews and assessment of the position of alternative providers and technologies.

Despite declaring the deal complete in 2018 and filing the company’s revenue alongside its other business units, PayPal continues to operate the commercial activities of iZettle separately pending the outcome of the probe.

“As a result of this detailed investigation, the CMA has provisionally found that the merger does not raise competition concerns,” the authority said in a statement.

Chair of the inquiry Kirstin Baker added: “While iZettle and PayPal are two of the main suppliers of mobile point of service devices, the additional evidence we have analysed indicates that the distinctions between these and ‘traditional’ point of service devices are reducing over time and that large numbers of customers can, and do, switch to ‘traditional’ point of service devices.”

Its decision is only provisional with a final nod expected on 16 July. Until then, the watchdog will continue to assess previously submitted evidence and collate responses on the provisional decision.

PayPal welcomed the initial findings and confirmed it would continue to work with the team conducting the investigation.