SAN JOSE, CA—PayPal has consolidated international PR duties covering EMEA and Asia-Pacific to Edelman, the Holmes Report can reveal.

The agency secures the multi-million dollar assignment following separate competitive reviews in each region, revealed in April by the Holmes Report.

Edelman already handled PayPal business in the UK and Australia, along with the company's social media activity across Asia-Pacific; for the remainder of the remit it displaces key incumbent agency Grayling, which had been working on PayPal for the past two years.

The Holmes Report understands that, in EMEA alone, the business is worth at least $3m across nine markets, with a particular focus on mobile commerce and consumer/merchant engagement. That amount will swell with the addition of Asia-Pacific markets, although the assignments do not affect MSLGroup's status as PayPal's PR partner in the US, Canada and Latin America.

The decision was confirmed by Adam Christensen, PayPal's senior director of international communications, integrated marketing and social media, who said that Edelman would oversee PR and social media in the two regions.

The moves come as PayPal prepares to split from sister business eBay later this year. "Having the right partnerships in our regions is incredibly important for us as we move toward becoming an independent company in Q3," said Christensen.

PayPal's EMEA communications are now led by former H+K Strategies tech lead Amanda Groty. The company reported first quarter revenues of $2.1bn, a 14% increase that was enough to see it overtake eBay for the first time.

PayPal has long been a faster-growing business than eBay, but faces increasing competition from such rivals as Apple Pay, Stripe and Google.