Fiserv stated that it had acquired payment facilitator (PayFac) Pinch Payments and its management platform Glassbox.
Pinch was founded in 2017. The brand currently serves approximately 2,000 merchants in Australia and New Zealand. Pinch provides its customers with the tools to facilitate payments more efficiently on a large scale.
Gavin Jones, head of Fiserv Australia, stated that the announced acquisition further demonstrates Fiserv’s commitment to the local payment market following the launch of Clover. It was also noted that by integrating the company’s leading solutions for digital payments with innovative Pinch technology and local expertise, Fiserv is able to deliver cutting-edge functional payment transaction offerings to empower merchants across the Asia-Pacific region.
The deal provides Fiserv with a payment orchestration platform that supports flexible service options and speed to market for PayFacs, independent software vendors, business payment solutions providers, independent sales organizations, and enterprises.
Paul Allen, Pinch Payments’ co-founder and chief executive officer, stated that joining Fiserv is an incredible opportunity for the Pinch team and continues its mission to provide seamless partner experiences to a growing number of merchants. According to him, he is confident in the firm’s roadmap to expand into new markets, having worked closely with the Fiserv team.
The new deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions for Fiserv. Last month, the company announced that it had purchased CCV, a payment solutions provider that is based in the Netherlands and does business in the domestic market, Belgium and Germany. The firm noted that this acquisition will allow it to speed the deployment of its Clover point-of-sale (POS) platform throughout Europe.
CCV was founded in 1958. This company offers consumers services such as transaction processing, online and closed-loop payments, acquiring, and a range of in-store and self-service payment terminals. Fiserv called them a pioneer in payments. In this context, it is separately noted that CCV has facilitated the first electronic payments in its home country.
In December, Fiserv announced that it was acquiring earned wage access (EWA) provider Payfare. The company noted that this deal complements its embedded finance solutions with card program management, a white-label consumer app, and a microservices orchestration layer.
It is worth noting that recently there has been a tendency in which PayFacs, independent software vendors, and marketplaces from the logistics and wholesale trade industries to enhance their embedded finance capabilities to bolster customer satisfaction, revenue growth, and competitiveness.
According to specialized media reports, more than half of PayFacs and marketplaces consider embedded finance as an extremely important element of their innovation plans. Embedded finance features such as loyalty, rewards, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and business credit are top priorities. The companies also claim that the integration of digital wallets for accepting payments has become essential.
