What the FIS and Worldpay Merger Means

July 31, 2019 marked the merger between the No. 1 global fintech provider and the No. 1 global merchant acquirer – FIS and Worldpay – to become a global powerhouse to advance the way the world pays, banks and invests. This article discusses the rationale behind this merger and what the pairing means for financial institutions and merchants.

Merger rationale

Smart companies continuously assess their environments to determine clients’ future needs and build capabilities to capitalize on opportunities they foresee. The merger between FIS and Worldpay provides the size, scale and synergies to accelerate growth and create value.

The two companies have complementary strengths, which creates additive value beyond what’s achieved by cost reductions in operations, technologies, facilities and corporate overhead. FIS has significant relationships with most of the Top 50 global banks and Worldpay has relationships with more than a million merchants. The union allows the combined company to provide end-to-end payment solutions – for example, to do both the transaction and the ledger settlement. And, enabling cross-selling to each other’s clients will bring efficiencies to execution.

The merger creates additional revenue streams, for example:

• FIS has a large footprint in emerging markets such as Brazil and India – countries with large mobile presence but fragmented merchant bases, which remain cash-dependent. The merger provides Worldpay with access to these largely untapped markets as they adopt digital payments.
• The combined entity is now able to penetrate the high-growth, global e-commerce market faster through Worldpay’s expertise and ability to accept hundreds of payment types and currencies and FIS’ reach.
• FIS’ leadership in the issuing market and innovative loyalty programs leverages Worldpay’s relationships with merchants to offer loyalty programs across multiple channels.
• FIS’ expertise in real-time payment innovation and the ecosystem around open APIs – nearly 1,000 APIs are now accessible through its Code Connect hub – enables differentiating, end-to-end solutions to clients around the world.

What does this mean for clients?

Clients are benefitting from the combined multi-channel and multi-currency capabilities, robust risk and fraud solutions and advanced analytics. A few examples include:

• Clients have access to a wider portfolio of digital assets to grow revenue and better engage with their customers.
• E-commerce retailers are able to tap into to expanded global offerings to help them reach new markets.
• Bank and credit unions now have access to the leading merchant acquirer platform and a host of e-commerce services to help them compete effectively.
• Clients benefit from data leverage around authorization and fraud to reduce e-commerce fraud.
• Merchants are able to utilize an array of comprehensive loyalty solutions – for example, a “loyalty as currency” offer that enables merchants to reward their customers with an option to convert their points to currency.

Want to learn more?

Contact an FIS relationship manager to learn more about how your business and portfolios can be enhanced by new innovations and solutions now available.