From the blog Consolidation in the Market = Potential Trouble for Your Businesses
The payments industry has always seen a great deal of consolidation. Now, more than ever, we are seeing acquisitions and mergers. In this article, we will break it down and explain how it could affect your customers and why your bank, or company, is in good hands with Talus Pay.
The Consolidation to date:
- TSYS bought TransFirst,
- Global Payments bought Heartland,
- Global Payments then bought TSYS,
- FiServe purchased First Data,
- Vantiv and Worldpay merged and then was purchased by FIS; and,
- Fintech players are starting to enter the payment space as well.
Why does this matter?
When consolidation like this occurs, it can result in business practice changes and pricing changes. These acquisitions are measured in the tens of billions of dollars and there is tremendous pressure to deliver a return on investment. These changes don’t always affect your customers in a positive way. If your bank is working with a company that is not processor independent and doesn’t have the opportunity to negotiate with a variety of processors around fee structure and contract terms, your customers will likely see inflation in pricing that is not kept in check.
Further, a strong customer service team is vital so your customers can get answers quickly in the event they need assistance with their payment solution. Many of the companies that have consolidated now have call centers trying to work across multiple disparate platforms. Response time can vary, and often your customer is left waiting to resolve a problem.
What this means for you.
If you are an Talus Pay Alliance Partner, you are in good hands during this time of consolidation. Our unique approach to merchant services means we consult customers on their payment solution to make sure they are uniquely set up to minimize costs and with no hidden fee inflation.
We have helped customers:
- negotiate contract terms,
- lower fee structure,
- monitor fees to keep companies from falling prey to fee inflation,
- quickly resolve payment issues to ensure speedy deposits,
- maintain PCI compliance to avoid non-compliant fees, and
- navigate restrictive software.
It is wise to offer all of your business customers who are not processing with you a complete ‘health check’ on their payment solution. What they signed up for initially, may very well not be what they are getting today. As it goes with consolidation, companies can adopt different practices from merging companies and that can mean what was ethical and efficient, may no longer be the case. Offering a health check to your customers truly sets you up as an advisor and positions your bank as a trusted resource.