Montreal-based FinTech company Expertus Technologies has been acquired by IBM as part of the multinational tech conglomerate’s strategy to become an end-to-end digital payment solution provider.
Expertus has been added to the IBM Global Business Services unit, the professional services arm of IBM that applies advanced technology and helps clients design, build, and run businesses. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Expertus offers a financial transactions platform for international banks, credit unions, regulatory agencies and corporates.
Founded in 2001, Expertus offers a cloud-based platform for financial transactions for international banks, credit unions, regulatory agencies and corporates, and processes, on average, $50 billion USD in transactions on its payments platform. Expertus is also a North American services bureau of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions, a network used by banks and other financial institutions to manage money transfers and treasury transactions.
The acquisition is designed to expand IBM’s ability to manage complex integrations of technologies, people, and processes. This continues IBM’s move to bolster its cloud application modernization and financial transformation expertise, having acquired SAP consulting partner TruQua in November. Expertus’ acquisition also assists IBM in offering financial institutions intelligent workflows, end-to-end business processes embedded with AI, data and analytics, and improved cost per transaction.
“Expertus’ payment-as-a-service solution expands our hybrid cloud-based payments offerings, transforming payments and treasury management with AI to give financial institutions the flexibility to rapidly innovate and stay competitive as consumer demands evolve,” said Mark Foster, senior vice president, IBM Services. “Financial institutions must balance greater demand for secure digital solutions while complying with rapidly evolving regulation.”
Expertus’ acquisition by IBM continues a busy quarter for acquisitions of Canadian FinTech firms. In November, St John’s-based anti-financial crime management FinTech Verafin was acquired by Nasdaq for $2.75 billion USD. That same month, Vancouver-based Mogo acquired payment processing FinTech Carta Worldwide for 24.2 million CAD. In December, Toronto-based PayBright, a leading buy-now-pay-later provider, was acquired by San Francisco-based Affirm for $340 million CAD.
“Expertus built an efficient and trusted financial services enterprise, that in many ways, was ahead of its time,” said Jacques Leblanc, CEO and founder of Expertus. “Together with IBM, we now can offer businesses worldwide the benefits and security of seamless end-to-end financial transactions. As a home-grown Montréal company, we are proud to bring our offering as well as our commitment to customers to a new level and to a broader market.”
Image source Expertus via Glassdoor