Digital Banking & Payments

Digitization of payments and the requirement for a seamless, omni-channel experience is transforming the payments industry. The ability for merchants to accept all payments means that fraud detection and reduction, and the provision of instant credit for consumers are increasingly important features to differentiate against high levels of competition for payment and FX services. Scale and global presence are also critical to success in the industry and have been principal drivers of the recent wave of M&A in the sector. The payments market is extremely active with ongoing consolidation led by private-equity-backed players and leading strategic players. Arma has been extremely active in the payment spaces, with the sale of Payzone to AIB/First Data, the sale of CreditCall to NMI, the sale of Skrill to Optimal, the sale of The Logic Group to Barclaycard and the recap of Trustly by Bridgepoint as examples.

Consumers demand best-in-class user experience and are increasingly attracted to new challenger banks, in particular in relation to obtaining better FX rates, P2P real-time transfers, better loans and high convenience with a mobile-native experience. Regulators support the additional competition and emergence of leading FinTech companies while customers are starting to flock to those new players. The market continues to witness a high level of activity on the fundraising side while large software vendors continue to invest in and consolidate vendors. Arma has a very strong track record, having sold businesses to IBM and Temenos, and advised on a number of growth equity transactions.