JPMorgan has acquired the payments platform, WePay, as the leading investment bank looks to apply payments capabilities to small business software.
While details of the deal have not yet been disclosed, the Wall Street Journal has reported the price exceeded the near $220 million figure that WePay was priced at following a fundraising in 2015.
This initiative will focus on making the process of bring digital payment capabilities on board more efficiently; a timely move to make given the rapidly growing popularity of payments conducted using software.
Matt Kane, CEO of Chase Merchant Services, said in a statement, “With WePay, Chase is taking the work out of payments for both our business clients and the software providers who serve them… We are powering payments for growth, so businesses can accept payments instantly, get paid faster, and never lose a sale. And we’ll give ISVs a payment facilitator-like experience without the overhead or increased fraud risk.”
The purchase of this fintech capability marks an important step toward not only disrupting traditional processes at the enterprise level, but also making the widespread integration within smaller businesses.
According to PaymentsSource, Bill Clerico, founder and CEO of WePay, said in an email: “We think this is a game-changer — we’re combining the global brand, scale, capabilities and distribution of one of the world’s largest and most respected financial institutions with our world-class talent and technology to build the future of FinTech.”
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JPMorgan also recently announced the launch of a new payment processing network that harnesses blockchain technology. This plan is centred upon a goal to revolutionise international transactions, allowing payments to be carried out in real time.
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These latest moves from JPMorgan mark a keen interest in harnessing new technologies and fintech approaches to disrupting traditional processes. Cryptocurrency, however, is not viewed in the same light, with chief executive, Jamie Dimon, proving himself a strong disbeliever in the future of currencies such as bitcoin.
