RBC and BMO to Sell Moneris to Francisco Partners for $2 Billion
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The divestment marks a broader trend of Canada's major banks offloading payment processing infrastructure to U.S.-based private equity and fintech firms.
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Bank of Montreal (BMO) have reached an agreement to sell Moneris, a Toronto-based payment processor, to U.S. private equity firm Francisco Partners for $2 billion CAD, according to BetaKit.
Under the terms of the deal announced Monday, BMO and RBC will split the sale proceeds equally. While the banks are exiting ownership, they will exclusively refer their customers to Moneris moving forward. The transaction is slated to close in early 2027, pending regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Following the acquisition, Jeff Sloan, the former CEO and president of Global Payments, will serve as chairman of Moneris. Francisco Partners already manages a portfolio of payment firms, including Verifone, NMI, PayLease, Paymetric, and Hypercom.
Founded in 2000, Moneris employs nearly 2,000 people and processes over five billion transactions annually, claiming to power one-third of all Canadian transactions. Peter Christodoulo of Francisco Partners stated the firm intends to invest in platform expansion and innovation while maintaining the company's "deeply Canadian identity."
The exit follows a pattern of divestment among Canada's "Big Five" banks. BetaKit notes that TD recently offloaded 3,400 contracts from its payment business to Fiserv, while CIBC and Scotiabank maintain partnerships with Global Payments and Chase Payment Solutions, respectively. Helcim CEO Nic Beique told BetaKit that Canada's largest banks have nearly entirely withdrawn from independent payment processing in favor of U.S. providers. This shift occurs as Canada prepares to launch a Real-Time Rails payments system to modernize national payment infrastructure later this year.