Mastercard Acquires Arcus to support real time payment applications

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Mastercard today announced it has acquired Arcus FI, an alum of the company’s Start Path program, to help support the delivery of bill pay solutions and other real-time payment applications across Latin America.

With offices in New York and Mexico City, Arcus helps to enable bill pay and cash-in, cash-out services for some of the biggest billers, retailers, fintechs and traditional financial institutions in the U.S. and Mexico, with expansion into Latin America. Its flagship solution, the Arcus Pay Network, has access to the largest retailers and direct connection with many of the largest billers in Mexico.

“The past year has shown how critical digital solutions are for people and businesses across the region,” said Laura Cruz, division president for Mexico and Central America at Mastercard. “With the addition of the Arcus team, we will enhance existing payment experiences and create new opportunities to address every day needs by connecting more people to the digital economy.”

Arcus’ platform recently received approval to enable payment processing, settlement and reconciliation via Mexico’s real-time Interbank Electronic Payment System (Sistema de Pagos Electrónicos Interbancarios or SPEI).

“Edrizio de la Cruz and I began this company to help immigrants like us have a proper way to track our finances and send money home. For nearly a decade, we have grown from those aspirations to help pave the way toward greater financial inclusion in Latin America,” said Iñigo Rumayor, co-founder at Arcus. “We’ve tapped into some of the region’s brightest minds, and built a world-class team alongside Marc Sacal, who has helped us expand beyond those initial cross-border payments to give people a greater control of their financial lives. Now, becoming part of the Mastercard family and a direct participant in the SPEI network expands what we can deliver to our customers.”

Arcus has helped to pioneer the adoption of digital payment solutions in Latin America. Today, the company supports fast and easy access to deposits, withdrawals and payment services.

Expansion of Mastercard Bill Pay

Arcus’ technology, network and customer relationships will help accelerate the introduction of Mastercard Bill Pay to Latin America. Its existing customers issue the majority of household bills in Mexico and provide connection to a wide range of payment options via banks, fintechs and digital wallet providers. This same connectivity will deliver the channel for a broader suite of financial services.

Mastercard Bill Pay allows consumers to view, manage and pay their household and other personal bills from within their preferred financial service provider’s app — securely, conveniently and with full control. It is already live with banks and credit unions and a network of 135,000 billers in the US as Mastercard Bill Pay Exchange.

For billers, Mastercard Bill Pay can eliminate the cost of mailing paper bills and processing cash and checks, offers better visibility of payment status, and helps them reconcile payments to customer accounts. Financial institutions benefit from increased relevance in their customers’ daily lives, resulting in increased engagement and additional services and increased customer engagement.

Arcus Customer Testimonials

“Arcus is the ideal partner for us due to its real-time payment technology, which allows us to offer the fastest possible payment solutions for our clients,” said Jorge Hernández Santoyo, corporate treasurer at Sky Mexico & Central America.

“Arcus was the ideal technology partner for us due to their agile technology, real-time processing and strong Latin American presence,” said Guillermo Vicando, CEO and co-founder of Bnext.

“Arcus is the ideal partner for us due to its real-time payment technology, which allows us to offer the fastest possible payment solutions for our clients,” said Karen Iglesias, electronic services and home delivery manager at 7-Eleven Mexico.

“Arcus is the ideal partner for our needs. We can use its suite of solutions to provide our customers with an unmatched payment experience around utilities payment and cash options to pay their credit cards,” said Martin Mexia, head of payments at RappiPay.

“By partnering with Arcus, Cuenca saves its customers’ time with a personalized, fair, and 100% friendly-digital finance experience which allows them to top-up phone plans and pay different bills.” Bibiana Monterde, co-founder of Cuenca.

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