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Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal are quietly exploring a possible sale of Moneris, their joint merchant-payments venture born in 2000, as they re-assess strategic priorities amid a crowded and tech-intensive payments landscape.
Founded as a 50-50 JV, Moneris now handles roughly a third of all payment transactions in the country, servicing some 325,000 merchant locations and delivering around $700 million in annual revenue—the sort of scale that naturally commands attention. Sources told Reuters that the banks are preparing to pitch Moneris at a price approaching $2 billion, and have enlisted PJT Partners alongside their in-house teams to run the process.
“The JV has always been a powerful engine of payments infrastructure—but the environment has shifted,” says a payments consultant close to the matter, noting banks are increasingly ceding ground to nimble specialists or private-equity-backed outfits willing to bear high R&D costs.
Indeed, RBC and BMO aren’t alone. Just last month, TD agreed to unload portions of its merchant processing arm to Fiserv, shifting Canadian merchants to Clover and Fiserv rails. Payments, once comfortable bank-land, is now capital-heavy, fraud-vigilant and innovation-driven—perfectly suited to leaner, tech-first players.
Moneris’s track record gives bidders something to chew on. In 2016, the company exited the US, selling off its American business to Vantiv for $425 million, retreating to focus on the Canadian market. More recently, it activated being among Apple’s Canada launch partners for Tap to Pay on iPhone, enabling merchants to accept contactless payments without extra hardware—an edge in a world where contactless tap has become table stakes.
The banks’ own strategies have also evolved. RBC, still integrating its 2024 acquisition of HSBC Bank Canada, may see shedding Moneris as a way to free up both capital and management bandwidth. BMO, meanwhile, is trimming holdings post-Bank of the West deal, including reportedly looking to sell its point-of-sale and equipment finance unit.
A price tag near 3× sales isn’t unreasonable, though it hinges on Moneris maintaining its dominant position and successfully transitioning from in-store terminals to e-commerce and cloud-based platforms. Buyers will drill deep on churn rates, integration costs, and take-rates.
But with Moneris commanding one of the highest footprints in the nation’s payment fabric, any sale—or decision to hold—would reverberate across Canada’s retail and banking landscape. Buyers could range from global acquirers and fintech consolidators to private equity groups eager for stable, regulated cash flows. Meanwhile, dual ownership by banks might shift toward more modular alliances—Moneris staying vital as a partner even post-exit.
