Fundtech Ltd. of Jersey City says its acquisition of the payments services provider Synergy Financial Systems Ltd. of London has made Fundtech the world's largest service bureau for Swift transactions by volume.
Fundtech, which already had Swift service bureau operations in Baden, Switzerland, announced the $4.3 million acquisition Wednesday. It will also pay an additional amount of up to $1.9 million over the next three years, depending on Synergy's performance. Synergy and the Baden outfit average about 115,000 transactions a day combined.
George Ravich, a Fundtech executive vice president and its chief marketing officer, said in an interview Wednesday that the purchase complements his company's strategy of offering payments services not just between banks and their corporate customers, but also between businesses and their trading partners.
Swift, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, routes payments instructions on behalf of banks and their corporate customers. "Synergy felt they needed the scale of a company like Fundtech," Mr. Ravich said. "Larger banks and larger corporates don't want to go with a smaller" payments provider.
Besides Swift payments services, Fundtech and Synergy both offer financial software, and Mr. Ravich said he expects significant cross-sale opportunities to result from the acquisition.
