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James G. Kelly, president and chief operating officer of Global Payments Inc., an Atlanta-based processor, downplayed the impact of the Banc of America Merchant Services joint venture between First Data Corp. and Bank of America N.A. announced Monday (CardLine, 6/29). "Global Payments has been in the marketplace competing with First Data and Bank of America for some time," Kelly tells CardLine sister publication ISO&Agent Weekly. "I don't know that this changes the competitive landscape. We look to compete against them vigorously." Global Payments and other competitors could find intensified competition for larger merchants, says Adil Moussa, an analyst at Boston-based Aite Group LLC. "You really need a bank, a big solid bank, to work with the large merchants," Moussa says. "One of the most-challenging aspects of getting one of the large merchants" is that they typically want a broad suite of financial capabilities, including payments, loans and lines that they can typically only get from a bank. "If you have a bank to work with, or if you have a couple of banks to work with, you're really securing the processing part of the deal," Moussa says. First Data has a number of similar programs, such as its joint venture with San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. in Wells Fargo Merchant Services LLC.
