Fiserv sale helps Deluxe build lockbox heft

Fiserv has sold a lockbox processing unit to Deluxe, the second such acquisition for Deluxe in as many months.

Deluxe will take control of Fiserv’s lockbox processing operations covering five separate locations including the main Chicago facility. The Fiserv unit, called Remittance Solutions, primarily services lockbox processing for B2B payments, and will join Deluxe’s Treasury Management Services unit. The deal closed on December 16, and financial terms were not disclosed.

The Fiserv deal comes quickly on the heels of an agreement Deluxe reached with Synchrony in November to purchase its lockbox operations. In the Synnchrony deal Deluxe Corp. will take over bill payment processing for private-label credit card issuer beginning next year, absorbing Synchrony’s remittance operations and employees in Longwood, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia.

“Our payments area has really been on a roll in 2019, signing more than 25 new deals and building on our industry position as a leader in remittance solutions,” said Barry McCarthy, president and CEO of Deluxe, in a press release. “This deal allows Deluxe to extend its expertise and reach with the addition of a reseller arrangement through the banking sales channel of Fiserv.”

Fiserv is a current client of Deluxe Treasury Management Services, and will become a reseller of Deluxe lockbox processing as a result of the sale.

The recent lockbox deals are emblematic of an industry in consolidation as it responds to the overall decline of paper check usage. According to a recent Federal Reserve Payments Study the number of paper checks written has fallen from 19.7 billion in 2012 to 14.5 billion in 2018, representing an annual decline of approximately 5%.