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Hoping to capitalize on a push by smaller banks to generate more revenue, M2 Global Ltd. has launched an online payment gateway to make it easier for banks to manage their e-commerce merchant portfolios. Maitland, Fla.-based M2 calls the gateway AcqEngin, which connects transactions to processors via the Internet. Banks can manage their merchant-acquiring business via a Web portal, Sean Forward, managing director of M2's merchant services, tells CardLine. Banks can see each transaction from the swipe to authorization to settlement and use the Web portal to open merchant-processing accounts, he says. "Like many organizations, small and medium-size banks are looking for new avenues to generate revenue," Forward says. "They have found they might have a good portfolio of brick-and-mortar stores, but they haven't the resources to actually manage the Web-based part of the business." Available globally, the gateway already has banks in the Caribbean and Latin America using it, Forward says. He anticipates signing deals with banks elsewhere, including Europe, Asia and North America. M2 gateway debuted in September, and the company tweaked it through winter, M2 says. Bank customers can brand the AcqEngin gateway with their own logos, the company says. M2 also has referral agreements with independent sales organizations that have merchants that U.S. banks may be reluctant to work with that an offshore bank would, Forward says. ISOs receive recurring revenue from each transaction made with those accounts, he says, though the amount is specific to each ISO depending on the volume it produces, Forward says.
