North American Bancard’s decision to hire Deutsche Bank Securities is to “explore the opportunity to strategically align ourselves with financial partners to pursue any opportunities,” Marc Gardner, the independent sales organization’s president, tells PaymentsSource. North American Bancard earlier this week announced the Deutsche Bank hiring.
“We feel there will be big opportunities to consolidate entities within the merchant-acquiring space, and we want to be well-positioned for the opportunity,” Gardner says.
Reuters news service, citing anonymous sources, reported last week that the hiring of Deutsche Bank was a sign of a “possible sale.” However, Gardner tells PaymentsSource North American Bancard is “committed to this space, committed to the business. We aren’t going anywhere. We’re here for the long term.”
In a press release, Troy, Mich.-based North American Bancard, which also processes transactions, says “a number of large financial firms” approached the company in 2009 to “pursue industry opportunities.”
North American Bancard is looking for entities that have “entrenched customer-acquisition programs in the ISO industry today and are well-established” in the United States and Canada, Gardner says. “We’d like to continue to grow and be aggressive as these opportunities come to market,” he says.
