PayPal to acquire Swift Financial to boost its capital program

In a move to strengthen the PayPal Working Capital program, the online payments giant has agreed to acquire the small-business capital lender Swift Financial.

PayPal developed the Working Capital program in 2013, offering financing to merchants based on their PayPal transaction history. It has funded more than $3 billion in loans to its merchants in the past four years, PayPal said.

Expanding upon its existing commercial partnership with Swift Financial, the acquisition will enable PayPal to "better serve small businesses by enhancing our underwriting capabilities to provide access to affordable business financing solutions to more businesses to help them grow and thrive," Darrell Esch, vice president and general manager of small-business lending at PayPal, said in an Aug. 10 blog post.

PayPal expects Swift Financial, which has operated out of Wilmington, Del., since 2006, to provide technology that will deliver additional data about businesses. With that information, PayPal could offer add-on financial services.

"We know and value Swift's technology platform and people, and we believe their talent and capabilities will further strengthen our overall merchant value proposition," Esch wrote.

paypal sign
PayPal signage is displayed in front of eBay Inc. headquarters in San Jose, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. EBay Inc. is spinning off its PayPal division, heeding demands by activist shareholder Carl Icahn and giving the business independence it can use to contend with rising competition from Apple Inc. and Google Inc. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Payment processing M&A Marketplace lending PayPal
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER