Mastercard announced it has acquired Arcus FI, an alum of the company’s Start Path program, to help support the delivery of bill pay solutions and other real-time payment applications across Latin America. With offices in New York and Mexico City, Arcus helps to enable bill pay and cash-in, cash-out services for some of the biggest billers, retailers, fintechs and traditional financial institutions in the U.S. and Mexico, with expansion into Latin America. Its flagship solution, the Arcus Pay Network, has access to the largest retailers and direct connection with many of the largest billers in Mexico. Arcus’ platform recently received approval to enable payment processing, settlement, and reconciliation via Mexico’s real-time Interbank Electronic Payment System. Arcus has helped to pioneer the adoption of digital payment solutions in Latin America. The company supports fast and easy access to deposits, withdrawals, and payment services.
Arcus’ technology, network and customer relationships will help accelerate the introduction of Mastercard Bill Pay to Latin America. Its existing customers issue most household bills in Mexico and provide connection to a wide range of payment options via banks, fintechs and digital wallet providers. This same connectivity will deliver the channel for a broader suite of financial services. Mastercard Bill Pay allows consumers to view, manage and pay their household and other personal bills from within their preferred financial service provider’s app — securely, conveniently and with full control. It is already live with banks and credit unions and a network of 135,000 billers in the US as Mastercard Bill Pay Exchange. For billers, Mastercard Bill Pay can eliminate the cost of mailing paper bills and processing cash and checks, offers better visibility of payment status, and helps them reconcile payments to customer accounts. Financial institutions benefit from increased relevance in their customers’ daily lives, resulting in increased engagement and additional services and increased customer engagement.