As one year draws to a close, another begins, making New Years a time of reflection and prediction. For the payments industry, 2019 was a busy year defined by mergers, big announcements, new technologies, and shifting consumer expectations and preferences.
In terms of mergers and acquisitions, the year got off to a hot start in January, when Fiserv announced a $22 billion deal to acquire First Data. Soon after, in March, FIS bought Worldpay in a deal valued at $43 billion. More major deals occurred throughout the year, including a merger between Global Payments and TSYS (another megadeal valued at over $20 billion), Mastercard’s acquisition of Nets, and PayPal’s acquisition of Honey.