Core provider FIS announced Monday that it has acquired fintech Payrix in a move that will allow FIS to embed payment capabilities within software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms.

Atlanta-based Payrix, founded in 2015, enables SaaS-based platforms to embed payments and financial technology into their offerings.

The acquisition will accelerate merchants’ e-commerce offerings for platforms that primarily serve small and medium-sized enterprises, FIS Chief Executive Gary Norcross said during today’s earnings call. Terms of the deal are not disclosed.

Serving millions of small businesses directly or through a platform requires specialized capabilities like automated underwriting and onboarding, newly appointed FIS President Stephanie Ferris said during the call.

“Payrix will modernize our client experience through their next generation product suite and enable us to deliver differentiated embedded finance and payments experiences for platforms that primarily serve SMBs,” Ferris said.

Norcross announced the promotion of Ferris to president during the call. Prior to her new role, Ferris served as chief operations officer and chief accounting officer at FIS, where she was responsible for leading global strategy and technology transformation, as well as the global integration of FIS and Worldpay, an e-commerce and payment solution.

Integration of Worldpay complete

FIS during the fourth quarter of 2021 completed the integration of Worldpay, which FIS acquired in 2019, nearly a year ahead of schedule, beating the company’s “initial revenue synergy target by 50%,” Norcross said. That acquisition allowed FIS to improve authorizations, which in turn led to Netflix expanding its partnership with the company.

“This generates significant revenue uplift for our clients,” he said. “Based on this advancement, Netflix expanded our long-standing relationship this quarter to quickly take advantage of this new capability.”

Banking solutions revenue grew 8% in 2021 in ‘record year’

Overall revenue in Q4 grew 11% to $3.7 billion — up more than $350 million year over year — and banking solutions specifically grew 8% from $6 billion in 2020 to $6.4 billion in 2021 at the core provider. Banking solutions revenue rose 8% YoY to $1.7 billion in Q4, according to the call.

FIS highlighted several wins with financial institutions, including an unnamed top 15 global financial institution that selected FIS to modernize its infrastructure using its cloud-native Digital One platform. FIS also signed a multiyear partnership with Coral Gables, Fla.-based Amerant Bank to outsource most of its solutions.

The partnership allows the bank “to transform their business from a multi-vendor solution to a single innovation partner,” Norcross said. “This will drive a significant savings for Amerant while bringing their solutions to the most current technologies, which is a great example of the power of the FIS portfolio. These wins are indicative of how the differentiated capabilities in our banking segment drove the more than 30% increase in new sales for the year.”

Other customers mentioned in FIS presentations include Amazon, Capital One, Experian, Klarna, PayPal and Vanguard.

Merchant revenue reached $4.5 billion in 2021, a 19% increase over $3.8 billion in 2020, in part due the FIS’ expansion into seven new countries, including Argentina, where it recently signed Aerolíneas Argentinas, the country’s largest airline as a client.

“By any account, this was a record year for FIS and the strongest operating performance in our 53-year history,” Norcross said.

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