Payments firm Fiserv NASDAQ:FISV has held talks with U.S. banks including JPMorgan NYSE:JPM and Bank of America NYSE:BAC to sell its payments infrastructure business that handles debit card transactions, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.
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The potential divestment comes as the payments-focused financial technology firm pursues a turnaround plan to improve performance after a difficult year marked by a significant decline in market value and substantial fallout from leadership changes.
Other banks that have held discussions in recent months include Wells Fargo NYSE:WFC and PNC Financial Services Group NYSE:PNC, the source said, adding that no deal is certain and the discussions could still fall apart. The source declined to be named as the information is not public.
The STAR Network business of Fiserv provides the infrastructure that routes debit, ATM, e-commerce, and transactions between banks, merchants, and consumers. It serves more than 115 million debit cardholders, using cards issued by over 2,800 financial institutions, according to Fiserv's website.
Any deal would also come as America's largest banks seek to take advantage of a more favorable regulatory regime to expand their businesses.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the talks earlier on Monday, said that an acquisition by large U.S. banks would enable the lenders to bypass federal debit-card fee caps.
Some companies that looked at the Fiserv network have already decided it would be unlikely for them to move forward, as they expressed concern that such a deal could prompt backlash from lawmakers, regulators and merchants, the source added.
Fiserv's shares, which are down 23% so far this year, rose 4.4% in after-hours trading on Monday.