Financial Institutions

Recent Engagements

Turnaround Strategy: Merchant Services

After a recent acquisition, a top 40 U.S. bank partnered with pAIwares to identify its processor of the future and evolve its merchant services sales strategies. pAIwares informed the bank’s processor negotiations by assessing current capabilities/challenges, evaluating the processor market for the best-fit partner, & analyzing the merchant back book. After the 12-week engagement, the client had a two-year roadmap designed to 2-3x merchant sales.

Launching a Merchant Services Business

Turnaround Strategy: Merchant Services

A top 50 U.S. bank was considering launching a merchant services line of business. After assessing the bank’s strengths and market positioning, pAIwares developed multiple value propositions for entry. The primary strategy focused on pricing merchant services at-cost to drive low-cost merchant deposits, which – given the bank’s reliance of brokered deposits – were of greater value than traditional merchant services revenue. The team evaluated various scenarios, ultimately projecting a 14% increase in diluted EPS.

Sample Merchant Acquiring Engagements

Processing RFPs & Contracts

Processor partners are one of a bank’s most important relationships. pAIwares understands what works and what doesn't in contracts, both for short- and long-term objectives. We help banks by suggesting & evaluating potential partners, creating RFIs/RFPs, and reviewing pricing and contractual terms to create win-win relationships.

Assessment & Roadmap

How can your merchant services business complement and accelerate the rest of your Treasury or SMB vision? Our experts will assess current state by interviewing your leaders across payments, product, sales, marketing, and more. Next, we chart out a target state based on your bank’s strategy and our understanding of the evolution of merchant acquiring. Finally, we’ll determine the optimal sequencing & roadmap for your bank, supported by the business cases you need to realize your vision.

Business Case Development

Should our bank launch a merchant services business? Which roadmap items should we in- or outsource? Which vendor(s) should we be working with to create more value for our business customers? From the big, strategic questions down to the technical & tactical considerations, pAIwares helps banks develop comprehensive business cases.

Our Strengths

Experience

Proven Methodologies

We’ve worked at, consulted for, and been acquired by banks. We ‘get’ the unique ways that FIs work (and don’t work!).

This experience helps us more effectively navigate the organization and leverage our network to implement solutions that pay heed to both regulation and innovation.

Proven Methodologies

Throughout hundreds of engagements with FIs, we’ve refined our methodologies to deliver leading results to our clients.

Whether it’s balancing conflicting functional priorities or managing change effectively, our proven playbooks ensure you get the results you need.

Technology

Proven Methodologies

Technology

People, process, and technology are essential inputs to any project. But many advisors neglect tech, simply because they aren’t technologists.

We’ve built standalone products as well as simple spot solutions in use by large-scale FIs today. Our understanding of – and ability to build – software ensures your initiatives are balanced across people, process, AND technology.

pAIwares empowers enterprises to navigate the new world of payments.

Who We Partner With