Mastercard to introduce Bill Pay to Latin America with Arcus purchase

Mastercard has acquired Arcus FI to support the delivery of real-time payment applications across Latin America.

Arcus FI, which is an alum of Mastercard’s ‘Start Path’ programme, has offices in New York and Mexico City and its flagship solution, the Arcus Pay Network, has access to large retailers and direct connection with many of the largest billers in Mexico.

Mastercard said that the acquisition, the terms of which were undisclosed, will accelerate the introduction of Mastercard Bill Pay to the Latin American market.

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 and is already live with banks and credit unions and a network of 135,000 billers in the US as Mastercard Bill Pay Exchange.

“The past year has shown how critical digital solutions are for people and businesses across the region,” said Laura Cruz, division president for Mexico and Central America at Mastercard.

“With the addition of the Arcus team, we will enhance existing payment experiences and create new opportunities to address everyday needs by connecting more people to the digital economy.”

Arcus’ platform recently received approval to enable payment processing, settlement and reconciliation via Mexico’s real-time Interbank Electronic Payment System (Sistema de Pagos Electrónicos Interbancarios or SPEI).

Arcus co-founder Iñigo Rumayor said that he and Edrizio de la Cruz started the company “to help immigrants like us have a proper way to track our finances and send money home”.

“We’ve tapped into some of the region’s brightest minds, and built a world-class team alongside Marc Sacal, who has helped us expand beyond those initial cross-border payments to give people a greater control of their financial lives,” Rumayor said.

“Now, becoming part of the Mastercard family and a direct participant in the SPEI network expands what we can deliver to our customers.”