For all the opportunities offered to businesses of all sizes by fintechs, the payments landscape for all too many merchants remains desperately fragmented. Even as online purchasing services proliferate and improve in speed and security, brick-and-mortar point-of-sale operations still rely on outdated systems that are impossible to mesh with the sleeker, digital-first platforms customers have come to expect.
Bringing the promise of fintech to cross-venue payments and legacy merchants has long been the dream of fintechs large and small. In December 2022, nearly a year after JPMorgan announced it would purchase a significant stake in Greek neobank Viva Wallet, the company revealed that the deal has been closed with a €100 million cash injection among the terms of the agreement. JPMorgan will buy out all of the minority holders for an amount that is expected to be above €820 million ($869 million), the news website kathimerini.gr reported, although it did not reveal how it got that information.
“We are very excited to make a strategic investment in Viva Wallet,” said JPMorgan Payments’ Global Head, Takis Georgakopoulos, in a press release on the completed deal. Georgakopoulos explained that the major stake would allow JPMorgan to help Viva Wallet pursue its “vision to empower new growth and payments innovation targeted at European small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and middle market merchant services clients.”
