The news: Fiserv will acquire the remaining 49.9% stake in AIB Merchant Services, one of Ireland’s largest payment solutions providers and Europe’s largest ecommerce acquirers.

Fiserv launched AIB Merchant Services in 2017 with AIB Group.

The lead up: Fiserv has used acquisitions to spur growth and expand its operations internationally. 

This year alone, Finserv acquired Payfare, a Canada-based earned wage access provider; PCCV, a Dutch payments solution provider; Pinch Payments, a payfac serving merchants in Australia and New Zealand; and Money Media, a Brazilian fintech. 

How this can help Fiserv: While Fiserv’s adjusted revenues increased 5% YoY in Q1 2025, investors were disappointed in the weaker demand for payment processing and its point-of-sale (POS) offering, Clover. 

By rapidly expanding the reach of Fiserv’s merchant solution services, largely powered by Clover, Fiserv can capture more payment volume in new markets.

Obstacles for Finserv: Clover faces steep competition against a deep bench of POS providers like Toast, Square, Shift4, and Revolut. 

With the added pressures of tariffs in the US and the shrinking amount of disposable income among consumers navigating economic uncertainty, the small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that Clover serves are likely to be hit the hardest. 

Our take: Fiserv has to find innovative ways to grow among a competitive POS landscape, rising softPOS adoption, and pervasive economic uncertainty. 

While it’s launched its own hardware and purpose-built software, it’s going to need to to entice merchants to choose its platform over competitors with similar offerings—suggesting it may need to offer more incentivizing fee structures and more frictionless checkout experiences.

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