Deutsche Bank has moved to beef up its transaction banking franchise through the acquisition of a stake in US startup ModoPayments. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 2010, Dallas-based Modo works to reduce friction in the payments industry through technology that creates interoperability between systems, without needing changes to those systems.
Deutsche Bank says that Modo's technology will help it expand its existing digital B2B and B2C payments business. In particular, it will help extend payments into non-bank payment platforms such as Alipay, Paypal, M-Pesa and WeChat, beyond traditional banking channels into mobile wallets and P2P networks.
John Gibbons, head, global transaction banking, Deutsche Bank, says: "Payments are the bloodline of banking. More and more global payments are executed electronically via fintech and online platforms.
"Our investment and partnership with Modo will help us to provide our corporate and institutional clients with new digital payment functionalities and accordingly more flexibility in facilitating these transactions. Going forward, we will be able to directly process payments to mobile wallets and app-based payment solutions."