KeyBank (NYSE: KEY) today announced its strategic affiliation with an equity investment in XUP Payments (“XUP”), a leading payments innovator, to deliver a digital and physical merchant services experience that provides an end-to-end streamlined process for sales, onboarding, activation, and servicing.
This collaboration, along with the launch of the Key Merchant Services (“KMS”) improved acquisition and servicing website marks the most recent in a series of partnerships with emerging fintech providers, affirming Key’s commitment to bringing innovative, digital first solutions to market. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
“Our new KMS digital platform provides businesses with a superior overall experience in conjunction with our (best-in-class or robust) merchant processing solution,” said Jon Briggs, Head of KeyBank Commercial Product & Innovation. “The collaboration with XUP further complements KMS’ new partnership with Boomtown Network, Inc., which further drives the digital merchant customer experience.”
“We are deeply appreciative of the partnership with KeyBank and the confidence they have in us to provide a seamless merchant processing solution.” said Chris May, XUP President. “We could not be more excited about the insights and strategic guidance KeyBank will offer and we look forward to working with them as we continue to build XUP’s exciting future.”
The latest collaboration and investment in XUP illustrate KeyBank’s model of partnering with fintechs to provide innovative solutions delivering ease and value to our clients by providing flexibility on how and where they do business with Key. It marks the most recent in a series of relationships with emerging fintech providers.
The affiliation with XUP and Boomtown’s CXMEngine helps KMS overcome customer, technology and speedto-market challenges by offering a fully digital experience in addition to traditional customer channels.
Additionally, the CXMEngine adds digital servicing capabilities with chat functionality that improve conflict resolution time for small businesses.
By investing in XUP, KeyBank has given further credence to the notion that a seamless end-to-end digital experience for merchants is crucial to elevating business standards in the merchant process. KeyBank is the first commercial bank in the U.S. to invest in XUP.