Toronto, May 4, 2026, 18:01 EDT
Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal are in talks to sell Moneris to Francisco Partners, the private equity owner of Verifone, in a deal that could value the Canadian payments processor at more than $2 billion, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The talks move a months-old sale process closer to a possible break point for one of Canada’s biggest merchant payments businesses.
The timing matters because Moneris sits close to the cash register for much of Canada’s economy. The company says it processes one in three transactions across the country and serves businesses with mobile, online and in-store commerce tools.
A sale would also push two of Canada’s largest banks further away from merchant acquiring, the business of signing up merchants and processing card payments for them. Banks have been under pressure to keep spending on payment technology, while specialist processors and private equity buyers have chased scale and recurring fee revenue.
The negotiations have been lengthy, but an agreement could be reached by the summer, Finextra reported, citing the FT. The same report said Francisco Partners owns Verifone and holds a stake in Paysafe, two payments assets that would make Moneris a close fit if the deal goes ahead.
Moneris was founded in 2000 as a joint venture of RBC and BMO. Reuters reported last August that the company served about 325,000 merchant locations and generated nearly $700 million in annual revenue, figures that helped support a valuation around $2 billion.
Francisco Partners has already backed Verifone through a $235 million capital investment announced in April 2025. “We are proud to continue supporting Verifone as it advances its market-leading payment solutions and maintains strong financial foundations,” Peter Christodoulo, a partner at Francisco Partners, said at the time. Verifone
The buyer’s other payments exposure is also relevant. Francisco Partners describes Paysafe as a provider of global payments acceptance solutions, with services ranging from processing to digital wallets and online cash products.
Competitive pressure is already visible in Canada. Fiserv said in July 2025 it had signed a multi-year agreement with TD Bank Group under which TD Merchant Solutions would use Fiserv technology, including Clover, and Fiserv would acquire part of TD’s Canadian merchant processing business covering about 3,400 merchant relationships and 30,000 merchant locations.
There is still room for the deal to fail. The FT reported that RBC, BMO and Moneris declined to comment, and that Francisco Partners did not respond to requests for comment; the report also said other bidders could emerge.
If completed, the transaction would leave Moneris under a technology-focused private equity firm rather than a bank-owned joint venture. For RBC and BMO, it would mark a cleaner exit from a business that still touches millions of daily transactions but demands constant spending on software, hardware, fraud tools and merchant support.
