FORT WORTH, Texas – First American Payment Systems, L.P., one of the fastest growing merchant credit card processing acquirers in the United States, today announced it has acquired the Vancouver-based payment processing company, IATS (International Automated Transaction Service), a division of Ticketmaster Canada (Nasdaq: TKTM) and leading provider of integrated end-to-end donation processing solutions for nonprofit organizations.
IATS currently provides payment processing solutions to more than 9,000 nonprofit organizations in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand and is designed to help nonprofit organizations save time and money on fundraising with its cost-effective solutions. IATS’ deep engagement in the not-for-profit space brings exceptional value to First American.
“The acquisition of IATS makes First American one of the industry leaders in the nonprofit payment processing sector,” said Neil L. Randel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First American.
Nearly a million publicly-supported charities in the U.S. alone collect in excess of $307 billion annually, representing an extremely large market. However, of the billions donated, nearly 80 percent are given via check.
As the majority of industries has shifted toward credit and debit, Randel said he predicts a similar trend within the nonprofit space: “We are well-positioned to penetrate the nonprofit industry with electronic processing solutions. The acquisition provides tremendous opportunity for growth.”
Tom Epplett, Chief Operating Officer of IATS, said the acquisition benefits clients, partners, and employees as the company anticipates expanding its payment services with the support of First American. “We are excited and inspired by this new relationship as we know First American supports our philanthropic vision,” Epplett said. “We know they will enable us to accelerate development of new products and donation processing services.”
About First American
First American Payment Systems, L.P. is a rapidly growing merchant acquirer that provides comprehensive electronic payment processing services for more than 100,000 merchants in the United States. In addition to credit, debit and EBT card processing, First American also offers a complete line of proprietary products and services including Secur-Chex® check services, FirstAdvantage® gift cards, FirstPay.Net™ e-commerce solutions, FirstFund® ACH software, Govolution® government e-payments, national ATM sales, and Merimac Capital® point-of-sale equipment and ATM leasing. For more information, visit www.first-american.net.
About IATS
IATS draws on over 30 years of experience in transaction processing around the world. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, IATS provides over 9,000 nonprofit organizations in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand with the ability to process donations made by credit cards or direct debit in a cost effective manner.