US Bank Looking To Sell Its Payment Unit, Elan

U.S. Bank is reportedly looking to sell Elan, its card processing business, reported Fintech Futures. According to the report, Finastra, FIS and Fiserv are in the running to acquire the unit from U.S. Bank.

Elan processes credit cards for 1,800 banks in the U.S., providing payment services, credit card issuing, prepaid card and ATM services as well as debit card processing. It also provides support for more than 34,000 ATMs around the U.S. and more than 13 million ATM and debit cards.

Finastra, FIS and Fiserv declined to comment when contacted by Fintech Futures, while U.S. Bank and Elan hadn’t responded by the time the story was published.

In October, Elan – along with Ondot Systems, the leading provider of mobile-based card services – enhanced the My Mobile Money app so that it now offers two-way fraud alerts for Elan-processed debit cards. By sending real-time alerts via My Mobile Money, financial institutions can communicate directly with debit cardholders to confirm transactions, which will not only reduce the risk of a payment being declined due to fear of fraudulent activity, but can also prevent false positive card blocks.

“Our financial institution clients are always looking for new ways to provide their debit cardholders with fraud prevention options,” said Troy Cullen, president of Elan, at the time. “By working with Ondot to provide a mobile fraud alert service, we are empowering consumers to keep an eye on their card activity, whether they are shopping at their local grocery store or reviewing their transactions.”

While FIS hasn’t been acquisitive in recent months, is has been beefing up its payment services, landing key contracts such as its deal with Fifth Third Bank, which chose it for real-time payments, reported Fintech Futures. Last year, Fiserv acquired Dovetail, a payments software company, noted the report.