Fifth Third Acquires Embedded Payment Platform Rize Money

Ohio-based bank Fifth Third Bancorp has acquired the embedded payments platform Rize Money.

The deal, announced Monday (May 22), is designed to boost Fifth Third’s treasury management business, which it says is projected to surpass $130 million in annual revenue this year.

“This acquisition is another example of Fifth Third’s commitment to leveraging technology and innovation for the benefit of our clients,” said Bridgit Chayt, Fifth Third’s head of wholesale payments. “The addition of Rize Money enhances our existing embedded payments offerings and positions us to meet our clients’ ever-changing needs.”

Based in Arlington, Virginia, Rize was founded in 2014 and provides non-bank financial institutions, FinTechs and other tech companies the tools they need to launch and scale new products and services through a single application programming interface (API).

“Fifth Third Bank’s track record in this space and dedication to empowering its clients with financial technology innovation continues to impress us,” said founder Justin Howell. “We are thrilled to join the Fifth Third team and advance our shared goals.”

As PYMNTS wrote last month, the use of APIs in banking is growing, making it crucial for financial institutions to develop a strong API strategy to integrate with third parties and business partners.

In fact, “there’s an opportunity to API-enable pretty much all customer journeys,” Claire Melling, NatWest Group head of bank of APIs, said in an interview with PYMNTS.

She added that financial institutions (FIs) could play “a key part in smoothing out those journeys” given their numerous interactions with clients. And there are limitless opportunities, whether in traditional banking activities such as payments, loans or home buying or data sharing.

“There are opportunities everywhere and as trusted organizations, we have a part to play in [offering those solutions to] our customers,” Melling added.

She added that API banking technology is also helping to enhance collaborations between banks and FinTechs, increasing the willingness of both parties to work together and create strong customer journeys.

“It means that two parties can come together far more seamlessly, and hopefully get to create those partnerships in order to support customers.”

Fifth Third’s purchase of Rize follows its March acquisition of Big Data Healthcare, a Wisconsin-based healthcare payment and remittance firm.

Founded in 2017, Big Data “optimizes healthcare results through intelligent data automation,” per a news release. The company’s online FUSE “automates remittance reconciliation back to deposits and provides visibility improving data and file management while working in tandem with existing systems.”