Santander’s Payments Fintech PagoNxt Acquires Tech Partner MIT

Santander’s payments fintech PagoNxt announced today the acquisition of 70% of its tech partner Mercadotecnia, Ideas y Tecnología (MIT), an important payment processor in Latin America.

With the transaction, PagoNxt plans to boost the expansion of its merchant payments global franchise, Getnet, particularly in Mexico, where Getnet and MIT have had a close relationship for over 15 years. Additionally, the deal will turn Getnet into the payment platform with the highest number of functions in Mexico.

Launched in 2004, MIT has over 35,000 customers and 125,000 retail locations that process 31 million payments a month. Its share of the merchant payments market in Mexico is 10%, and its products and services include points of sale (POS), e-commerce, smartphone payments, a call centre and direct debit.

“The acquisition of MIT marks another step in our quest to make Getnet the go-to payments business in Latin America and Europe with the best and most well-rounded service for our clients on both sides of the Atlantic. Our aim is to help them grow their businesses with simpler and safer payments using the most advanced technology”, said Javier San Félix, chief operations officer of PagoNxt.

Getnet Mexico has the second highest number of customers and a 16% share of the merchant payments market. As at 31 December 2020, it had approximately 180,000 active retail locations and had processed some 468 million payments last year.

In July, Fazzaco reported that PagoNxt launched merchant payments business in Europe under the Getnet brand​.