FinTech KindCard Set to Purchase Banking Platform OpenTransact

Payments FinTech KindCard says it plans to purchase banking platform OpenTransact.

The company has signed a letter of intent connected to its potential acquisition of OpenTransact, Kindcard announced in a Tuesday (Jan. 2) news release.

The release noted that KindCard provides alternative “closed-loop” payments solutions to businesses via its subsidiary Deb. It described OpenTransact as a “self-serve banking platform” for “high-risk businesses,” prioritizing security, risk management, and regulatory compliance.

“The opportunity to join forces with KindCard represents an exciting potential new chapter for OpenTransact, with our shared vision to revolutionize the way we think about high-risk transactions, blending innovation within KindCard’s visionary approach as an alternative payment provider,” said William Clark, OpenTransact’s founder and CEO.

And Michael Rosen, KindCard’s CEO, added that the deal will let his company offer “secure, all-in-one software and payments-as-a-service options to high-risk merchants that are seeking to manage their consumer website shopping experience and provide secure stable payment processing at checkout.”

The release added that KindCard believes mobile wallets will eventually become the preferred payments method for merchants and consumers at point of sale, and hopes to capture a significant share of that market with its app.

Joint research by PYMNTS Intelligence and Nuvei does show a growing interest in mobile wallets — or digital wallets — among consumers.

That research found that nearly half of American consumers tried a new payment method in the past year, with 16% switching to a new one.

For those who switched, digital wallets were the preferred method having been used in 30% of these “new” cases. That means that 3 in 5 U.S. consumers who tried a new payment method during 2023 did so with digital wallets.

“Those who tried digital wallets for the first time continued to use them as a substitute for other payment options,” PYMNTS wrote last week.

“As extracted from the study, 4 in 10 consumers who tried this method reduced the use of other payment methods after beginning their use of digital wallets.”

Several factors appear to have influenced the increased use of digital wallets at the expense of other payment methods, with consumers pointing to speed, convenience and security among the factors in choosing digital wallets for recurring bills.