Moneris sold to Francisco Partners for $2 billion

RBC and BMO agreed on August 10, 2026 to sell Moneris to Francisco Partners, a US private equity firm, for C$2 billion. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2027, with payments industry veteran Jeff Sloan taking the role of chairman.

Moneris is one of Canada's largest payment processors and has been jointly owned by the two banks since 2000. A substantial share of Canadian restaurants process through it, often on terminals supplied alongside a POS system from another vendor.

What was confirmed on August 10

The agreement is definitive, not exploratory. Francisco Partners acquires Moneris for approximately C$2.0 billion in cash, with BMO and RBC each taking half of the proceeds. Closing remains subject to regulatory clearance under the Retail Payment Activities Act and the Competition Act, and is expected by the end of the first quarter of the banks' 2027 fiscal year.

One term deserves more attention than the price. Both banks have entered long term agreements to refer customers to Moneris exclusively. A restaurant owner who walks into an RBC or BMO branch asking about card acceptance will be pointed at a processor that is no longer bank owned.

Update, September 23, 2026: who else Francisco Partners owns

One detail deserves more weight than it got at announcement. Francisco Partners already owns Verifone and holds a stake in Paysafe. If this closes, a single private equity firm controls the terminal hardware and the acquiring infrastructure behind roughly one in three Canadian business transactions.

It is also not an isolated exit. TD sold its merchant processing to Fiserv, and now BMO and RBC have sold Moneris. Two of Canada's largest banks left processing inside thirteen months, in both cases to American buyers. The CBC ran a piece in August on what the Moneris sale means for Canadian digital sovereignty.

Nothing has moved on the approvals since August 10. Clearance under the Retail Payment Activities Act and the Competition Act is still outstanding, with closing expected by the end of January 2027.

What it means for merchants

Ownership changes at a processor do not automatically change merchant pricing, and nothing announced to date indicates a rate change for existing merchants. Anyone telling you your rates are about to rise is speculating.

What typically does follow a transaction of this size is a period of review: of pricing, of the product roadmap, and of the support structure, over the following twelve to eighteen months. That's not a prediction about Moneris specifically. It's what happens after most acquisitions of this scale.

What we'd suggest doing

Pull a recent statement and work out your effective rate: total fees paid, divided by card volume, calculated separately for credit and for Interac debit. The two behave completely differently. Credit is charged as a percentage, Interac is usually a small flat fee per transaction, and blending them hides where your money actually goes.

You have a right to that breakdown. Under the Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada, your monthly statement must show the effective merchant discount rate for each card type from each network, along with interchange rates and the number and volume of transactions by type. You're also entitled to advance notice of new fees or rate increases.

Knowing your number before anything changes is worth considerably more than reacting after it does.

If you'd like a hand with the arithmetic, that's what our free statement audit is. We read one statement and tell you what you're actually paying. There's no obligation attached, and if you're already in a good deal we'll say so.