JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- If federal regulators and company stockholders approve the purchase, Fidelity National Information Service's purchase of eFunds will leave FIS as the biggest overall card processor serving credit unions.
The firm's acquisition of Certegy in early 2006 left it the major credit union credit card processor and now the purchase of eFunds will make sure it will have the same role in the market for debit card transactions which are validated by both cardholder signatures and personal identification numbers.
But while some might suppose such market dominance might trigger a review of the purchase by the U.S. Justice Department, industry sources downplayed any anti-trust concerns. They noted that the overall credit union market is small enough, when compared to the overall market for financial institution card transactions, that market dominance among credit unions will not translate to market dominance overall.
"It's true that the company will become the largest card processor for credit unions," one industry analyst noted, "but there is still enough competition in the overall market for transactions that I don't expect the Justice Department will get involved."