Building global access for SMBs
Launched in 2003, Texas-based Pivotal Payments reported it now has offices in Canada, over 450 employees and 1,500 sales partners. It also maintains connectivity to more than 130 global processing partners who process in excess of $12 billion annually for an estimated 70,000 merchants.
"We started as a U.S. ISO, but now we are a merchant service provider for the U.S., Canada and globally," said Frank LoSchiavo, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Pivotal Payments. "We've grown both organically through our sales channels and through acquisitions."
Pivotal Payments reported that over the past decade, it has completed more than 15 corporate and portfolio acquisitions in North America, including most recently Dallas-based Capital Processing Network LLC, which added about 100 employees to Pivotal’s roster.
The company acquired Canadian ISO Cardex Corp. in 2007. "That was our initial entry into Canada," LoSchiavo noted. "We were also able to obtain bank sponsorship through Peoples Trust of Vancouver, which gave us uniqueness in the Canadian space to have our own bank sponsor and build our own platform as a full service provider."
Pivotal platform
Pivotal Payments launched GlobalOne in 2013, a proprietary payment gateway and acquiring platform offering multicurrency processing in over 60 currencies and settlement in the merchant's local currency. Additional capabilities, the company noted, include interchange optimization, intelligent transaction routing and automatic resubmission when necessary, account update automation, recurring billing and subscription program integration, and fraud management.
"Our multichannel platform allows merchants to take advantage of all the products we continue to develop on that platform," LoSchiavo said. "We envision that all our merchants one day will be on that platform, whether they're in the card-present or card-not-present world."
The company also recently expanded its gateway into the European market. "Europe's e-commerce market continues to grow rapidly, presenting a valuable opportunity for Pivotal Payments and the online merchants we serve," said Philip Fayer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pivotal Payments.
Ultimately, the gateway is expected to help merchants streamline global payment operations under a single provider regardless of customer location. "Now a U.S. e-commerce merchant can operate in the U.K. and present transactions in the local currency," LoSchiavo noted.
POS and ISO flex points
Another propriety offering is the FlexPoint integrated payment solution, which supports POS deployment across multiple channels. FlexPoint was recently certified with the Ingenico Telium iCT series terminals on Pivotal's Canadian processing platform. LoSchiavo described FlexPoint as a semi-integration platform that allows ISO POS providers to integrate payments without having to undergo a lengthy certification process.
"All they have to do is communicate with the hardware, and that hardware can be as simple as an entry point for EMV [Europay/MasterCard/Visa], card swipe, PIN pad and so on," LoSchiavo said. "Or, it could be a full desktop that has a printer on it. It all depends on the POS requirements. It's a big advantage to us in Canada where integrated POS is limited."
Given its experience in Canada, Pivotal Payments feels it is particularly prepared to assist U.S. merchants migrating to EMV chip-enabled payments in advance of the October 2015 deadline. "Being a Canadian provider, we're experts at implementing EMV in Canada and now see that it's something we can get a head start on in the U.S.," LoSchiavo said.
The Pivotal360 merchant portal can be white-labeled by sales channel partners. Pivotal said this enables partners to customize the merchant administration tools, add branding content and use their own domains for client access. The agent portal provides access to critical business data with tools for checking on status of merchant applications, transaction volume and other business-related activities.
Pivotal noted that its ISO and agent program includes bonus programs and revenue share opportunities for Canada- and U.S.-based entities. In addition, a relationship management team assists agents with strategic planning, and an agent support group provides day-to-day operational support. 
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