Just a few days after Vantiv and Worldpay made merger and acquisitions headlines in the payments world, here come Equiniti and Nostrum Group with some M&A news of their own in the lending space. Announced today, Equiniti has agreed to acquire Nostrum Group in a deal that will boost Equiniti’s ability to provide technology-enabled lending solutions. Equiniti CEO Guy Wakeley said “The integration of Nostrum will provide greater depth, scale and capability in a dynamic growth market, whilst also providing the platform for a range of new products and services.”
Calling the acquisition “the next chapter in the development of our businesses,” Nostrum Group CEO Richard Carter described the combined entity as a blend of “Equiniti’s rich feature set and Nostrum’s agility.” Carter will stay on as Managing Director of the newly-formed Equiniti Credit Services brand.
Pictured: Nostrum Group CEO Richard Carter demonstrating the company’s Digital Lending Platform at FinovateEurope 2016.
Nostrum Group specializes in automated digital loan management software for banks and finance companies. The company’s technology provides solutions for every step of the process from originations (including application capture, processing, documentation, underwriting, and completion), servicing (including payment processing, document management, and reporting), and collections (including profiling and segmentation; payment and arrangements; work prioritization and automation; and third party management). More than focusing on acquiring new customers, Nostrum Group also offers tools lenders can use to retain their existing customers, as well. As Carter explained from the Finovate stage last year, Nostrum Group offers lenders the technology “to facilitate the production of appropriate offers that are tailored to those customers and then delivered to them.”
Headquartered in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, U.K. and founded in 2001, Nostrum Gr0up demonstrated its Digital Lending Platform at FinovateEurope 2016. Later that year, the company’s CTO Alex Stephen, Head of PMO Tom Martin, and Head of Software Development Simon Quin presented the “Nostrum Loan Engine API” at our developer’s conference in New York. This year, CEO Carter was named to the Maserati 100, a roster of top British entrepreneurs from high-end carmaker, Maserati, and The Sunday Times.
Technology services provider Equiniti was founded in 2009. Many of the largest pension schemes in the U.K., and 70% of the FTSE 100, use Equiniti services to manage share registration and related investors services. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol, “EQN,” and has a market capitalization of £750 million ($972 million).