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Bank of America and First Data to end merchant services joint venture

Bank of America and First Data, which formally closed its $22 billion acquisition by Fiserv Monday, announced that the companies would end their joint venture, called Banc of America Merchant Services, and will pursue separate merchant services strategies. 

The companies, in a joint press announcement, said they will begin pursuing independent strategies starting in June 2020, when the contract between them ends, however, the companies have an agreement to continue uninterrupted services to clients through at least 2023. 

As part of the joint venture, the companies provided payment processing services and First Data's Clover POS terminals to merchants of all sizes. 

First Data will continue to be an "important service provider" for Bank of America in support of the bank's global payment solutions, the companies said. 

"Payments are at the core of our business, and this announcement is another step forward in our global strategy to provide companies of all sizes an integrated payment offering," Mark Monaco, head of enterprise payments at Bank of America, said in the announcement. "We look forward to investing in our merchant solution and delivering the capabilities our clients need to thrive in an ever-changing payments environment."

Guy Chiarello, chief administrative officer at Fiserv, said the company is excited about the next phase of its relationship with the bank and "will continue to provide market leading products and services to the bank and its clients."

The companies plan to split the business based on a proportional ownership share of the joint venture, according to a presentation released by Fiserv. First Data owned 51% of the venture.