Financial Software & Systems Ltd., a Chennai, India-based payment technology provider, has announced an agreement to acquire a 46-percent stake in South Africa-based Ecentric Payment Systems, according to a company press release.

Ecentric, a unit of Standard Bank, processes transactions for many of the Tier-1 retailers and smaller merchants in its home markets and other African countries, according to the companies. FSS says the investment will help it develop a fintech platform for the development of payments solutions in Africa.

"We are very excited to welcome our strategic partner, FSS, a global payments leader, as a new investor," Ecentric CEO Hassen Sheik said in the announcement. "The financial and strategic backing from FSS will help Ecentric accelerate product innovation and grow the business in its home market as well as expand to more countries."

He added that the agreement will help the company achieve its goal of creating a ubiquitous and universal digital payment acceptance model on the African continent.