U.S. Bancorp Seeking Acquisitions in Payments Space

Last quarter, U.S. Bancorp generated $1.16 billion of revenue from its payments services business, a 1.7% increase from the same quarter in 2010.

U.S. Bancorp wants to do better. And to do that it is hotly seeking out acquisitions.

During USB’s quarterly earnings call yesterday, Davis was asked whether payments was still a growth business for the bank, considering the industry’s overall decline. Davis said it was, mainly through geographic expansion. Specifically, USB is moving its payments business into Eastern Europe, Central America, Mexico, and South America this year.

But the main driver of growth in U.S. Bancorp’s payments business appears as though it will be via acquisition, said Davis:

This payment business that we created for acquisitions, this international payments capability, it’s really plug-and-play. So when we entered into Brazil last year, we were literally going in there and in a matter of a couple of weeks, we were able to transact for merchants in Brazil in their native currency and be up and running faster than anybody else who came into that kind of expanding world.

But lest you think U.S. Bancorp sees its best payments opportunities online or mobile device, think again. USB is centered on traditional credit cards — and it does not appear as though that will change any time soon:

On the traditional credit card, both corporate and consumer cards, we still like the business, absent some big surprise where someone could take away the metrics and value of what it is to be a card issuer, it’s a great relationship tool for our customers. They like the rewards programs, which I know we have some of the best cards. And we compete very effectively with these monolines and those who are doing this as a majority of their business. So we’re going to keep growing it. I think we grew our portfolio more than most. And if I can’t do it organically, I’ll continue to seek acquisitions in the more traditional credit card. So we like it across the board. I see it as a cylinder that’s been operating at 60% during the recession but just ready to be rubbed into things when the world gets better. And we’ll take it here and we’ll take it overseas.

That’s the banking equivalent of blocking and tackling. 

U.S. Bancorp has a market capitalization of nearly $55 billion.