Australian payments consultancy Attra joins Synechron
Australian payments and technology consultancy Attra has been acquired by Synechron, in a move that lifts Synechron’s global headcount to over the 10,000 mark.
The acquisitions also marks Synechron’s entry in Australia, turning the global financial services consulting and technology company into a true global player (with the exception of Latin America). While the firm already had an office in Australia, the base in Sydney was still in its start-up phase, and now sees a massive 2,000-strong Australia-led team join its ranks, many of which are based down under.
Founded in 2005, Attra is a pure play payments solutions provider headquartered in Melbourne with six further offices in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. The company helps clients in the banking, finance and payments industries with the full payments value chain, spanning consulting, application development & maintenance, project delivery and engineering services.
Faisal Husain, the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Synechron, said he is delighted with the deal, which comes just two months after the company bolted-on 100-strong Citihub Digital in the UK and US. “The acquisition of Attra enables us to strengthen our service offerings,” he said.
The joining of forces will in particular bolster Synechron’s offerings across four key industry verticals – financial institutions and payment companies, third-party payment processors and payment gateways, retailers, and next-generation payments. From a functional perspective, Attra will add deep technology capabilities in payment & banking platforms; intelligent automation; IT infrastructure, cloud; mobility & channels; and information management.
“Attra’s end-to-end payments technology services will blend nicely with our digital innovation that is at the very core of Synechron’s DNA,” said Husain.
The chief executive added that the move will open up new markets for Synechron (Australia & New Zealand), enabling the firm to better serve its multinational clients, and provide it with more scale in a competitive market. Synechron competes with other dedicated financial services consultancies such as Capco, and with the financial services arms of large consulting firms (Big Four) and technology giants (Accenture, Capgemini, etc).
“Our combined workforce now tops 10,000 employees and our annual revenue is over US$650 million,” said Faisal, who launched the company “with two of my friends in 2001 when the industry was still toying with the idea of infusing technology within financial services at the back of the dot-com revolution” and managed to build it without private equity backing.
The integration sees Attra retain its brand identity, with the tagline ‘A Synechron company’ added to its logo. Chris van Buuren, the CEO of Attra, said, “We are very excited to join with the team at Synechron as we continue our mission to be strategic partners with organisations in the financial services industry and empower them with a full suite of digitally-led technology services and solutions in payments.”
According to a recent report by Capgemini, the number of non-cash transactions worldwide, or digital payments, soared last year to surpass 700 billion – meaning that each person on earth now closes an average of nearly 100 digital transactions in a year. Meanwhile, a strategic analysis by Boston Consulting Group found that the payments industry is set for growth, although momentum will depend on the globe’s Covid-19 recovery path.
