“After all, at the end of the day, it’s availability and scalability that really make the difference. With NonStop servers, we’re assured of the highest levels of both.” —Al Tinney, chief information officer, Moneris Solutions

Competition started heating up in the North American credit and debit card processing market in the late 1990s. U.S. financial institutions began to move into Canada’s market, and Canadian banks couldn’t afford to sit still. Two of the largest Toronto-based financial institutions joined forces and hit the ground running. Moneris Solutions—the result of a 50-50 joint investment between the RBC Financial Group and the BMO Financial Group—was launched in December 2000 to provide merchants with a single point of access for electronic payments made with Visa, MasterCard, and debit cards.

The key to Moneris Solutions’s success is simplicity: Merchants benefit from a convenient, streamlined process for handling all aspects of card processing, and they interact with just one processing company instead of several. In the past, merchants have had to deal with multiple accounts, multiple service fees, transfers between accounts, and reconciling multiple statements for credit and debit card accounts.

Moneris Solutions combines the merchant card acquiring businesses of RBC Financial Group, BMO Financial Group, and Harris Bank Merchant Services (the Chicagobased merchant services business of BMO’s subsidiary, Harris Bank). The first company to offer both Visa and MasterCard processing through a single source in Canada, Moneris Solutions is now the fourth largest credit and debit card processor in North America.

NonStop technology from the start
From the minute the idea for Moneris was conceived, HP NonStop technology was a core component. The RBC Financial Group had relied on NonStop technology for more than 20 years, and the information technology team at Moneris was familiar with proven NonStop system fundamentals: continuous availability, linear scalability, and data integrity. When the team witnessed NonStop servers running payment processing software from ACI Worldwide, the decision was clear.

Al Tinney, chief information officer, recalled: “Our primary reason for going with NonStop servers from the start was the combination of performance, high availability, and return on investment. A demo of NonStop servers running software from ACI Worldwide really impressed us. Nothing else we looked at came close.”

Moneris processes approximately 1.8 billion transactions per year—and, at its peak, more than 500 transactions per second—and serves 350,000 merchant locations. NonStop servers are located at three production centers: one in eastern Canada, one in western Canada, and one in central Canada.

“For our merchant customers, response time is key. The NonStop platform gives us the overall performance we require to keep merchants confident in our services,” said Tinney.

Technology that grows with the customer
The Moneris team wanted to use the best technology to meet the needs of its growing base of merchant customers. Canadians are known to be “early adopters” of new technology, and Moneris is leading the way in developing new electronic payment methods and support services.

As Tinney observed, “Technology is at the forefront of our focus on serving the merchant. We’re continually looking at ways to make processes easier, better, and more cost-effective for our customers.”

Moneris acquired the role of technology leader quite naturally. The BMO Financial Group was the first bank in North America to launch real-time online, coast-to-coast processing across six times zones. In addition, it was the first financial institution in North America to offer customers wireless banking, Internet banking, online loan approval, and a full-service online brokerage.

The RBC Financial Group was the first financial institution in Canada to integrate systems so that clients could use a single logon to access their checking, mortgage, investment, and line of credit accounts. Currently, the RBC Financial Group has 2.3 million online customers and a total customer base of 12 million.

Streamlining the point-of-sale process
With headquarters in Toronto and Chicago, Moneris deploys payment processing solutions for merchants throughout Canada and the United States, serving mainly small and medium-size business markets. In nearly all cases, the solution involves streamlining and simplifying processes. For example, Moneris recently worked with one of Canada’s leading ski resort companies to create a centralized payment processing system. Ski Banff–Lake Louise–Sunshine represents three separate ski resort destinations in Alberta, Canada: Ski Banff @ Norquay, Lake Louise, and Sunshine Village. Moneris set up a point-of-sale payment solution that integrates all three ski resorts and accommodates their needs for Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and debit transactions. The resorts also implemented a wireless point-of-sale solution from Moneris as well as Merchant Direct, a Web-based reporting service that provides access to statements and daily credit and debit card activity.

“Before centralizing the systems, we had to call each credit card company to resolve any issues. Now, we just call Moneris,” said Tharnee Tongsrinark, accounting manager for Ski Banff –Lake Louise–Sunshine. “We also need only one bank account now for all our deposits, instead of a different one for each credit card provider.”

Aggressive move to U.S. market
To stay competitive in North America, Moneris Solutions will continue to scale its business and move into U.S. markets. Competition remains fierce: In the past three years, other major card processors in Canada have either sold to or merged with large U.S. financial institutions. Tinney observed, “As we ramp up our business in the United States, we’ll continue to rely on NonStop technology. After all, at the end of the day, it’s availability and scalability that really make the difference. With NonStop systems, we’re assured of the highest levels of both. No compromises— we don’t have to sacrifice one to get the other.”

For more information
To learn more about NonStop servers and other NonStop products, visit www.hp.com/go/nonstop.

At a glance
Company: Moneris Solutions
Headquarters: Toronto, Canada, and Buffalo Grove (Chicago), Illinois
URL: www.moneris.com
Main services: Moneris Solutions delivers credit and debit
card processing services through point-of-sale hardware,
payment processing software, wireless and e-commerce
payment solutions, and additional services

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