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Related Party Transactions
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions Related Party Transactions
Merchant Alliances
The Company maintains various ownership interests in merchant alliances and strategic investments in companies in related markets. At March 31, 2020, the Company had 17 affiliates, the most significant of which are related to the Company’s merchant bank alliance affiliates. A merchant alliance, as it pertains to investments accounted for under the equity method, is an agreement between the Company and a financial institution that combines the processing capabilities and management expertise of the Company with the visibility and distribution channel of the bank. A merchant alliance acquires credit and debit card transactions from merchants.
A significant portion of the Company’s business is conducted through merchant alliances between the Company and financial institutions. To the extent the Company maintains a controlling financial interest in an alliance, the alliance’s financial statements are consolidated with those of the Company and the related processing fees are treated as an intercompany transaction and eliminated in consolidation. To the extent the Company has significant influence but not control in an alliance, the Company uses the equity method of accounting to account for its investment in the alliance. As a result, the Company’s consolidated revenues include processing fees, administrative service fees, and other fees charged to merchant alliances accounted for under the equity method. Such fees totaled $46 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020. No directors or officers of the Company have ownership interests in any of the alliances. The formation of each of these alliances generally involves the Company and the bank contributing contractual merchant relationships to the alliance and a cash payment from one owner to the other to achieve the desired ownership percentage for each. The Company and the bank enter into a long-term processing service agreement as part of the negotiation process. This agreement governs the Company’s provision of transaction processing services to the alliance. The Company had $29 million and $35 million of amounts due from unconsolidated merchant alliances included within trade accounts receivable, net in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively.
In July 2019, the Company and Bank of America jointly announced the dissolution of the Banc of America Merchant Services joint venture (“BAMS”), to be effective June 2020. The Company owns 51% of BAMS and BAMS’ financial results are consolidated into the Company’s financial statements. Upon dissolution of the joint venture, the Company is entitled to receive a 51% share of the joint venture’s value via an agreed upon contractual separation process. In addition, Bank of America has the right to require the Company to continue providing merchant processing and related services to the joint venture clients allocated to Bank of America in the dissolution of the joint venture through June 2023 at current pricing. The Company anticipates an ongoing relationship with Bank of America to provide processing and other support services to other Bank of America merchant clients following the joint venture’s dissolution.
Joint Venture Transition Services Agreements
Pursuant to certain transition services agreements, the Company provides, at fair value, various administration, business process outsourcing, and technical and data center related services for defined periods to the Lending Joint Ventures and Investment Services business (see Note 4). Amounts transacted through these agreements totaled $11 million and $9 million during the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and were primarily recognized as processing and services revenue in the Company’s consolidated statements of income.