US paytech Celero snaps up Community Bankers Merchant Services

Tennessee-based non-bank payment processor Celero Commerce has acquired Community Bankers Merchant Services (CBMS), a provider of electronic transaction processing through community and regional banks, for an undisclosed sum.

With the acquisition, Celero says it will serve over 53,000 merchants nationwide, processing approximately $21 billion in annual card volume.

Based in Arkansas, CBMS was founded in 1989 and has partnered with banks for over three decades, providing payment processing solutions to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

CBMS COO Dean Morris says Celero’s experience and technology “will allow us to provide better solutions to our banks and their customers”.

Headquartered in Nashville, Celero offers payment processing services, business management software and data intelligence to SMBs.

“We founded Celero to deliver a proprietary suite of fintech (payments, software and data) solutions to our financial institution partners and small and mid-sized business customers,” says Celero founder and CEO Kevin Jones, adding the deal to buy CBMS “allows us to expedite our growth”.