Fidelity National, which sells payments services and software, said the combined company will have approximately US$12.3 billion in 2018 revenue. London-based Worldpay currently has clients like Ottawa’s Shopify and Montreal’s Lightspeed. (Bloomberg)

Talking point: This is the biggest deal ever in the payments-processing industry, which is quickly growing thanks to a rise in digital payments; according to McKinsey data, global payments will reach US$3 trillion a year in revenue by 2023. It’s also the second high-profile example of consolidation in the financial technology industry this year, as incumbents see mergers as a way to expand customer bases and combat pressure from fintech startups offering lower fees. This acquisition follows U.S.-based Fiserv’s January US$22-billion purchase of payments processor First Data Corp.