Mintoak, a payments and engagement platform provider for acquirers, has announced the acquisition of ICC Loyalty, a loyalty and rewards technology company headquartered in the UAE. The deal extends Mintoak's reach into new regions and adds customer engagement and loyalty capabilities to its existing merchant payments and value-added services business.
ICC Loyalty's platform supports more than 30 banks with loyalty and rewards technology, enabling personalised rewards, targeted campaigns and lifecycle engagement programmes designed to support customer retention and transaction frequency. The company serves more than 11 million customers across more than ten countries.
With the acquisition, Mintoak intends to combine merchant engagement, customer loyalty and data capabilities into a single platform for banks, covering both acquiring and issuing operations. According to the companies, the combined business generates more than USD 30 million in annual revenue, with a profitability margin above 30%.
The transaction reflects a broader shift in the payments sector, where infrastructure has become increasingly standardised, and providers are looking to engagement, data intelligence and monetisation as additional sources of value. Banks that have already invested in payment infrastructure are, according to the companies, still in the early stages of monetising customer engagement and loyalty.
Regional reach and existing partnerships
Following the acquisition, Mintoak's client base includes more than 50 banks across more than 20 countries. Named partners include HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and SBI Payments in India, Emirates Islamic and RAKBANK in the Middle East, and Absa Bank in Africa. The company is backed by investors including PayPal Ventures, British International Investment, Pravega Ventures, HDFC Bank and Z3Partners.
Mintoak's platform currently supports more than 5 million merchants and 11 million customers, and processes more than USD 93 billion in annual payment volume, according to company figures. The addition of ICC Loyalty's technology and customer base is intended to strengthen Mintoak's position in both acquiring and issuing segments across the markets in which it operates.
Company representatives from both organisations described the acquisition as a step toward integrating payments and engagement functions on one platform, with ICC Loyalty's founder noting that access to Mintoak's technology would support the delivery of more personalised services to its bank clients. Mintoak's founder characterised the deal as reflecting a shift in banking revenue potential from payments processing toward customer engagement.
No financial terms of the transaction were disclosed.
