Escalent, an award-winning analytics and advisory firm, today announced the acquisition of Mercator Advisory Group, a trusted research and advisory firm that serves the global payments industry. The addition of Mercator’s seasoned and talented analysts to Javelin Strategy & Research augments an industry-leading thought leadership powerhouse to support clients’ payments needs. Escalent acquired Javelin Strategy & Research in December 2019.
“Mercator offers powerful payments research and insights so we saw an excellent opportunity to expand and invest in our payments expertise,” said Melissa Sauter, CEO of Escalent. “We’re thrilled to welcome their highly respected leaders and analysts to the Escalent family.”
Mercator’s team of payments industry analysts will join Javelin’s and continue to seamlessly serve the firm’s existing client roster. Mercator’s clients will also benefit from Javelin’s deep financial services industry coverage across fraud and security, digital banking, lending and wealth management. Further, Mercator clients will have the opportunity for more comprehensive engagements by accessing Escalent’s award-winning custom financial services research team, qualitative research practice, and marketing and data sciences division.
“The Mercator team’s knowledge and expertise are a fantastic addition to Javelin’s payments and financial services capabilities,” added Jacob Jegher, president of Javelin Strategy & Research. “Our clients value meaningful insights and guidance as they navigate the twists and turns of the financial services ecosystem. Our combined team promises an unmatched level of thought leadership and service.”
Current Mercator president and CEO, Rob Misasi, will assist in overseeing the transition in its entirety before exiting his role.
“This is such a unique opportunity for the Mercator team and for our clients,” said Misasi. Backed by Escalent’s strategic data capabilities alongside Javelin’s renowned financial services practices, Mercator is able to join a growing platform that will continue to deliver truly exceptional payments industry coverage and market-leading insights yielding tangible results.”
Escalent’s track record of effectively integrating acquired firms stretches back to the successful 2019 acquisition of Javelin, followed by the 2021 acquisition of global research leader, Grail Insights.
Javelin Strategy & Research, part of the Escalent family, helps its clients make informed decisions in a digital financial world. It provides strategic insights to financial institutions including banks, credit unions, brokerages and insurers, as well as payments companies, technology providers, fintechs and government agencies. Javelin’s independent insights result from a rigorous research process that assesses consumers, businesses, providers, and the transactions ecosystem. It conducts in-depth primary research studies to pinpoint dynamic risks and opportunities in digital banking, payments, fraud & security, lending, and wealth management.
Mercator Advisory Group is the leading, independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. It delivers pragmatic and timely research and advice to help clients uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs. Its clients range from the world’s largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and associations to leading technology providers and investors. Mercator Advisory Group is also the publisher of the online payments and banking news and information portal PaymentsJournal.com.