The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that when two Canadian banks sold payments processor Moneris Solutions Corp. to a U.S. buyer for $2-billion last week, one of its last domestic rivals, Helcim Inc., warned the deal could compromise this country's data sovereignty and infrastructure for moving money. The Globe's Sean Silcoff writes that same warning also serves as a sales pitch for Calgary-based Helcim. It benefited last year when TD Bank sold its payments processing unit to Milwaukee-based Fiserv Inc. That led to "a huge influx of business," Helcim chief executive officer Nicolas Beique told The Globe. Domestic merchants reacted "very strongly" to reduced Canadian options. Now, with the pending sale of Moneris by RBC and BMO to Francisco Partners, "everybody is realizing there are few Canadian options left," he said. "I think it will accelerate our growth." Other processors serving the market include foreign vendors Stripe, Square and Adyen, and Canada's Shopify and Nuvei. Now, Business Development Bank of Canada's growth venture unit has led a $53-million equity financing, valuing Helcim at $250-million including funds raised. That's up from a $97-million valuation when Helcim last capital-raise in 2024.