BRIDGEPORT, Conn. and CINCINNATI, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- People's United Bank, a subsidiary of People's United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBCT) and a premier, community-based, regional bank in the Northeast, and Vantiv, Inc. (NYSE: VNTV), a leading provider of payment processing services and related technology, announced today a joint venture to provide the next generation of payment solutions to businesses throughout the People's United Bank footprint. People's United Bank has a network of 407 retail locations throughout Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The agreement expands upon the debit processing and ATM services Vantiv has been providing People's United Bank for the past eight years extending Vantiv's geographic reach and coverage to small and mid-sized merchants throughout the Northeast.

People's United Merchant Services, which represents a joint venture with both People's United Bank and Vantiv, was formed during the second quarter. It will offer customers a comprehensive suite of payment solutions by combining People's United's strong reputation and broad access to commercial merchants with Vantiv's deep payments expertise, innovative products, security tools, technology, and processing scale.

"People's United Bank is the perfect partner to expand our merchant service business in the Northeastern United States given its commitment to outstanding customer service and its growing franchise," said Stephanie Ferris, general manager and senior vice president of financial institution services at Vantiv. "Our new partnership creates a strong value proposition for winning in the marketplace, which means long-term growth for both companies. We share a passion for exceeding expectations, and we look forward to doing that together for our customers."

"By joining forces with Vantiv, People's United Merchant Services can provide customers with targeted solutions and advanced technology," said Lee Powlus, senior executive vice president, chief administrative officer, at People's United Bank. "The relationship highlights our commitment to delivering an outstanding experience to our customers. Vantiv's consultative approach to selling, along with their innovation in the payment processing industry made it an easy decision to partner with them."

Current and future People's United Merchant Services customers will benefit from state-of-the-art products, value-added services, and exceptional 24/7 customer service. Additionally, advanced security products and reporting tools will provide merchants with new levels of security and information that can help them run their businesses more securely, efficiently and effectively. To establish a solid foundation for the joint venture's success, both companies have contributed merchant accounts to the new entity, including the entire People's United Bank merchant portfolio.

For more information about People's United Bank or Vantiv, please visit peoples.com or vantiv.com. Additionally, you may find both companies on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

About People's United Bank

People's United Bank is a subsidiary of People's United Financial, Inc., a diversified financial services company with $34 billion in assets. People's United Bank, founded in 1842, is a premier, community-based, regional bank in the Northeast offering commercial and retail banking, as well as wealth management services through a network of 407 retail locations in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

About Vantiv, Inc.

Vantiv, Inc. (NYSE: VNTV) is a leading, integrated payment processor differentiated by a single, proprietary technology platform. Vantiv offers a comprehensive suite of traditional and innovative payment processing and technology solutions to merchants and financial institutions of all sizes in the U.S., enabling them to address their payment processing needs through a single provider. We build strong relationships with our customers, helping them become more efficient, more secure and more successful. Vantiv is the third largest merchant acquirer and the largest PIN debit acquirer based on number of transactions in the U.S. The company's growth strategy includes expanding further into high growth payment segments, such as integrated payments, payment facilitation (PayFac(TM)), mobile, and information solutions, and attractive industry verticals such as business-to-business, ecommerce, gaming, government and education. For more information, visit www.vantiv.com.

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SOURCE People's United Financial, Inc.