Friday, February 4, 2011

Google CEO Eric Schmidt Invests in Twitpay

According to Matt Rosoff/Business Insider:
Eric Schmidt Invests In Twitter Payments Service
Outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt has invested in Twitpay, which is developing a platform for users to send money directly via Twitter. The companies didn't disclose the size of the investment.  Schmidt's Tomorrow Ventures joined with CompuCredit Holdings, which helps provide financial services for "underserved" Americans, in the investment. Tomorrow's previous investments include several other online payment and finance startups, including Prosper, a peer-to-peer lending marketplace, and Giiv, which lets users send cash gifts via SMS. 

TomorrowVentures and CompuCredit Holdings Corp Invest in Social Payments Leader Twitpay


ATLANTA, Feb. 3, 2011 – Atlanta-based Twitpay, the leading provider of social media payment technology, has secured growth funding from TomorrowVentures and CompuCredit Holdings Corporation. Twitpay was founded in 2008 and offers a platform-as-a-service into three core markets: nonprofit organizations looking to raise funds directly over Twitter, social gaming developers offering virtual currency, and retailers facilitating social commerce. This new round of funding will be used to expand its existing service offerings.
tomorrowventures“We are very excited about our investment in Twitpay. The convergence of social media and mobile payments will drive tremendous opportunities in the social media value chain. We believe that Twitpay, with its sophisticated payments platform and mobile wallet technology, is positioned to be the dominant player in this segment,” says Court Coursey, Managing Partner, TomorrowVentures.
David Hanna, CEO of CompuCredit Holdings Corporation adds, “Combining social media with an alternate payment channel opens up enormous marketing opportunities for Twitpay partners. We are very impressed with the breadth and flexibility of Twitpay’s technology platform and management’s ability to identify a need in the marketplace and quickly build and market a solution to fit that need.”

“We are looking forward to leveraging the knowledge, relationships and skill sets of our new investors. Both TomorrowVentures and CompuCredit fully grasp the power of monetizing social media and how our platform can make that a reality,” says Kenny Douglas, Executive Vice President of Twitpay. “Each of our new investors has a long track record of identifying and nurturing leading technology innovators, and their expertise will be a tremendous asset for our company,” adds John Beisner, Executive Vice President.

Twitpay offers its clients both a comprehensive social management platform as well as a mobile payments tool utilizing Twitter’s prevalence as a mobile network. Expansion into the for-profit world is producing a variety of promotional opportunities for merchants, with offers delivered immediately both online and through mobile and tablet applications. Consumers will be able to transact immediately within their preferred social environment.

Twitpay recently announced a partnership with Incomm, another Atlanta-based corporation, to offer social gaming publishers access to a customized promotion and lead generation platform designed specifically around the social gaming model. The first social gaming campaign is due out in early 2011.

Morgan Keegan acted as exclusive financial advisor to Twitpay on this transaction.


About Twitpay:



Twitpay is the leading provider of payment systems solutions for social media networks. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, its patent pending technologies and breakthrough applications allow organizations to turn their social networking investment into measurable results. For more information, visit www.twitpay.com or follow @twitpay on Twitter.
About TomorrowVentures:


TomorrowVentures is an opportunistic investment firm with a focus toward seed and early-stage venture capital investments that develop innovative ideas that have the power to change the way people live, interact, and thrive. Founded in 2009 with a unique approach to venture capital and an extensive, diverse base of experience and expertise, TomorrowVentures adds value far beyond capital. Its goal is to grow companies capable of transforming technology, lifestyle and philanthropy. For more information about TomorrowVentures, visit www.tomorrowvc.com.


About CompuCredit:


CompuCredit Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ “CCRT”) is a specialty finance company and marketer of branded credit cards and related financial services. CompuCredit provides these services to consumers who are underserved by traditional financial institutions. Through corporate and affinity contributions focused on the underserved and un-banked communities, CompuCredit also uses its financial resources and volunteer efforts to address the numerous challenges affecting its customers. For more information about CompuCredit, visit www.CompuCredit.com.


Media Contact:


Twitpay
John Beisner
john@twitpay.com
(678) 809-1718

MasterCard CEO Says Opportunities "Arise" from Durbin

Opportunities Arise from Durbin Amendment says MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga
and so does MasterCard Stock
Visa and MasterCard CEO's show their true colors, as Visa CEO says Durbin Amendment throws consumers under the bus, while MasterCard's CEO wants to focus on the opportunities which arise from the Durbin Amendment.  So, I gotta ask...which stock do you buy? 


MasterCard’s Banga Points to Opportunities Arising from Durbin

Digital Transactions - Feb. 3, 2011

It’s bad for consumers and bad for the payments industry, but the Durbin Amendment that imminently will upend the U.S. debit card market still presents some opportunities for MasterCard Inc., according to the No. 2 payment network’s president and chief executive, Ajay Banga.
Specifically, MasterCard could well pick up new business from debit card issuers that now have exclusive affiliations with Visa Inc. in which their cards offer the Visa brand for signature debit and Visa’s Interlink network for point-of-sale PIN debit. The Durbin Amendment, part of the sweeping Dodd-Frank financial law enacted last summer, bans such exclusive affiliations and mandates that each debit card offer at least one unaffiliated network in order to give merchants more transaction-routing options. The Federal Reserve Board is considering various regulatory options to implement the Durbin Amendment, everything from simply requiring issuers to add one unaffiliated PIN network to existing cards to requiring cards to access two signature and two PIN-debit networks. Visa commands about 70% of the major-brand U.S. debit market, so MasterCard, with its Maestro PIN-debit network, could make hay out of the demise of non-exclusivity even though it has its own exclusive deals with some debit issuers.
“We continue to anticipate some potential upside to our volumes as a result of the routing non-exclusivity, regardless of how it finally gets sorted out,” Banga told analysts Thursday during MasterCard’s fourth-quarter earnings call. “So from a share perspective, as I said in the past, we have more to gain than to lose.” He added, according to the Seeking Alpha transcript service, that MasterCard has “opportunities to sell … our strong PIN solution. Remember, it’s the only one that operates globally.”
But echoing his counterpart at Visa, chief executive Joseph W. Saunders, Banga reiterated the Durbin Amendment’s negatives in the eyes of banks and the payments industry: higher consumer fees for bank accounts as big financial institutions try to recoup lost debit interchange, and less innovation because of regulation. “The balance [is] tilting towards consumers having to pay more for these payment-related services and innovation being stifled at the other end,” Banga said. The Fed is considering 12-cent-per-transaction debit interchange caps for issuers with more than $10 billion in assets, caps that could cut big issuers’ debit revenues by more than 70%. On Wednesday, the blunt-speaking Saunders said, “consumers have been thrown under the bus in this legislation.” Merchant groups, however, stand to pay much less in debit interchange and generally support the Durbin Amendment.
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Hackers "Switch" from PC's to Smartphones

Cybercriminals switching focus in 2011 from PCs to smartphones
(from abc15 on 2-4-2011)
Net giant Cisco released a grave warning to any of you with a smartphone or iPad, be prepared to be scammed! In its annual security report, Cisco said, In a major cybercrime turning point, scammers have begun shifting their focus away from Windows-based PCs to other operating systems and platforms, including smartphones, tablet computers, and mobile platforms in general. We sat down with Scottsdale Detective Keith Swanson, who works in the department's computer crimes unit, to find out why... read more»
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Visa Inc. to Present at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference

SAN FRANCISCOFeb. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) announced today that Byron Pollitt, Chief Financial Officer, andJim McCarthy, Global Head of Product, will present at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco onWednesday, February 16, 2011. The keynote presentation will begin at 8:15 a.m. Pacific Time and last for approximately 35 minutes.
A listen-only audio webcast and replay will be accessible for 30 days on the Investor Relations web site at http://investor.visa.com.
About Visa Inc.
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks -- VisaNet -- that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visitwww.corporate.visa.com.
Contacts:
Investor Relations: Victoria Hyde-Dunn, 415-932-2213, ir@visa.com
Media Relations: Will Valentine, 415-932-2564, globalmedia@visa.com
SOURCE Visa Inc.


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NYCE and CashEdge Join Forces to Bring Real-Time Person-to-Person Payments to Financial Institutions

Network’s implementation of Popmoney® creates competitive edge for client institutions
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NYCE® Payments Network, LLC, a leading U.S. electronic payments network and an FIS™ company, today announced that NYCE will begin offeringPopmoney®, CashEdge’s person-to-person (P2P) payment solution, to its more than 3,000 financial institution clients.
http://www.fisglobal.com
“We strive to continually provide solutions to our clients that will help them to grow their businesses and keep them at the forefront of products and services for their customers”
Developed specifically for financial institutions, Popmoney is an electronic payment solution that enables consumers to submit payments directly to other consumers (or small businesses) from their personal accounts via their online or mobile banking account, simply by using the recipient’s e-mail address, mobile number or bank account information.
Through this solution, NYCE-supported institutions will be able to offer a P2P option that uses their existing payments network. The NYCE Payments Network provides the ability to transmit the funds between the sender’s account and the receiver’s account in real-time, resulting in the immediate availability of funds.
“The combination of Popmoney and the NYCE Payments Network provides a real-time P2P option that is unique in the marketplace,” said Sanjeev Dheer, CEO and president, CashEdge. “As more and more consumers seek simplified ways to move money, the NYCE and Popmoney solution will provide financial institutions with an innovative payment option that closely aligns with today’s anytime, anywhere payments model that they can quickly deploy to their customers or members.”
Popmoney can be integrated seamlessly to a bank’s or credit union’s online banking and mobile applications making P2P payments available to a wide audience of financial institutions. Use of the solution can provide an additional revenue stream for financial institutions, as well as eliminate costs associated with processing checks, the traditional mode of P2P payments.
“The rapid consumer adoption of smartphones − which will reach 50 percent of cell phone owners by the end of 2012 − will spur demand for electronic money movement capabilities between consumers, and not just between consumers and businesses,” said Ron Shevlin, senior analyst with research firm Aite Group. “Consumers want to do business with financial institutions that make their financial lives easy to manage. P2P payments will become a must-have capability for banks.”
“We strive to continually provide solutions to our clients that will help them to grow their businesses and keep them at the forefront of products and services for their customers,” said Frank D’Angelo, executive vice president, FIS Payment Solutions Group. “We are confident our clients will find value in the addition of Popmoney to our NYCE Payments Network.”
CashEdge is a leading provider of Intelligent Money Movement® solutions for financial institutions, including mobile and email person-to-person (P2P) payments, account transfers, account opening and funding, small business applications and financial account aggregation. The Company's clients include over 650 leading financial institutions, including eight of the ten largest banks in the country. CashEdge's newest offering, Popmoney®, is a bank-enabled email and mobile money movement service that is live at leading banks in the U.S.
CashEdge's industry-leading products include Popmoney for email and mobile payments; Popmoney® for Small Business, OpenNow®/FundNow® for new account opening and funding; TransferNow® for consumers, which includes Me-to-Me and Third Party Transfers; and Small Business Suite, which includes Invoicing, Me-to-Me Transfers, Employee Payments and Vendor Payments. All CashEdge products are supported by industry-leading risk management capabilities that leverage proprietary technology to help financial institutions mitigate risk and decrease fraud exposure.
The Company is headquartered in New York with offices in Silicon Valley and India. For more information, visit www.cashedge.com.
NYCE Payments Network, LLC, an FIS™ company, helps its clients grow with innovative new products and strategic alliances that enable them to capitalize on the efficiency, consumer convenience and security of electronic real-time payments. The NYCE Network provides consumers with secure, real-time access to their money, offering hundreds of thousands of ATM locations and millions of point-of-sale locations nationwide. The NYCE Direct Bill Payment service offers cardholders a convenient way to pay bills online in real-time using their deposit accounts. Headquartered in Secaucus, N.J., NYCE Payments Network, LLC, (www.nyce.net) is a wholly owned subsidiary of FIS (NYSE:FIS).
FIS (NYSE: FIS) is one of the world’s largest global providers dedicated to banking and payments technologies. With a long history deeply rooted in the financial services sector, FIS serves more than 14,000 institutions in over 100 countries. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., FIS employs more than 30,000 people worldwide and holds leadership positions in payment processing and banking solutions, providing software, services and outsourcing of the technology that drives financial institutions. FIS is a member of Standard & Poor’s 500® Index and consistently holds a leading ranking in the annual FinTech 100 list. For more information about FIS, visit www.fisglobal.com.
Forward-Looking Statements

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SpendingPulse January 2011 Retail Report: General Momentum from Q4 2010 Continues



For the Full Retail Year Sectors That Are Up Outnumber Those That Are Down By Three to One


PURCHASE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MasterCard Advisors:
“With gasoline prices up about 14% over prices a year ago, that means less disposable income in consumers’ wallets. They are more likely to consolidate trips to the mall and shop closer to home.”
SpendingPulse™
 
Data Source:
A macroeconomic indicator, SpendingPulse reports on national retail and services sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check. MasterCard SpendingPulse does not represent MasterCard financial performance. SpendingPulse is provided by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide.
 
MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, a macroeconomic report tracking national retail and services sales, today provided summary results for performance of specific U.S. retail industries in January, 2011. The month recorded strong growth across most categories, continuing the positive performance from Q4 2010, albeit at a slightly slower pace.
With the January closing of the retail year, sectors that were up for the year outnumbered those that were down by a ratio of three to one. However, even among those which were up for the year, about half have yet to reach their pre-recession peak levels of 2006 and 2007.
Michael McNamara, Vice President, Research and Analysis for MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, observes, “A combination of rising consumer demand and strong pricing continued to drive retail sales in January. Although less robust, the trends we observed were similar to those recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010. Most sectors continued to post positive year-over-year results during the month despite consumers taking a pause in spending and repeated snow storms affecting the East Coast.”
Mr. McNamara also notes that there were varied factors influencing January sales, including the continuing high unemployment rate, rising prices such as fuel costs, increases in consumer confidence and continuing improvements in the financial markets. He observed, “With gasoline prices up about 14% over prices a year ago, that means less disposable income in consumers’ wallets. They are more likely to consolidate trips to the mall and shop closer to home.”
In terms of sectors, January, 2011 had notable strengths and weaknesses. Here are some specifics:
Posting their sixth consecutive month of positive year-over-year growth, Total Apparel sales continued to do well in January albeit at a slightly lower growth rate than the very robust Q4 2010 rate. All sub-sectors of Apparel posted solid year-over-year increases, the most notable of which came from the Family (Teen) and Men’s categories, respectively increasing 12.8% and 8.1% year-over-year.
The Electronics and Appliances sector posted a year-over-year decline of 3.8% in January following a modest year-over-year increase recorded in December. The Consumer Electronics sub-category declined by 3.3% and the Appliance sub-category fell sharply by 6.4%, its fourth consecutive year-over-year monthly decline.
e-Commerce continued to gain share at a very steady rate, posting double digit year-over-year increases for the third consecutive month, growing 12%. Online Total Apparel as a sub-category of eCommerce showed slightly slower year-over-year growth compared to Q4 2010, but a strong 15% growth over January 2010. With the exception of women’s clothing, all apparel sub-sectors posted double digit growth, but again, lower than what was posted in December 2010. Jewelry eCommerce fell into negative territory in January, reversing a solid December 2010. However, Electronics eCommerce was up year over year by 6.1%.
The SpendingPulse Luxury Index, which measures sales at high-end restaurants, food stores, department stores and general apparel categories, posted a strong year-over-year growth of 6.1%, the second highest growth rate since May 2010.
About MasterCard Advisors
MasterCard Advisors provides payments consulting, information, analytics, and customized services to financial institutions and their merchant partners worldwide. Addressing complex challenges in strategy, marketing, risk, and operations, MasterCard Advisors helps clients maximize the value of their payments businesses. As the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide, MasterCard Advisors is uniquely qualified to provide clients with insights and solutions that drive tangible impact and financial gain. For more information, go to www.mastercardadvisors.com.
About MasterCard Worldwide
As a leading global payments company, MasterCard Worldwide prides itself on being at the heart of commerce, helping to make life easier and more efficient for everyone, everywhere. MasterCard serves as a franchisor, processor and advisor to the payments industry, and makes commerce happen by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants, and cardholders worldwide. In 2010, $2.7 trillion in gross dollar volume was generated on its products by consumers around the world. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network – the fastest payment processing network in the world – MasterCard processes over 23 billion transactions each year and has the capacity to handle 140 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 140 milliseconds and with 99.99 percent reliability. MasterCard advances global commerce through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro®, and Cirrus®; its suite of core products such as credit, debit, and prepaid; and its innovative platforms and functionalities, such as MasterCard PayPass™ and MasterCard inControl™. MasterCard serves consumers, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, please visit us at www.mastercard.com. Follow us on Twitter: @mastercardnews.

Contacts

Meir Kahtan Public Relations, LLC
Meir Kahtan, +1-212-575-8188
mkahtan@rcn.com
or
MasterCard Worldwide
Naya Larsson, +1-914-249-3916
naya_larsson@mastercard.com
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110204005480/en/SpendingPulse-January-2011-Retail-Report-General-Momentum
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Green Dot Changes Time of Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Earnings Conference Call

MONROVIA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Green Dot Corporation (NYSE: GDOT), a leading prepaid financial services company, today announced that the Company has changed the time of its fourth quarter and full year 2010 earnings conference call previously scheduled for 5:00pm ET on Thursday, February 10, 2011. The call will now be at 4:30pm ET on Thursday, February 10, 2011. 


Hosting the call will be Steve Streit, chief executive officer and John Keatley, chief financial officer. A press release with fourth quarter and full year financial results will be issued after the market close that same day.
The conference call can be accessed live over the phone by dialing (877) 941-1427, or for international callers (480) 629-9664. A replay will be available one hour after the call and can be accessed by dialing (877) 870-5176 or (858) 384-5517 for international callers; the conference ID is 4404813. The replay will be available until Thursday, February 17, 2011. The call will be webcast live from the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.greendot.com. A replay of the webcast will be available for 30 days.
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Cardlytics, NetSpend Partner



Cardlytics, NetSpend Partner to Bring Targeted Rewards Offers to Underbanked Consumers via Prepaid Debit Cards

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cardlytics, the pioneer of transaction marketing, and Austin, Tex.-based NetSpend Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of general-purpose reloadable prepaid debit cards and related financial services to the 60 million underbanked consumers in the US, have partnered to provide consumers with highly targeted rewards based on their prepaid debit transactions.
“We are excited about the opportunities that this partnership presents for our retail advertisers to drive purchase activity among this important group of consumers.”
Through this partnership, participating merchants will have the ability to effectively market directly to NetSpend’s two million active customers through promotional offers based on individual cardholders’ purchases. Offers are presented to consumers for activation through their online and mobile bank activity statements, and redemption occurs simply through the use of the prepaid card.
Cardlytics’ transaction marketing platform is unique in that it provides retailers with the ability to present relevant offers to targeted consumers. Retailers can quickly and easily adjust the placement of offers to maximize their results – a level of efficiency not currently available with any other marketing vehicle.
“NetSpend is a proven market leader in serving consumers who are looking for alternatives to traditional debt and credit cards,” said Lynne Laube, president of Cardlytics. “We are excited about the opportunities that this partnership presents for our retail advertisers to drive purchase activity among this important group of consumers.”
About Cardlytics
Through a highly relevant, "market-of-one" approach, Cardlytics unites banks and merchants to provide rich rewards to customers based on their individual purchase behavior. Its technology tracks consumers’ actual purchases, providing the first digital channel that can guarantee offline sales and help consumers realize savings of hundreds of dollars per year on the products they purchase every day. The rewards improve consumers’ banking behavior by increasing usage, reducing attrition and strengthening engagement with online banking. Cardlytics’ multi-channel approach includes online banking, SMS, e-mail, mobile, online-mall and social networks. For more information about Cardlytics, visit www.cardlytics.com.

Contacts

For Cardlytics
Heather Sugg, 813-374-6362
or
Mary York, 407-371-0173
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110204005206/en/Cardlytics-NetSpend-Partner-Bring-Targeted-Rewards-Offers
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Fiserv Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Results


  • Adjusted internal revenue growth of 2 percent and adjusted EPS growth of 13 percent in the fourth quarter;
  • Full year adjusted EPS of $4.05 and $735 million of free cash flow achieve record levels;
  • Company expects 2011 adjusted internal revenue growth of 2 to 4 percent and adjusted EPS growth of 9 to 12 percent

BROOKFIELD, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2010.
“Strong sales to new and existing clients reflects our focus on creating value for clients”
GAAP revenue in the fourth quarter of 2010 was $1.08 billion compared with $1.06 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009. Adjusted revenue increased 2 percent to $1.03 billion in the fourth quarter compared with $1.01 billion in 2009. For the full year, GAAP revenue was $4.13 billion compared with $4.08 billion in 2009, and adjusted revenue increased 1 percent from $3.87 billion in 2009 to $3.93 billion in 2010.
GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations for the fourth quarter was $0.80, which includes a loss from early debt extinguishment of $0.11 per share, compared with $0.83 in 2009. GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations for the full year was $3.34 compared with $3.04 in 2009.
Adjusted earnings per share in the fourth quarter increased 13 percent to $1.06 compared with $0.94 in 2009. Full year adjusted earnings per share increased 11 percent to $4.05 compared with $3.66 in 2009.
“We delivered on our commitments of returning to positive revenue growth while increasing earnings and generating a record level of free cash flow,” said Jeffery Yabuki, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fiserv. “Our strong performance is the result of our associates delivering for clients every day.”
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010
  • Adjusted internal revenue growth was 2 percent in the quarter, reflecting 3 percent growth in the Payments segment and 2 percent growth in the Financial segment. For the full year, adjusted internal revenue growth was 1 percent; the Payments segment grew 3 percent and the Financial segment was up less than 1 percent.
  • Adjusted operating margin increased 160 basis points to 29.7 percent in the quarter over the prior year period. For the full year, adjusted operating margin increased 70 basis points compared with 2009 to 29.4 percent.
  • Free cash flow increased 10 percent to a record $735 million in 2010 compared with $668 million in 2009.
  • The company repurchased 2.9 million shares of common stock in the quarter for $164 million. In 2010, the company repurchased 8.1 million shares for a total of $418 million. As of December 31, 2010, the company had approximately 6 million shares remaining under its share repurchase authorization.
  • Fiserv was ranked first in North America and fourth in the world in Chartis Research’s RiskTech100TM 2010, a comprehensive annual study of the top global technology firms active in risk management.
  • The company expanded its payments footprint in the quarter by signing 163 electronic bill payment clients and 55 debit clients. The company signed 537 electronic bill payment clients and 218 debit clients in the year.
  • 176 clients committed to offer ZashPay® in the quarter, the new person-to-person payments service from Fiserv. As of December 31, 2010, more than 600 financial institutions have agreed to offer the service.
  • In the fourth quarter, the company received an $89 million cash payment, reflecting a dividend and the repayment of a loan, from StoneRiver Group, L.P., a company in which Fiserv owns a 49% interest.
  • On January 3, 2011, Mark Ernst joined the company as its Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Ernst’s background spans more than 25 years in the financial services industry and includes senior management positions with the Internal Revenue Service, H&R Block, Inc. and the American Express Company.
  • The company signed a number of new and expanded client relationships in the quarter:
    • Associated Bank, headquartered in Green Bay, Wis. with total assets of $22 billion, expanded its existing Fiserv relationship with the selection of Mobile Money™ for mobile banking and ZashPay for person-to-person payments. The bank already utilizes the Signature™ bank platform for account processing, along with additional solutions including online banking and bill payment, Bank Intelligence Solutions®, asset liability risk management and mortgage loan servicing.
    • Austin Bank, headquartered in Jacksonville, Texas, with more than $1 billion in assets, will implement a full suite of Fiserv debit solutions including processing, Premier Analytics™, Risk OfficeSM, ATM driving and enhanced chargebacks.
    • Central Bank, a $2.1 billion financial services holding company headquartered in Lexington, Ky., extended its relationship with Fiserv for the Signature bank platform, EFT and Nautilus® from Fiserv. The bank also has added eight new solutions, including Corillian® Online, CheckFree® RXP® and Mobile Money from Fiserv to provide integrated banking, bill payment and personal financial management to retail banking customers through the online and mobile channels.
    • Diebold, Incorporated, the global leader in providing integrated self-service delivery and security systems and services, has continued its long-term partnership with Fiserv utilizing the Fiserv Source Capture Solutions® Image Toolkit. Diebold, headquartered in North Canton, Ohio with $2.7 billion in worldwide revenue, leverages the Fiserv technology for use within its image-enabled ATMs.
    • Fort Financial Credit Union of Fort Wayne, Ind., signed an agreement to implement the XP2® account processing solution from Fiserv to help serve its nearly 47,000 members. The $180 million credit union will implement an integrated suite of Fiserv solutions that includes CheckFree RXP for electronic bill payment; ConvergeIT®: IVR for audio response; Nautilus for enterprise content management; Virtual Branch® for online banking; and Wisdom™ for accounting.
    • Gesa Credit Union of Richland, Wash., agreed to implement AcumenTM from Fiserv, the company’s newest account processing solution for credit unions. Gesa, which has $1 billion in assets and serves more than 97,000 members, will implement additional Fiserv solutions, including Nautilus for enterprise content management and ATM Source Capture™, Branch Source Capture™ and Teller Source Capture™ solutions.
    • IBERIABANK, headquartered in Lafayette, La., with $10 billion in assets, will implement a full suite of Fiserv debit solutions including processing and enhanced chargebacks, Premier Analytics, CardVisionSM and ATM driving. In addition, the bank will use the ACCEL/Exchange® PIN debit network from Fiserv.
    • Kawartha Credit Union of Ontario, Canada, with $700 million in assets, agreed to implement Acumen from Fiserv to meet the needs of its nearly 37,000 members. The credit union will also implement additional Fiserv solutions including ConvergeIT: IVR from Fiserv for audio response, Prologue™ General Ledger, Prologue Fixed Assets and Vantage™ Risk and Budgeting Manager.
    • Kennebec Savings Bank, a $776 million savings bank based in Augusta, Maine, selected a complete banking solution from Fiserv based on the Premier bank platform with approximately 20 integrated products. The solution includes business and consumer online banking, CheckFree RXP for bill payment, Mobile Money for mobile banking, Source Capture, fraud and anti-money laundering, Card Services and the ACCEL/Exchange® Network for debit processing.
    • Zions Bancorporation, one of the nation's leading financial services companies with $53 billion in assets and more than 500 banking offices in the western U.S., is making Check Recovery from Fiserv available to its business customers. This electronic check re-presentment service streamlines and accelerates the recovery of bad checks and lost funds by automating the collection process. Zions Bancorporation, a longstanding client, also uses account processing, bill payment, ACH processing, cash supply chain management, risk and compliance and remittance solutions from Fiserv.
Outlook for 2011
Fiserv expects 2011 adjusted internal revenue growth to be in a range of 2 to 4 percent. The company also expects 2011 adjusted earnings per share to be in a range of $4.42 to $4.54, which represents growth of 9 to 12 percent compared with $4.05 in 2010.
“Strong sales to new and existing clients reflects our focus on creating value for clients,” said Yabuki. “The investments we are making in our industry-leading solutions are building momentum for 2011 and beyond.”
Earnings Conference Call
The company will discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2010 results on a conference call and webcast at 4 p.m. CST on Thursday, February 3, 2011. To register for the event, go to www.fiserv.comand click on the Q4 Earnings Webcast icon. Supplemental materials will be available in the “Investor Relations” section of the website.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We supplement our reporting of revenue, operating income, income from continuing operations and earnings per share information determined in accordance with GAAP by using “adjusted revenue,” “adjusted operating income,” “adjusted income from continuing operations,” “adjusted earnings per share,” “adjusted operating margin,” “free cash flow” and “adjusted internal revenue growth” in this earnings release. Management believes that adjustments for certain non-cash or other revenue or expense items and the exclusion of certain pass-through revenue and expenses enhance our shareholders’ ability to evaluate our performance because such items do not reflect how we manage our operations. Therefore, we exclude these items from GAAP revenue, operating income, income from continuing operations and earnings per share to calculate these non-GAAP measures.
Examples of non-cash or other items may include, but are not limited to, non-cash intangible asset amortization expense associated with acquisitions, severance costs, merger and integration expenses and non-cash deferred revenue adjustments arising from acquisitions. We exclude these items to more clearly focus on the factors we believe are pertinent to the management of our operations, and we use this information to allocate resources to our various businesses.
Free cash flow and adjusted internal revenue growth are non-GAAP financial measures and are described on pages 10 and 12. We believe free cash flow is useful to measure the funds generated in a given period that are available for strategic capital decisions. Free cash flow is calculated as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures, as adjusted for other items as listed on page 10. We believe adjusted internal revenue growth percentage is useful because it presents revenue growth excluding acquired revenue, postage reimbursements in our Output Solutions business and deferred revenue purchase accounting adjustments. We believe this supplemental information enhances our shareholders’ ability to evaluate and understand our core business performance.
These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, revenue, operating income, income from continuing operations and earnings per share or any other amount determined in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP measures reflect management’s judgment of particular items and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.
About Fiserv
Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV) is the leading global provider of information management and electronic commerce systems for the financial services industry, driving innovation that transforms experiences for financial institutions and their customers. Fiserv is ranked No. 1 on the FinTech 100 survey of top technology partners to the financial services industry. For more information, visitwww.fiserv.com.
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