Core Processing Giant, Fiserv Celebrates Its 25-Year Anniversary

Fiserv Inc. is now 25 years old. Headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv is a $4.7 billion enterprise with about 20,000 employees and an international client list of more than 16,000 financial institutions. It’s a Fortune 500 company now and is currently ranked No. 1 on the FinTech 100 survey of technology providers to the financial services industry. The company was formed on July 31, 1984, through the merger of Sunshine State Systems Inc. in Tampa, Fla., and First Data Processing in Milwaukee, Wis., and began as a $21 million operation with about 350 employees. “Fiserv had expertise to offer banks and credit unions at the perfect time. Banks then, as now, were looking for solutions to handle their processing needs,” said Leslie Muma, who co-founded Fiserv with George Dalton and served as president until 2005. “Since then many competitors have followed essentially the same business model that George and I envisioned, but we are proud to say Fiserv remains the leader,” he said. Organic growth and notable acquisitions drove Fiserv’s expansion, including the 1991 purchase of Citicorp Information Resources, the 1995 acquisition of Information Technology Inc. and its largest, CheckFree Corp. in 2007, making it a leader in the emerging payments industry. Fiserv also is the largest player in credit union core processing, and recently completed the integration of those seven units into one operation which serves about 2,400 CUs. That was part of an overall rebranding and organization of the company’s 77 operating units. “The bridge between our first 25 years and the next is our commitment to serving clients. We are focused on delivering technology solutions that are differentiating and innovative,” said Jeffery Yabuki, Fiserv president/CEO. “We are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead for our great company.”