FISERV INC (FISV)
SIC breadcrumb: Services > Business Services > SIC 7389 Services-Business Services, NEC
SEC company page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=798354. Latest filing source: 0000798354-26-000009.
Informational only - descriptive public-record data, not investment advice.
Selected Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Unit | FY | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 21,193,000,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-19 |
| Net income | 3,480,000,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-19 |
| Assets | 80,133,000,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-19 |
Financials
Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-02-19. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000798354.json. Derived margins, ratios, and free cash flow are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.
| Metric | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 5,254,000,000 | 5,505,000,000 | 5,696,000,000 | 5,823,000,000 | 14,852,000,000 | 16,226,000,000 | 17,737,000,000 | 19,093,000,000 | 20,456,000,000 | 21,193,000,000 | ||||
| Net income | 930,000,000 | 1,246,000,000 | 1,187,000,000 | 893,000,000 | 958,000,000 | 1,334,000,000 | 2,530,000,000 | 3,068,000,000 | 3,131,000,000 | 3,480,000,000 | ||||
| Operating income | 1,445,000,000 | 1,532,000,000 | 1,753,000,000 | 1,609,000,000 | 1,852,000,000 | 2,288,000,000 | 3,740,000,000 | 5,014,000,000 | 5,879,000,000 | 5,818,000,000 | ||||
| Diluted EPS | 2.08 | 2.89 | 2.87 | 1.71 | 1.40 | 1.99 | 3.91 | 4.98 | 5.38 | 6.34 | ||||
| Operating cash flow | 1,552,000,000 | 2,795,000,000 | 4,147,000,000 | 4,034,000,000 | 4,618,000,000 | 5,162,000,000 | 6,631,000,000 | 6,062,000,000 | ||||||
| Capital expenditures | 290,000,000 | 287,000,000 | 360,000,000 | 721,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 1,160,000,000 | 1,479,000,000 | 1,388,000,000 | 1,569,000,000 | 1,763,000,000 | ||||
| Assets | 9,743,000,000 | 10,289,000,000 | 11,262,000,000 | 77,539,000,000 | 74,619,000,000 | 76,249,000,000 | 83,869,000,000 | 90,890,000,000 | 77,176,000,000 | 80,133,000,000 | ||||
| Liabilities | 7,202,000,000 | 7,558,000,000 | 8,969,000,000 | 42,682,000,000 | 41,290,000,000 | 44,299,000,000 | 52,181,000,000 | 60,221,000,000 | 49,490,000,000 | 54,324,000,000 | ||||
| Stockholders' equity | 2,541,000,000 | 2,731,000,000 | 2,293,000,000 | 32,979,000,000 | 32,330,000,000 | 30,952,000,000 | 30,828,000,000 | 29,857,000,000 | 27,068,000,000 | 25,792,000,000 | ||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | 337,000,000 | 358,000,000 | 400,000,000 | 893,000,000 | 906,000,000 | 835,000,000 | 902,000,000 | 1,204,000,000 | 1,236,000,000 | 798,000,000 | ||||
| Free cash flow | 1,192,000,000 | 2,074,000,000 | 3,247,000,000 | 2,874,000,000 | 3,139,000,000 | 3,774,000,000 | 5,062,000,000 | 4,299,000,000 |
Ratios
| Metric | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net margin | 16.89% | 21.88% | 20.38% | 6.45% | 8.22% | 14.26% | 16.07% | 15.31% | 16.42% | |||||
| Operating margin | 26.25% | 26.90% | 30.10% | 12.47% | 14.10% | 21.09% | 26.26% | 28.74% | 27.45% | |||||
| Return on equity | 36.60% | 45.62% | 51.77% | 2.71% | 2.96% | 4.31% | 8.21% | 10.28% | 11.57% | 13.49% | ||||
| Return on assets | 9.55% | 12.11% | 10.54% | 1.15% | 1.28% | 1.75% | 3.02% | 3.38% | 4.06% | 4.34% | ||||
| Liabilities / equity | 2.83 | 2.77 | 3.91 | 1.29 | 1.28 | 1.43 | 1.69 | 2.02 | 1.83 | 2.11 | ||||
| Current ratio | 0.95 | 1.02 | 1.11 | 1.08 | 1.04 | 1.03 | 1.04 | 1.04 | 1.06 | 1.03 |
Financial Charts
Quarterly
Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-05-06. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000798354.json.
| Quarter | End Date | Revenue | Net Income | Diluted EPS | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-Q1 | 2020-03-31 | 3,769,000,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2020-Q2 | 2020-06-30 | 3,465,000,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2020-Q3 | 2020-09-30 | 3,786,000,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2020-Q4 | 2020-12-31 | 3,832,000,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | ||
| 2021-Q1 | 2021-03-31 | 3,755,000,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2021-Q2 | 2021-06-30 | 4,051,000,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2021-Q3 | 2021-09-30 | 4,163,000,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2021-Q4 | 2021-12-31 | 4,257,000,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | ||
| 2022-Q1 | 2022-03-31 | 4,138,000,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2022-Q2 | 2022-06-30 | 4,450,000,000 | 0.92 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2022-Q3 | 2022-09-30 | 4,518,000,000 | 0.75 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q1 | 2023-03-31 | 0.89 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-06-30 | 683,000,000 | 1.10 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-09-30 | 952,000,000 | 1.56 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q4 | 2023-12-31 | 870,000,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | ||
| 2024-Q1 | 2024-03-31 | 735,000,000 | 1.24 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-06-30 | 894,000,000 | 1.53 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-09-30 | 564,000,000 | 0.98 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2024-Q4 | 2024-12-31 | 938,000,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | ||
| 2025-Q1 | 2025-03-31 | 851,000,000 | 1.51 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-06-30 | 1,026,000,000 | 1.86 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-09-30 | 792,000,000 | 1.46 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2025-Q4 | 2025-12-31 | 811,000,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | ||
| 2026-Q1 | 2026-03-31 | 5,027,000,000 | 571,000,000 | 1.07 | reported discrete quarter |
Quarterly Charts
Macro Cross-References
- CPIAUCSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average
- UNRATE - Unemployment Rate
- FEDFUNDS - Federal Funds Effective Rate
- CES0500000003 - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private
- DFEDTARU - Federal Funds Target Range - Upper Limit
- DFEDTARL - Federal Funds Target Range - Lower Limit
- DGS3MO - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 3-Month Constant Maturity
- DGS2 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 2-Year Constant Maturity
- DGS10 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity
- DGS30 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 30-Year Constant Maturity
- T10Y2Y - 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity
- CPILFESL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items Less Food and Energy
- CPIUFDSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Food
- CPIENGSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Energy
- CUSR0000SAH1 - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Shelter
- PCEPI - Personal Consumption Expenditures: Chain-type Price Index
- PCEPILFE - Personal Consumption Expenditures Excluding Food and Energy: Chain-type Price Index
- PPIACO - Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities
- T10YIE - 10-Year Breakeven Inflation Rate
- U6RATE - Total Unemployed, Plus All Marginally Attached Workers Plus Total Employed Part Time for Economic Reasons
- PAYEMS - All Employees, Total Nonfarm
- CIVPART - Labor Force Participation Rate
- EMRATIO - Employment-Population Ratio
- UNEMPLOY - Unemployed
- CE16OV - Employment Level
- ICSA - Initial Claims
- JTSJOL - Job Openings: Total Nonfarm
- JTSQUR - Quits: Total Nonfarm
- GDPC1 - Real Gross Domestic Product
- A191RL1Q225SBEA - Real Gross Domestic Product: Percent Change from Preceding Period
- INDPRO - Industrial Production: Total Index
- TCU - Capacity Utilization: Total Index
- HOUST - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Started: Total Units
- PERMIT - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Authorized in Permit-Issuing Places: Total Units
- RSAFS - Advance Retail Sales: Retail Trade
- PCE - Personal Consumption Expenditures
- DSPIC96 - Real Disposable Personal Income
- PSAVERT - Personal Saving Rate
- M2SL - M2
- BOPGSTB - U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Balance
- MSPUS - Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States
- HSN1F - New One Family Houses Sold: United States
- RHORUSQ156N - Homeownership Rate in the United States
- TTLCONS - Total Construction Spending: Total Construction in the United States
- RRVRUSQ156N - Rental Vacancy Rate in the United States
- TOTALSL - Total Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
- REVOLSL - Revolving Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
- DRCCLACBS - Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans, All Commercial Banks
- GDP - Gross Domestic Product
- GPDI - Gross Private Domestic Investment
- GCE - Government Consumption Expenditures and Gross Investment
- PCEC - Personal Consumption Expenditures
- NETEXP - Net Exports of Goods and Services
- GFDEBTN - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt
- GFDEGDQ188S - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt as Percent of Gross Domestic Product
- FYFSD - Federal Surplus or Deficit
- FGRECPT - Federal Government Current Receipts
- FGEXPND - Federal Government: Current Expenditures
- MANEMP - All Employees, Manufacturing
- USCONS - All Employees, Construction
- USTRADE - All Employees, Retail Trade
- USFIRE - All Employees, Financial Activities
- USGOVT - All Employees, Government
- AWHAETP - Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private
- DGORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Durable Goods
- NEWORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Nondefense Capital Goods Excluding Aircraft
- BUSINV - Total Business Inventories
- EXPGS - Exports of Goods and Services
- IMPGS - Imports of Goods and Services
- IR - Import Price Index (End Use): All Commodities
- PPIFIS - Producer Price Index by Commodity: Final Demand
Latest quarter (10-Q)
Latest 10-Q source: 0000798354-26-000018.
ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Forward-Looking Statements
This quarterly report contains “forward-looking statements” intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include those that express a plan, belief, expectation, estimation, anticipation, intent, contingency, future development, outlook, or similar expression, and can generally be identified as forward-looking because they include words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “could,” “should,” “confident,” “likely,” “plan,” or words of similar meaning. Statements that describe our future plans, objectives or goals are also forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this report involve significant risks and uncertainties, and a number of factors, both foreseen and unforeseen, could cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. The factors that may affect our results include, among others, the following: our ability to compete effectively against new and existing competitors and to continue to introduce competitive new products and services on a timely, cost-effective basis; changes in customer demand for our products and services; the ability of our technology to keep pace with a rapidly evolving marketplace; our ability to successfully implement and achieve the expected benefits associated with our One Fiserv action plan; the success of our merchant alliances, some of which we do not control; the impact of a security breach or operational failure on our business, including disruptions caused by other participants in the global financial system; losses due to chargebacks, refunds or returns as a result of fraud or the failure of our vendors and merchants to satisfy their obligations; changes in local, regional, national and international economic or political conditions, including those resulting from heightened inflation, rising interest rates, taxes, trade policies and tariffs, a recession, bank failures, or international hostilities, and the impact they may have on us and our employees, clients, vendors, supply chain, operations and sales; our ability to use artificial intelligence to improve our products and services and enhance our operations; the effect of proposed and enacted legislative and regulatory actions affecting us or the financial services industry as a whole; our ability to comply with government regulations and applicable card association and network rules; the protection and validity of intellectual property rights; the outcome of pending and future litigation and governmental proceedings; our ability to successfully identify, complete and integrate acquisitions, and to realize the anticipated benefits associated with the same; the impact of our growth strategies; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; adverse impacts from currency exchange rates or currency controls; changes in corporate tax and interest rates; and other factors identified in “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 and in other documents that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at http://www.sec.gov. You should consider these factors carefully in evaluating forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements, which speak only as of the date of this report. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this report.
Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is provided as a supplement to our unaudited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes to help provide an understanding of our financial condition, the changes in our financial condition and our results of operations. Our discussion is organized as follows:
•Overview. This section contains background information on our company and the products and services that we provide, acquisitions, and the trends affecting our industry in order to provide context for management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations.
•Changes in critical accounting policies and estimates. This section contains a discussion of changes since our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 in the accounting policies that we believe are important to our financial condition and results of operations and that require judgment and estimates on the part of management in their application.
•Results of operations. This section contains an analysis of our results of operations presented in the accompanying unaudited consolidated statements of income by comparing the results for the three months ended March 31, 2026 to the comparable period in 2025.
•Liquidity and capital resources. This section provides an analysis of our cash flows and a discussion of our outstanding debt at March 31, 2026.
Overview
Company Background
We are a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions. We serve clients around the globe, including merchants, banks, credit unions, other financial institutions, corporate and public sector clients. We help clients
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achieve best-in-class results through a commitment to innovation and excellence in areas including account processing and digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing; and the Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale (“POS”) and business management platform. Most of the products and services we provide are necessary for our clients to operate their businesses and are therefore non-discretionary in nature. We serve our global client base by working among our geographic teams across various regions, including the United States of America (“U.S.”) and Canada; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Latin America; and Asia Pacific. Our operations are comprised of the Merchant Solutions (“Merchant”) segment and Financial Solutions (“Financial”) segment.
We are focused on providing exceptional client service, world-class execution, value-added technology solutions, and cutting-edge innovation. Our long-term focus is to meet our financial commitments, deliver compelling, innovative solutions that address our clients’ most critical needs, and realize productivity and efficiency gains by embedding artificial intelligence (“AI”) in our products, services and business operations.
The businesses in our Merchant segment provide commerce-enabling products and services to companies of all sizes around the world. These products and services include merchant acquiring and digital commerce services; mobile payment services; security and fraud protection solutions; stored-value solutions; software-as-a-service; POS devices; and pay-by-bank solutions. The business lines aggregated within the Merchant segment consist of the following:
•Small Business – provides products and services to small businesses and independent software vendors (“ISVs”), including Clover, our POS and business management platform for small business clients
•Enterprise – provides products and services to large businesses, including our integrated omnichannel operating system for enterprise clients
•Processing – provides products and services to financial institutions, joint ventures, and other third party resellers which have direct relationships with merchants
We distribute the products and services in the Merchant segment businesses through a variety of channels, including direct sales teams, strategic partnerships with agent sales forces, ISVs, independent sales organizations, financial institutions and other strategic partners in the form of joint venture alliances, revenue sharing alliances and referral agreements.
The businesses in our Financial segment provide products and services to financial institution, corporate and public sector clients across the world, enabling the processing of customer loan and deposit accounts, digital payments and card transactions. The business lines aggregated within the Financial segment consist of the following:
•Digital Payments – provides debit card processing services; debit network services; security and fraud protection products; bill payment; person-to-person payments; and account-to-account transfers
•Issuing – provides credit card processing services; prepaid card processing services; card production services; print services; government payment processing; and student loan processing
•Banking – provides customer loan and deposit account processing; digital banking; financial and risk management; professional services and consulting; and check processing
Corporate and Other supports the reportable segments described above, and consists of amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, unallocated corporate expenses and other activities that are not considered when we evaluate segment performance, such as gains or losses on sales of businesses, certain assets or investments; costs associated with acquisition activity; certain services revenue associated with various dispositions; expenses associated with our One Fiserv transformation initiative; and postage reimbursements.
One Fiserv Action Plan
In the third quarter of 2025, we launched the One Fiserv action plan designed to prioritize and enhance client focus across five strategic pillars. The One Fiserv action plan centers our investments in areas that build on Fiserv’s strengths, including: operating with a client-first mindset to grow our client base and average revenue per client; building the pre-eminent small business operating platform through Clover®; modernizing existing platforms and launching innovative solutions to drive value for our clients, including embedded finance and stablecoin; increasing efficiency enabled by AI; and employing disciplined capital allocation for the long-term.
To advance this transformation, we are simplifying and standardizing processes, adopting new ways of working, and embedding AI to create a higher-quality, more productive business. This approach rethinks how business functions operate and aligns our product portfolio for the future. We are modernizing our technology infrastructure, enhancing resiliency, and reengineering our operating model through AI and advanced automation. We expect these efforts to strengthen efficiency, scalability, and innovation to deliver differentiated value and an exceptional experience for our clients.
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Acquisitions and Other Transactions
We frequently review our businesses to ensure we have the necessary assets to execute our strategy. We expect to acquire businesses when we identify: a compelling strategic need, such as a product, service or technology that helps meet client demand; a way to achieve business scale that enables competition and operational efficiency; or similar considerations. We expect to divest businesses that are not in line with our market, product or financial strategies. The results of operations for the following acquired businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition.
Acquisitions of Businesses
On December 17, 2025, we acquired StoneCastle Cash Management, LLC, INDX Processing, LLC and StoneCastle Trust Co. (collectively, “StoneCastle”), a provider of deposit funding solutions. StoneCastle is included within the Financial segment and provides its network of depository institutions easy access to stable, cost efficient deposit funding. On October 1, 2025, we acquired a portion of The Toronto-Dominion Bank’s merchant processing business in Canada (“TD Merchant Canada”). This business is included within the Merch
[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]
Latest 10-K MD&A
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is provided as a supplement to our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes to help provide an understanding of our financial condition, the changes in our financial condition and our results of operations. This section generally discusses information and results pertaining to the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024. Information and discussion of results pertaining to the year ended December 31, 2023 not included herein can be found in Part II, “Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2024, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 20, 2025. Our discussion is organized as follows:
•Overview. This section contains background information on our company and the products and services that we provide, acquisitions and dispositions, our enterprise priorities, and the trends affecting our industry in order to provide context for management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations.
•Critical accounting policies and estimates. This section contains a discussion of the accounting policies that we believe are important to our financial condition and results of operations and that require judgment and estimates on the part of management in their application. Our critical accounting policies are also summarized in Note 1 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
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•Results of operations. This section contains an analysis of our results of operations presented in the accompanying consolidated statements of income by comparing the results for the year ended December 31, 2025 to the results for the year ended December 31, 2024.
•Liquidity and capital resources. This section provides an analysis of our cash flows and a discussion of our outstanding debt and commitments at December 31, 2025.
Overview
Company Background
We are a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions. We serve clients around the globe, including merchants, banks, credit unions, other financial institutions, corporate and public sector clients. We help clients achieve best-in-class results through a commitment to innovation and excellence in areas including account processing and digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing; and the Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale (“POS”) and business management platform. Most of the products and services we provide are necessary for our clients to operate their businesses and are therefore non-discretionary in nature. We serve our global client base by working among our geographic teams across various regions, including the United States of America (“U.S.”) and Canada; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Latin America; and Asia Pacific. Our operations are comprised of the Merchant Solutions (“Merchant”) segment and Financial Solutions (“Financial”) segment.
We are focused on providing exceptional client service, world-class execution, value-added technology solutions, and cutting-edge innovation. Our long-term focus is to meet our financial commitments, deliver compelling, innovative solutions that address our clients’ most critical needs, and realize productivity and efficiency gains by embedding artificial intelligence (“AI”) in our products, services and business operations.
The businesses in our Merchant segment provide commerce-enabling products and services to companies of all sizes around the world. These products and services include merchant acquiring and digital commerce services; mobile payment services; security and fraud protection solutions; stored-value solutions; software-as-a-service; POS devices; and pay-by-bank solutions. The business lines aggregated within the Merchant segment consist of the following:
•Small Business – provides products and services to small businesses and independent software vendors (“ISV”), including Clover, our POS and business management platform for small business clients
•Enterprise – provides products and services to large businesses, including our integrated omnichannel operating system for enterprise clients
•Processing – provides products and services to financial institutions, joint ventures, and other third party resellers which have direct relationships with merchants
We distribute the products and services in the Merchant segment businesses through a variety of channels, including direct sales teams, strategic partnerships with agent sales forces, ISV’s, independent sales organizations, financial institutions and other strategic partners in the form of joint venture alliances, revenue sharing alliances and referral agreements.
The businesses in our Financial segment provide products and services to financial institution, corporate and public sector clients across the world, enabling the processing of customer loan and deposit accounts, digital payments and card transactions. The business lines aggregated within the Financial segment consist of the following:
•Digital Payments – provides debit card processing services; debit network services; security and fraud protection products; bill payment; person-to-person payments; and account-to-account transfers
•Issuing – provides credit card processing services; prepaid card processing services; card production services; print services; government payment processing; and student loan processing
•Banking – provides customer loan and deposit account processing; digital banking; financial and risk management; professional services and consulting; and check processing
Corporate and Other supports the reportable segments described above, and consists of amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, unallocated corporate expenses and other activities that are not considered when we evaluate segment performance, such as gains or losses on sales of businesses, certain assets or investments; costs associated with acquisition and divestiture activity; certain services revenue associated with various dispositions; expenses associated with our transformation initiative focused on operational excellence; and postage reimbursements.
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One Fiserv Action Plan
In the third quarter of 2025, we launched the One Fiserv action plan designed to prioritize and enhance client focus across five strategic pillars. The One Fiserv action plan centers our investments in areas that build on Fiserv’s strengths, including: operating with a client-first mindset to win new enterprise clients and grow average revenue per client; building the pre-eminent small business operating platform through Clover®; creating differentiated, innovative platforms in finance and commerce, including embedded finance and stablecoin; delivering operational excellence enabled by AI; and employing disciplined capital allocation for the long-term.
To advance this transformation, we are simplifying and standardizing processes, adopting new ways of working, and embedding AI to create a higher-quality, more productive business. This approach rethinks how business functions operate and aligns our product portfolio for the future. We are modernizing our technology infrastructure, enhancing resiliency, and reengineering our operating model through AI and advanced automation. We expect these efforts to strengthen efficiency, scalability, and innovation to deliver differentiated value and an exceptional experience for our clients.
Acquisitions and Other Transactions
We frequently review our businesses to ensure we have the necessary assets to execute our strategy. We expect to acquire businesses when we identify: a compelling strategic need, such as a product, service or technology that helps meet client demand; a way to achieve business scale that enables competition and operational efficiency; or similar considerations. We expect to divest businesses that are not in line with our market, product or financial strategies. The results of operations for the following acquired businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition.
Acquisitions of Businesses
On December 17, 2025, we acquired StoneCastle Cash Management, LLC, INDX Processing, LLC and StoneCastle Trust Co. (collectively, “StoneCastle”), a provider of deposit funding solutions. StoneCastle is included within the Financial segment and provides its network of depository institutions easy access to stable, cost efficient deposit funding. On October 1, 2025, we acquired a portion of The Toronto-Dominion Bank’s merchant processing business in Canada (“TD Merchant Canada”). This business is included within the Merchant segment and expands the footprint of our Clover® platform. In connection with this transaction, we signed a multi-year strategic managed services program agreement with The Toronto-Dominion Bank to utilize our technology, including Clover, within its Merchant Solutions business.
On September 25, 2025, we acquired the Smith Consulting Group, LLC business (“SCG”), an operational consulting service utilized by community banks and credit unions across the U.S. SCG is included within the Financial segment and supports our ability to provide consultative engagement to enhance community banks’ and credit unions’ strategic investments. On September 4, 2025, we acquired CardFree Inc. (“CardFree”), an all-in-one platform delivering integrated order, payment and loyalty solutions for merchants. CardFree is included within the Merchant segment and further expands the capabilities of our Clover platform across the hospitality, restaurant and lodging industries.
On June 4, 2025, we acquired Money Money Serviços Financeiros S.A. (“Money Money”), a provider of risk analysis and credit decisioning solutions. Money Money is included within the Merchant segment and expands our payment and financial service capabilities, enabling access to working capital and other payment solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. On April 4, 2025, we acquired Pinch Payments NZ Limited (together with Zootive Pty Ltd, “Pinch Payments”), a payment facilitator. Pinch Payments is included within the Merchant segment and expands our flexible payment services for our partners and clients and our presence within the Asia-Pacific region.
On March 18, 2025, we acquired CCV Group B.V. (“CCV”), a supplier of POS payment solutions. CCV is included within the Merchant segment and expands our network of payment solutions, enabling our ability to accelerate the deployment of our Clover POS and business management platform across Europe. On March 2, 2025, we acquired Payfare, Inc. (“Payfare”), a provider of program management solutions powering instant access to earnings and banking solutions for workforces. Payfare is included within the Financial segment and expands our embedded finance capabilities for large enterprises and financial institutions.
We acquired these businesses for an aggregate purchase price, including deferred payments, of $856 million, net of $84 million of acquired cash and including earn-out provisions estimated at a fair value of $35 million.
Other Transactions
On September 5, 2025, we acquired the remaining 49.9% ownership interest, including cash held of $195 million, in AIB Merchant Services (“AIBMS”), a payments solution provider, for $420 million. On April 17, 2025, we acquired the remaining 19% ownership interest in ICICI Merchant Services Private Limited, a merchant acceptance business, for $22 million. We
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previously held a majority controlling financial interest in each of these subsidiaries, which continue to be consolidated and reported within the Merchant segment.
In the third quarter of 2024, Wells Fargo Bank, National Association (“Wells Fargo”) provided us with a notice of non-renewal for the Wells Fargo Merchant Services merchant alliance (“WFMS”), which was accounted for as an equity method investment. Upon the expiration of the joint venture on April 1, 2025, we received an initial cash payment of $453 million. Completion of the contractual valuation and separation process during the third quarter of 2025 did not result in a significant adjustment to the initial cash payment received. In connection with the non-renewal of WFMS, we entered into a multi-year agreement with Wells Fargo to provide processing for current and future merchant clients as well as other services to Wells Fargo’s merchant business.
Industry Trends
The global payments landscape continues to evolve, with rapidly advancing technologies and a steady expansion of digital payments, e-commerce and real-time payments infrastructure. Because of this growth, competition also continues to intensify. Business and consumer expectations continue to rise, with a focus on speed, convenience, choice and security. To meet these expectations, payments companies are focused on modernizing their technology, expanding the use of data and enhancing the customer experience. These innovations are driving a competitive landscape where customer expectations evolve rapidly as services digitize and choices multiply.
Merchants
The rapid growth in and globalization of mobile and e-commerce, driven by consumers’ desire for simpler, more efficient shopping experiences, has created an opportunity for merchants to reach consumers nearly anywhere, through any device, which often requires a merchant acquiring provider to enable and optimize the acceptance of payments. Consumers are increasingly using digital wallets, contactless payments, and mobile-first solutions, making omnichannel strategies that integrate online, mobile, and in-store experiences essential for customer retention. Consumers expect instant and secure checkouts, making simplified payment orchestration critical. Merchants are demanding simpler, integrated and flexible systems to enable them to serve customers and help manage cash flow and everyday business operations. When combined with the ever-increasing ways a consumer can pay for goods and services, merchants have sought modern end-to-end solutions throughout their growth lifecycle to streamline the complexity. Merchants are moving beyond traditional payment acceptance to offer embedded financial services to deepen customer relationships and create new revenue streams. Unified commerce solutions and value-added services are becoming key differentiators in competitive markets. Furthermore, merchants can now search, discover, compare, purchase and even install a new system through direct, digital-only experiences. This direct, digital-only channel is a source of new merchant acquisition opportunities, especially with respect to smaller merchants.
Additionally, there are numerous software-as-a-service solution providers in the industry, many of which have chosen to integrate merchant acquiring into their software as a way to generate revenue from existing client relationships. Such providers are independent software vendors, typically referred to as ISVs, and we believe there are numerous potential distribution partnership opportunities to cross-sell multiple value-added solutions available to us.
We believe that our merchant acquiring products and solutions create compelling value propositions for merchant clients of all sizes, from small and mid-sized businesses to medium-sized regional businesses to global enterprise merchants. The depth and breadth of our omnichannel solutions, and flexibility to serve clients across various channels and geographies, drives higher product attach rates with new and existing clients across all verticals. Furthermore, we believe that our strength in distribution, our progress growing software and services, and our value-based pricing as we continue to invest in our operating systems, gives us a solid foundation for growth. We are at the intersection of finance and commerce, creating opportunities for integrated solutions that combine payment acceptance, financial services, and data-driven insights.
Financial Institutions
Financial services providers regularly introduce and implement new payment, deposit, risk management, lending and investment products, and the distinctions among the products and services traditionally offered by different types of financial institutions continue to narrow as they seek to serve the same customers. At the same time, the evolving global regulatory and cybersecurity landscape has continued to create a challenging operating environment for financial institutions. These conditions are driving heightened interest in solutions that help financial institutions win and retain customers, generate revenue, comply with regulations and enhance operating efficiency. In addition, the focus on the customer experience, including through mobile and online engagement, by both financial institutions and their customers, as well as the growing volume and types of payment transactions in the marketplace, continues to elevate the data and transaction processing needs of financial institutions.
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Financial institutions must be able to serve their customers with tailored solutions, delivered how and when those customers desire. In addition, financial institutions are striving for this single, integrated view of a customer’s activity. This requires financial institutions to not only process customer transactions, but to integrate financial institutions’ products and services to give customers easy access to integrated solutions. We believe that the integration of our products and services creates a compelling value proposition for our clients by providing, among other things, new sources of revenue and opportunities to reduce their costs. We have invested in integrating our platforms and value-added solutions to make it easy for a client to buy across our full product suite.
Demand for innovative payment solutions continues to grow, with a focus on faster, more convenient options across mobile channels, online applications, in-store cards, and digital currencies. Financial institutions are adopting advanced technologies, introducing new solutions, and responding to an increasingly complex regulatory landscape. We expect that financial institutions will continue to invest significant capital to process transactions, manage information, maintain regulatory compliance and offer innovative new services to their customers in this rapidly evolving and competitive environmental shift from traditional to digital banking. Stablecoins and cryptocurrencies may also become more widely used as digital currencies provide increased accessibility and efficiency. We believe that economies of scale in developing and maintaining the infrastructure, technology, products, services and networks necessary to be competitive in such a dynamic environment are essential to justify these investments, and we anticipate that demand for products that facilitate customer interaction with financial institutions, including a unified, seamless customer experience across mobile and online channels, will continue to increase, which we expect to create revenue opportunities for us.
Recent Market Conditions
Global macroeconomic conditions, including changing interest rates; inflation; disruptions in the global supply chain; changes in consumer spending; legislative changes, including potential effects of new tax laws; the effects of international hostilities; political conditions; regulations restricting trade or impacting our ability to offer products or services; and trade policies and tariffs, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. A decline in personal consumption and consumer savings in the U.S. may also negatively impact our business and financial results. We actively monitor and manage our business in response to these unpredictable geopolitical and market conditions, as they may adversely impact our operations and financial results.
In addition, our operating results in certain foreign countries in which we operate may be adversely impacted by fluctuations in interest rates and exchange rates for currencies other than the U.S. dollar, including the Euro, British Pound, Indian Rupee, Brazilian Real and Argentine Peso. The strengthening of the U.S. dollar against certain foreign currencies in countries in which we operate would negatively impact our revenue and earnings. We also have exposure to risks related to currency devaluation in certain countries, which may negatively impact our international operating results if there is a prolonged devaluation of local currencies relative to the U.S. dollar or if the economic conditions in these countries decline. While the majority of our revenue is earned in the U.S., we actively monitor the interest rate and foreign exchange rate environment and may enter into derivative instruments and utilize other non-derivative hedging instruments with creditworthy institutions in an effort to manage these risks.
For a discussion of risks and potential challenges applicable to our business, results of operations and financial condition, see “Part I. Item 1A. Risk Factors.” For management’s assessment of market risks, including interest rate and foreign currency risks, see “Part II. Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.”
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S., which require management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses. We continually evaluate the accounting policies and estimates that we use to prepare our consolidated financial statements, including for recently adopted accounting pronouncements, and base our estimates on historical experience and assumptions that we believe are reasonable in light of current circumstances. Actual amounts and results could differ materially from these estimates.
Goodwill and Intangible Assets
We review the carrying value of goodwill for impairment annually, or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill is tested for impairment at a reporting unit level, which is one level below our operating segments. When reviewing goodwill for impairment, we consider the prior test’s amount of excess fair value over the carrying value of each reporting unit, the period of time since a reporting unit’s last quantitative test, the extent a reorganization or disposition changes the composition of one or more of our reporting units, and other prevailing factors to determine whether or not to first perform a qualitative test. When performing a qualitative test, we assess numerous factors to determine whether it
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is more likely than not that the fair value of our reporting units are less than their respective carrying values. Examples of qualitative factors that we assess include our share price, our financial performance, market and competitive factors in our industry and other events specific to our reporting units. If we conclude that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit may be less than its carrying value, we perform a quantitative impairment test.
The quantitative impairment test compares the estimated fair value of the reporting unit to its carrying value, and recognizes an impairment loss for the amount by which a reporting unit’s carrying amount exceeds its fair value, without exceeding the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. We determine the fair value of a reporting unit using both a discounted cash flow analysis and a market approach, as appropriate, and engage an independent valuation specialist, when necessary, to assist in the fair value determinations. Determining the fair value of a reporting unit involves judgment and the use of significant estimates and assumptions, which include assumptions regarding the revenue growth rates and operating margins used to calculate estimated future cash flows, risk-adjusted discount rates and future economic and market conditions.
As of October 1, 2025, we performed our annual goodwill impairment assessment and determined that the estimated fair values exceeded the respective carrying values for each of our reporting units. Subsequently, we determined that a triggering event occurred in the fourth quarter of 2025 due to a sustained decline in our stock price and, therefore, performed an additional goodwill impairment test as of December 31, 2025. The impairment assessment performed at December 31, 2025 determined that our goodwill of $37.7 billion was not impaired as the estimated fair values exceeded the respective carrying values for each of our reporting units. At December 31, 2025, fair values exceeded carrying values by less than 15% for eight of our reporting units with an aggregate goodwill balance of $18.5 billion as follows:
| Fair Value to Carrying Value Cushion | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | Goodwill Balance | $ | % | |||||||
| Reporting Unit 1 | $ | 1,394 | $ | 62 | 3.7 | % | ||||
| Reporting Unit 2 | 1,988 | 161 | 5.4 | % | ||||||
| Reporting Unit 3 | 1,817 | 406 | 10.4 | % | ||||||
| Reporting Unit 4 | 281 | 46 | 11.8 | % | ||||||
| Reporting Unit 5 | 2,557 | 415 | 13.9 | % | ||||||
| Reporting Unit 6 | 4,120 | 742 | 14.4 | % | ||||||
| Reporting Unit 7 | 1,635 | 307 | 14.7 | % | ||||||
| Reporting Unit 8 | 4,692 | 995 | 14.8 | % |
If future operating performance is below our expectations or there are changes to forecasted revenue growth rates or operating margins, risk-adjusted discount rates, foreign currency exchange rates, effective income tax rates, or some combination thereof, a decline in the fair value of the reporting units could result in, and we may be required to record, a goodwill impairment charge. It is also reasonably possible that future developments related to the interest rate environment, sustained decreases in our stock price, a shift in strategic initiatives, or significant changes in the composition of certain of our reporting units could have a future material impact on one or more of the estimates and assumptions used to evaluate goodwill impairment. We have no accumulated goodwill impairment through December 31, 2025. Additional information regarding our goodwill is included in Note 7 to the consolidated financial statements.
We review intangible assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable. We review capitalized software development costs for impairment at each reporting date. In connection with the goodwill impairment assessment triggering event in the fourth quarter of 2025, as described above, we performed an additional evaluation of the recoverability of our intangible assets and determined no impairment as of December 31, 2025. Recoverability of intangible assets is assessed by comparing the carrying amount of the asset group to either the undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset group or the net realizable value of the asset group, depending on the type of asset group. Determining future cash flows and net realizable values involves judgment and the use of significant estimates and assumptions regarding future economic and market conditions. Measurement of any impairment loss is based on estimated fair value. Additional information regarding our intangible assets is included in Note 6 to the consolidated financial statements.
Given the significance of our goodwill and intangible asset balances, an adverse change in the fair value and recoverability of the assets could result in an impairment charge, which may be material to our consolidated financial statements.
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Revenue Recognition
Revenue is measured based on consideration specified in a contract with a customer, and excludes any amounts collected on behalf of third parties. Contracts with customers are evaluated on a contract-by-contract basis as contracts may include multiple types of goods and services as described below.
Processing and Services
Processing and services revenue is generated from account- and transaction-based fees for data processing, merchant transaction processing and acquiring, electronic billing and payment services, electronic funds transfer and debit/credit processing services; consulting and professional services; merchant cash advances; and software maintenance for ongoing client support.
We recognize processing and services revenue in the period in which the specific service is performed unless it is not considered distinct from other goods or services, which revenue would then be recognized as control is transferred of the combined goods and services. Our arrangements for processing and services typically consist of an obligation to provide specific services to our customers on a when- and if-needed basis (a stand-ready performance obligation) and revenue is recognized from the satisfaction of the performance obligations in the amount billable to the customer. These services are typically provided under a fixed or declining (tier-based) price per unit based on volume of service; however, pricing for services may also be based on fixed or monthly minimum processing fees. Fees for our processing and services arrangements are typically billed and paid on a monthly basis.
Product
Product revenue is generated from print and card production, software license, data and analytics, and hardware (primarily POS devices) sales. For software license agreements that are distinct, we recognize software license revenue upon delivery, assuming a contract is deemed to exist. Revenue for arrangements with customers that include significant customization, modification or production of software such that the software is not distinct is typically recognized over time based upon efforts expended, such as labor hours, to measure progress towards completion. For arrangements involving hosted licensed software for the customer, a software element is considered present to the extent the customer has the contractual right to take possession of the software at any time during the hosting period without significant penalty and it is feasible for the customer to either operate the software on their own hardware or contract with another vendor to host the software. We also maintain substantial volumes of payment and transaction data, providing insights into business and consumer activity. We account for the sales of distinct data and analytics as a separate performance obligation and recognize the revenue at its standalone selling price when the customer obtains control of the analytical data. Additionally, we sell or lease hardware (POS devices) and other peripherals as part of our contracts with customers. Hardware typically consists of terminals or Clover devices. We do not manufacture hardware, rather we purchase hardware from third-party vendors and hold such hardware in inventory until purchased or leased by a customer. We account for the sale of distinct hardware as a separate performance obligation and recognize the revenue at the standalone selling price when the customer obtains control of the hardware.
Significant Judgments
We use the following methods, inputs and assumptions in determining amounts of revenue to recognize. For multi-element arrangements, we account for individual goods or services as a separate performance obligation if they are distinct, if the good or service is separately identifiable from other items in the arrangement, and if a customer can benefit from the good or service on its own or with other resources that are readily available to the customer. If these criteria are not met, the promised goods or services are accounted for as a combined performance obligation. Determining whether goods or services are distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately may require significant judgment.
Technology or service components from third parties are frequently embedded in or combined with our applications or service offerings. Whether we recognize revenue based on the gross amount billed to a customer or the net amount retained involves judgment that depends on the relevant facts and circumstances, including the level of contractual responsibilities and obligations for delivering solutions to end customers, to determine whether we obtain control of goods and services prior to their transfer to a customer.
The transaction price is determined based on the consideration to which we will be entitled in exchange for transferring goods or services to the customer. We include any fixed charges within our contracts as part of the total transaction price. To the extent that variable consideration is not constrained, we include an estimate of the variable amount, as appropriate, within the total transaction price and update our assumptions over the duration of the contract. We may constrain the estimated transaction price in the event of a high degree of uncertainty as to the final consideration amount owed. The transaction price (including any discounts or rebates) is allocated between distinct goods and services in a multi-element arrangement based on their relative
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standalone selling prices. For items that are not sold separately, we estimate the standalone selling prices using available information such as market conditions and internally approved pricing guidelines. Judgment may be required to determine standalone selling prices for each performance obligation and whether it depicts the amount we expect to receive in exchange for the related good or service.
Contract modifications occur when we and our customers agree to modify existing customer contracts to change the scope or price (or both) of the contract, or when a customer terminates some, or all, of the existing services provided by us. When a contract modification occurs, it requires us to exercise judgment to determine if the modification should be accounted for as (i) a separate contract, (ii) the termination of the original contract and creation of a new contract, or (iii) a cumulative catch up adjustment to the original contract. Further, contract modifications require the identification and evaluation of the performance obligations of the modified contract, including the allocation of consideration to the remaining performance obligations and the period of recognition for each identified performance obligation. Additional information regarding our revenue recognition policies is included in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements.
Acquisitions
From time to time, we make strategic acquisitions that may have a material impact on our consolidated results of operations or financial position. We allocate the purchase price of acquired businesses to the respective identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the transaction at their estimated fair values at the date of acquisition. The estimates used to determine the fair value of long-lived assets, such as intangible assets, can be complex and require significant judgments. We use information available to us to make fair value determinations and engage independent valuation specialists, when necessary, to assist in the fair value determination of significant acquired long-lived assets. The determination of fair value requires estimates about discount rates, growth and retention rates, royalty rates, expected future cash flows and other future events that are judgmental in nature. While we use our best estimates and assumptions as a part of the purchase price allocation process, our estimates are inherently uncertain and subject to refinement. As a result, during the measurement period, which can be up to one year from the acquisition date, we may record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with the corresponding offset to goodwill. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period or final determination of the values of assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever comes first, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to our consolidated statements of income. We are also required to estimate the useful lives of acquired intangible assets to determine the amount of acquisition-related intangible asset amortization expense to record in future periods. We periodically review the estimated useful lives assigned to our intangible assets to determine whether such estimated useful lives continue to be appropriate. Additional information regarding our acquisitions of businesses is included in Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements.
Income Taxes
The determination of our provision for income taxes requires management’s judgment in the use of estimates and the interpretation and application of complex tax laws, including certain complexities attributed to our global footprint. Judgment is also required in assessing the timing and amounts of deductible and taxable items. We establish a liability for known tax exposures relating to deductions, transactions and other matters involving some uncertainty as to the proper tax treatment of the item. In establishing a liability for known tax exposures, assumptions are made in determining whether, and the extent to which, a tax position will be sustained. A tax benefit with respect to a tax position is recognized only when it is more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by the relevant taxing authority, based on its technical merits, considering the facts and circumstances available as of the reporting date. The amount of tax benefit recognized reflects the largest benefit that we believe is more likely than not to be realized on settlement with the relevant taxing authority. As additional information becomes available, we evaluate our tax positions and adjust our liability accordingly for known tax exposures.
We maintain net operating loss carryforwards in various taxing jurisdictions, resulting in the establishment of deferred tax assets. We establish a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets when, based upon the weight of all available evidence, we believe it is more likely than not that all or some portion of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. In making this determination, we consider the relative impact of all of the available positive and negative evidence regarding future sources of taxable income and available tax planning strategies. However, there could be a significant impact to our effective income tax rate in the event there is a significant change in our judgment. To the extent our judgment changes, the valuation allowances are then adjusted as appropriate, generally through the provision for income taxes, in the period in which the change in facts and circumstances occurs. Additional information regarding our income taxes is included in Note 16 to the consolidated financial statements.
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Results of Operations
Components of Revenue and Expenses
The following summary describes the components of revenue and expenses as presented in our consolidated statements of income.
Processing and Services
Processing and services revenue, which comprised 80% of our total revenue in 2025, is generated from account- and transaction-based fees under multi-year contracts. Processing and services revenue is most reflective of our business performance as a significant amount of our total operating profit is generated from these services. Cost of processing and services consists of costs directly associated with providing services to clients and includes the following: personnel; equipment and data processing; facility costs, including costs to maintain software applications; client support; certain depreciation and amortization; and other operating expenses directly associated with processing and services revenue.
Product
Product revenue, which comprised 20% of our total revenue in 2025, is derived from print and card production, software license, data and analytics, and hardware (primarily POS devices) sales. Cost of product consists of costs directly associated with the products sold and includes the following: costs of materials and postage; hardware costs (primarily POS devices); personnel; facility costs; certain depreciation and amortization; and other costs directly associated with product revenue.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses primarily consist of: salaries, wages, commissions and related expenses paid to sales personnel, administrative employees and management; third-party commissions and payments to distribution partners; marketing costs; certain depreciation and amortization; and other general selling and administrative expenses.
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Financial Results
The following table presents certain amounts included in our consolidated statements of income, the relative percentage that those amounts represent to revenue and the change in those amounts from year to year. This information should be read together with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. The financial results presented below have been affected by acquisitions, non-cash impairment charges, net gain on sales and distribution of other assets, and foreign currency fluctuations.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | Percentage of Revenue (1) | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| (In millions) | 2025 | 2024 | $ | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Processing and services | $ | 16,879 | $ | 16,637 | 79.6 | % | 81.3 | % | $ | 242 | 1 | % | ||||||||||||
| Product | 4,314 | 3,819 | 20.4 | % | 18.7 | % | 495 | 13 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | 21,193 | 20,456 | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 737 | 4 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Expenses: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of processing and services | 5,802 | 5,363 | 34.4 | % | 32.2 | % | 439 | 8 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Cost of product | 2,810 | 2,650 | 65.1 | % | 69.4 | % | 160 | 6 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Sub-total | 8,612 | 8,013 | 40.6 | % | 39.2 | % | 599 | 7 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 6,883 | 6,564 | 32.5 | % | 32.1 | % | 319 | 5 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Net gain on sales and distribution of other assets | (120) | — | (0.6) | % | — | % | 120 | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Total expenses | 15,375 | 14,577 | 72.5 | % | 71.3 | % | 798 | 5 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 5,818 | 5,879 | 27.5 | % | 28.7 | % | (61) | (1) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | (1,493) | (1,195) | (7.0) | % | (5.8) | % | 298 | 25 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Other expense, net | (61) | (178) | (0.3) | % | (0.9) | % | (117) | (66) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income before income taxes and income (loss) from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 4,264 | 4,506 | 20.1 | % | 22.0 | % | (242) | (5) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income tax provision | (811) | (641) | (3.8) | % | (3.1) | % | 170 | 27 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income (loss) from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 37 | (685) | 0.2 | % | (3.3) | % | 722 | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Net income | 3,490 | 3,180 | 16.5 | % | 15.5 | % | 310 | 10 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Less: net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interest | 10 | 49 | — | % | 0.2 | % | (39) | (80) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. | $ | 3,480 | $ | 3,131 | 16.4 | % | 15.3 | % | $ | 349 | 11 | % |
(1)Percentage of revenue is calculated as the relevant revenue, expense, or income amount divided by total revenue, except for cost of processing and services and cost of product amounts, which are divided by the related component of revenue.
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| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | Merchant | Financial | Corporate and Other | Total | ||||||||||||
| Total revenue: | ||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | $ | 10,140 | $ | 9,664 | $ | 1,389 | $ | 21,193 | ||||||||
| 2024 | 9,631 | 9,477 | 1,348 | 20,456 | ||||||||||||
| Revenue growth | $ | 509 | $ | 187 | $ | 41 | $ | 737 | ||||||||
| Revenue growth percentage | 5 | % | 2 | % | 3 | % | 4 | % | ||||||||
| Operating income (loss): | ||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | $ | 3,502 | $ | 4,380 | $ | (2,064) | $ | 5,818 | ||||||||
| 2024 | 3,561 | 4,485 | (2,167) | 5,879 | ||||||||||||
| Operating income growth (decline) | $ | (59) | $ | (105) | $ | 103 | $ | (61) | ||||||||
| Operating income decline percentage | (2) | % | (2) | % | (1) | % | ||||||||||
| Operating margin: | ||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 34.5 | % | 45.3 | % | 27.5 | % | ||||||||||
| 2024 | 37.0 | % | 47.3 | % | 28.7 | % | ||||||||||
| Operating margin decline (1) | (250) | bps | (200) | bps | (120) | bps |
(1)Represents the basis point decline in operating margin.
Operating margin percentages are calculated using actual, unrounded amounts.
Total Revenue
Total revenue increased $737 million, or 4%, in 2025 compared to 2024, with 5% growth in our Merchant segment and 2% growth in our Financial segment.
Revenue in our Merchant segment increased $509 million, or 5%, in 2025 compared to 2024. Small Business contributed 5% to Merchant segment revenue growth in 2025, primarily driven by volume growth, including from our Clover POS and business management platform, as well as the expansion of our merchant relationships through value-added services. Additionally, Enterprise contributed 1% to Merchant segment revenue growth in 2025, primarily driven by transaction growth, as well as an increase in data and analytics sales. A decrease in Processing’s revenue partially offset Merchant segment revenue growth in 2025.
Revenue in our Financial segment increased $187 million, or 2%, in 2025 compared to 2024. Digital Payments contributed 1% and Issuing contributed 2% to Financial segment revenue growth, while a decrease in Banking’s revenue partially offset Financial segment revenue growth in 2025. Growth in both Digital Payments and Issuing in 2025 was driven by an increase in data and analytics sales and license revenue, primarily in the first half of the year. Additionally, Digital Payments was favorably impacted by an increase in transaction volume, including growth in Zelle® transactions, and Issuing by an increase in accounts on file in 2025.
Revenue at Corporate and Other increased $41 million, or 3%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due to increased postage revenue.
Total Expenses
Total expenses increased $798 million, or 5%, and total expenses as a percentage of total revenue increased 120 basis points to 72.5% in 2025 compared to 2024. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue were impacted by higher payments to distribution partners of approximately 60 basis points; higher data processing costs of approximately 40 basis points; costs associated with our One Fiserv transformation program of approximately 40 basis points; and various other items. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue in 2025 were favorably impacted by a reduction in amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets of approximately 80 basis points, and an $89 million gain related to the distribution of certain merchant contracts for the redemption of a minority partner’s membership interest.
Cost of processing and services as a percentage of processing and services revenue increased to 34.4% in 2025 compared to 32.2% in 2024. Cost of processing and services as a percentage of processing and services revenue was negatively impacted by a lower level of processing revenue growth, along with higher data processing costs.
Cost of product as a percentage of product revenue decreased to 65.1% in 2025 compared to 69.4% in 2024. Cost of product as a percentage of product revenue in 2025 was favorably impacted by an increase in high margin data and analytics sales and license revenue, primarily in the first half of 2025.
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Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue increased to 32.5% in 2025 compared to 32.1% in 2024. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue in 2025 was negatively impacted by higher payments to distribution partners of approximately 60 basis points, an increase in personnel costs of approximately 50 basis points, and costs associated with our One Fiserv transformation program of approximately 20 basis points, partially offset by a reduction in amortization of acquisition related-intangible assets of approximately 80 basis points.
The net gain on sales and distribution of other assets in 2025 includes an $89 million gain related to the distribution of certain merchant contracts for the redemption of a minority partner’s membership interest.
Operating Income and Operating Margin
Total operating income decreased $61 million, or 1%, and total operating margin decreased 120 basis points to 27.5% in 2025 compared to 2024.
Operating income in our Merchant segment decreased $59 million, or 2%, and operating margin decreased 250 basis points to 34.5% in 2025 compared to 2024. The decrease in operating income and operating margin in our Merchant segment in 2025 was primarily due to higher payments to distribution partners, along with higher data processing costs. Operating income in the Merchant segment benefited from a gain of $89 million in 2025 related to the distribution of certain merchant contracts for the redemption of a minority partner’s membership interest.
Operating income in our Financial segment decreased $105 million, or 2%, and operating margin decreased 200 basis points to 45.3% in 2025 compared to 2024. The decrease in operating income and operating margin in our Financial segment in 2025 was primarily due to a higher level of vendor spend and personnel costs to improve client experience, partially offset by an increase in high margin data and analytics sales and license revenue.
The operating loss in Corporate and Other decreased $103 million in 2025 compared to 2024. The operating loss in 2025 was favorably impacted by a reduction in amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets of $116 million and a reduction in severance, acquisition and integration related expenses of $100 million, partially offset by costs associated with our One Fiserv transformation program of $86 million.
Interest Expense, Net
Interest expense, net increased $298 million, or 25%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due to debt financing activities, including our public offering and issuances of $2.0 billion, €2.175 billion and $1.75 billion of senior notes in August 2025, May 2025 and August 2024, respectively, as well as an increase in finance lease and other financing obligations.
Other Expense, Net
Other expense, net decreased $117 million in 2025 compared to 2024. Other expense, net includes the remeasurement of monetary assets and liabilities for subsidiaries located in highly inflationary economies, gains or losses from a sale or change in fair value of investments in certain equity securities, and amounts related to debt guarantee arrangements of certain joint ventures. The remeasurement of monetary assets and liabilities in highly inflationary economies, including Argentina, resulted in foreign currency exchange losses of $158 million and $98 million during the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Other expense, net in 2025 also included $82 million related to gains on the sale and remeasurement of certain equity investments. Other expense, net in 2024 included a $147 million non-cash settlement charge associated with the terminations of certain defined benefit pension plans, as well as $29 million related to gains on the sale and remeasurement of certain equity securities.
Income Tax Provision
The income tax provision as a percentage of income before income taxes and income (loss) from investments in unconsolidated affiliates was 19.0% and 14.2% in 2025 and 2024, respectively. The effective income tax rate as a percentage of income before income taxes and income (loss) from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2025 included discrete tax benefits from equity compensation and transferable federal and foreign tax credits, resulting in a lower effective income tax rate compared to the statutory income tax rate. The effective income tax rate as a percentage of income before income taxes and income (loss) from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2024 included a deferred tax benefit recorded within the income tax provision associated with a non-cash impairment of certain equity method investments, primarily related to WFMS, recorded within income (loss) from investments in unconsolidated affiliates. The effective income tax rate as a percentage of income before income taxes and income (loss) from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2024 also included benefits associated with transferable federal tax credits, resulting in a lower effective income tax rate compared to the statutory income tax rate.
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Income (Loss) from Investments in Unconsolidated Affiliates
Our share of income (loss) from unconsolidated affiliates accounted for using the equity method is reported as income (loss) from investments in unconsolidated affiliates, and the related tax benefit is reported within the income tax provision in the consolidated statements of income. Income (loss) from investments in unconsolidated affiliates, including non-cash impairment charges, acquired intangible asset amortization from valuations in purchase accounting and gains on sales of certain investments, was $37 million and $(685) million in 2025 and 2024, respectively. Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2025 included a $51 million gain related to the sale of an equity method investment. Loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2024 included a $595 million non-cash impairment related to the Wells Fargo Merchant Services merchant alliance.
Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interest relates to the minority partners’ share of the net income in our consolidated subsidiaries. Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests, including acquired intangible asset amortization from valuations in purchase accounting, was $10 million and $49 million in 2025 and 2024, respectively. Effective June 2024, we mutually agreed to terminate a joint venture agreement with a merchant alliance joint venture minority partner, resulting in lower net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in 2025.
Net Income Per Share - Diluted
Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. per share-diluted was $6.34 and $5.38 in 2025 and 2024, respectively. In addition to the impacts to net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. described above, our diluted weighted average outstanding shares were reduced by approximately 6% in 2025 compared to 2024, due to our share repurchase program.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
Our primary liquidity needs in the ordinary course of business are to: (i) fund normal operating expenses; (ii) meet the interest and principal requirements of our outstanding indebtedness, including finance lease and other financing obligations; and (iii) fund capital expenditures and operating lease payments. We believe these needs will be satisfied in both the short and long term using cash flow generated by our operations, along with our cash and cash equivalents of $798 million, proceeds from the issuance of U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper, and available capacity under our revolving credit facility of $4.6 billion (net of $188 million of outstanding revolver borrowings and $3.2 billion of capacity designated for outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs, senior notes due in the next 12 months and letters of credit) at December 31, 2025.
The following table summarizes our net cash provided by operating activities, or operating cash flow, and capital expenditures:
| Year Ended December 31, | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2025 | 2024 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 3,490 | $ | 3,180 | $ | 310 | ||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 3,207 | 3,138 | 69 | |||||||||||
| Share-based compensation | 357 | 367 | (10) | |||||||||||
| Deferred income taxes | (942) | (662) | (280) | |||||||||||
| Net gain on sales and distribution of other assets | (120) | — | (120) | |||||||||||
| Gain on sale of investments | (74) | — | (74) | |||||||||||
| (Income) loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | (37) | 685 | (722) | |||||||||||
| Distributions from unconsolidated affiliates | 44 | 39 | 5 | |||||||||||
| Non-cash settlement charge for terminated pension plans | — | 147 | (147) | |||||||||||
| Non-cash foreign currency exchange losses | 159 | 92 | 67 | |||||||||||
| Net changes in working capital and other | (22) | (355) | 333 | |||||||||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | $ | 6,062 | $ | 6,631 | $ | (569) | (9) | % | ||||||
| Capital expenditures, including capitalized software and other intangibles | $ | 1,763 | $ | 1,569 | $ | 194 | 12 | % |
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Our operating cash flow was $6.1 billion in 2025, a decrease of 9% compared with $6.6 billion in 2024. This decrease was primarily attributable to lower profitability, excluding the non-cash settlement charge for terminated pension plans and non-cash impairments included within loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2024.
Our current policy is to use our operating cash flow primarily to fund capital expenditures, merchant and settlement anticipation cash advances, share repurchases, acquisitions and to repay debt rather than to pay dividends. Net merchant and settlement anticipation cash advances were $636 million during 2025. These cash advances are funded through a combination of operating cash and various short-term lines of credit with foreign banks and alliance partners. Our capital expenditures were approximately 8% of our total revenue in both 2025 and 2024.
Cash Requirements
The following table details our future cash requirements under certain contractual obligations at December 31, 2025:
| (In millions) | Total | Less than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-term debt, including interest (1) (2) | $ | 35,666 | $ | 2,248 | $ | 8,270 | $ | 10,620 | $ | 14,528 | |||||||||
| Minimum finance lease payments (1) | 1,655 | 416 | 678 | 476 | 85 | ||||||||||||||
| Minimum operating lease payments (1) | 1,066 | 148 | 265 | 172 | 481 | ||||||||||||||
| Purchase obligations (1) (3) | 3,833 | 1,280 | 1,578 | 669 | 306 | ||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 42,220 | $ | 4,092 | $ | 10,791 | $ | 11,937 | $ | 15,400 |
(1)Interest, finance lease, operating lease and purchase obligations are reported on a pre-tax basis.
(2)The calculations assume that only mandatory debt repayments are made, no additional refinancing or lending occurs, except for our 3.200% senior notes due in July 2026, and U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper notes programs as we have the intent to refinance this debt on a long-term basis through the issuance of new commercial paper notes upon maturity, and we have the ability to do so under our revolving credit facility which matures in August 2030. The variable rate on the revolving credit facility is priced at the rate in effect at December 31, 2025.
(3)Represents enforceable and legally binding agreements to purchase goods or services based on signed contracts as of December 31, 2025.
Share Repurchases
We repurchased 32.2 million shares of our common stock for $5.6 billion during the year ended December 31, 2025. On February 19, 2025 and February 22, 2023, our board of directors authorized the purchase of up to 60.0 million and 75.0 million shares of our common stock, respectively. These authorizations do not expire. As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 45.9 million shares remaining under our existing repurchase authorization. Shares repurchased are generally held for issuance in connection with our equity plans.
Acquisitions and Other Transactions
Acquisitions of Businesses
We acquired StoneCastle, TD Merchant Canada, SCG, CardFree, Money Money, Pinch Payments, CCV, and Payfare in 2025 for an aggregate purchase price, including deferred payments, of $856 million, net of $84 million of acquired cash and including earn-out provisions estimated at a fair value of $35 million. We funded these acquisitions by utilizing a combination of available cash and commercial paper. The results of operations for these acquired businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition.
Other Transactions
In the fourth quarter of 2025, we received cash proceeds of $270 million from the sale of certain investments, which were primarily used to pay down indebtedness and for share repurchases.
In September 2025, we acquired the remaining 49.9% ownership interest, including cash held of $195 million, in AIBMS for $420 million. In April 2025, we acquired the remaining 19% ownership interest in ICICI Merchant Services Private Limited for $22 million. We previously held a majority controlling financial interest in each of these consolidated subsidiaries and funded these transactions utilizing a combination of available cash and commercial paper.
In the third quarter of 2024, Wells Fargo provided us with a notice of non-renewal for WFMS. Upon the expiration of the joint venture in April 2025, we received an initial cash payment of $453 million, which was primarily used to pay down indebtedness
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and for share repurchases. Completion of the contractual valuation and separation process during the third quarter of 2025 did not result in a significant adjustment to the initial cash payment received.
Indebtedness
Our debt consisted of the following at:
| December 31, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2025 | 2024 | |||||
| Short-term and current maturities of long-term debt: | |||||||
| Foreign lines of credit | $ | 762 | $ | 784 | |||
| Finance lease and other financing obligations | 477 | 326 | |||||
| Total short-term and current maturities of long-term debt | $ | 1,239 | $ | 1,110 | |||
| Long-term debt: | |||||||
| 3.850% senior notes due June 2025 | $ | — | $ | 900 | |||
| 2.250% senior notes due July 2025 (British Pound-denominated) | — | 661 | |||||
| 3.200% senior notes due July 2026 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| 5.150% senior notes due March 2027 | 750 | 750 | |||||
| 2.250% senior notes due June 2027 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 1.125% senior notes due July 2027 (Euro-denominated) | 589 | 521 | |||||
| 5.450% senior notes due March 2028 | 900 | 900 | |||||
| 2.875% senior notes due June 2028 (Euro-denominated) | 883 | — | |||||
| 5.375% senior notes due August 2028 | 700 | 700 | |||||
| 4.200% senior notes due October 2028 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 3.500% senior notes due July 2029 | 3,000 | 3,000 | |||||
| 4.750% senior notes due March 2030 | 850 | 850 | |||||
| 2.650% senior notes due June 2030 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 1.625% senior notes due July 2030 (Euro-denominated) | 589 | 521 | |||||
| 4.550% senior notes due February 2031 | 1,000 | — | |||||
| 5.350% senior notes due March 2031 | 500 | 500 | |||||
| 4.500% senior notes due May 2031 (Euro-denominated) | 942 | 835 | |||||
| 3.000% senior notes due July 2031 (British Pound-denominated) | 709 | 661 | |||||
| 3.500% senior notes due June 2032 (Euro-denominated) | 912 | — | |||||
| 5.600% senior notes due March 2033 | 900 | 900 | |||||
| 5.625% senior notes due August 2033 | 1,300 | 1,300 | |||||
| 5.450% senior notes due March 2034 | 750 | 750 | |||||
| 5.150% senior notes due August 2034 | 900 | 900 | |||||
| 5.250% senior notes due August 2035 | 1,000 | — | |||||
| 4.000% senior notes due June 2036 (Euro-denominated) | 765 | — | |||||
| 4.400% senior notes due July 2049 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| U.S. dollar commercial paper notes | 326 | 221 | |||||
| Euro commercial paper notes | 839 | 1,239 | |||||
| Revolving credit facility | 188 | 115 | |||||
| Unamortized discount and deferred financing costs | (169) | (150) | |||||
| Finance lease and other financing obligations | 1,635 | 656 | |||||
| Total long-term debt | $ | 27,758 | $ | 23,730 |
In August 2025, we completed the public offering and issuance of $2.0 billion of senior notes, comprised of $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of 4.550% senior notes due in February 2031 and $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of 5.250% senior notes due in August 2035. We used the net proceeds from this senior notes offering for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of a portion of our commercial paper notes and for share repurchases.
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In May 2025, Fiserv Funding Unlimited Company, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Fiserv, Inc., completed the public offering and issuance of €2.175 billion of senior notes, comprised of €750 million aggregate principal amount of 2.875% senior notes due in June 2028 (the “2028 notes”), €775 million aggregate principal amount of 3.500% senior notes due in June 2032 (the “2032 notes”) and €650 million aggregate principal amount of 4.000% senior notes due in June 2036 (the “2036 notes”). Fiserv, Inc. has fully and unconditionally guaranteed these notes on a senior unsecured basis. We used the net proceeds from this senior notes offering for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of a portion of our commercial paper notes, our 3.850% senior notes due in June 2025 and our 2.250% senior notes due in July 2025.
In August 2024, we completed the public offering and issuance of $1.75 billion of senior notes, comprised of $850 million aggregate principal amount of 4.750% senior notes due in March 2030 and $900 million aggregate principal amount of 5.150% senior notes due in August 2034. We used the net proceeds from this senior notes offering for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of a portion of our commercial paper notes and for share repurchases.
In March 2024, we completed the public offering and issuance of $2.0 billion of senior notes, comprised of $750 million aggregate principal amount of 5.150% senior notes due in March 2027, $500 million aggregate principal amount of 5.350% senior notes due in March 2031 and $750 million aggregate principal amount of 5.450% senior notes due in March 2034. We used the net proceeds from this senior notes offering for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of a portion of our commercial paper notes and for share repurchases, and in July 2024, the repayment of a portion of our 2.750% senior notes due in July 2024.
At December 31, 2025, our debt consisted primarily of $24.9 billion of fixed-rate senior notes and $1.2 billion of outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs. Interest on our U.S. dollar-denominated senior notes is paid semi-annually, while interest on our Euro and British Pound-denominated senior notes is paid annually. Interest on our revolving credit facility and commercial paper notes is generally paid weekly, or more frequently on occasion.
At December 31, 2025, the 3.200% senior notes due in July 2026 were classified in the consolidated balance sheet as long-term, as we have the ability to refinance such debt under our revolving credit facility. Outstanding borrowings under the commercial paper programs are also classified in the consolidated balance sheet as long-term, as we have the intent to refinance this commercial paper on a long-term basis through the continued issuance of new commercial paper upon maturity, and also have the ability to refinance such commercial paper under our revolving credit facility.
Variable Rate Debt
Our variable rate debt consisted of the following at December 31, 2025:
| (In millions) | Maturity | Weighted-Average Interest Rate | Outstanding Borrowings | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign lines of credit | various | 27.727% | $ | 762 | ||
| U.S. dollar commercial paper notes | various | 3.851% | 326 | |||
| Euro commercial paper notes | various | 2.210% | 839 | |||
| Revolving credit facility | August 2030 | 4.685% | 188 | |||
| Total variable rate debt | 11.870% | $ | 2,115 |
We maintain various short-term lines of credit and other borrowing arrangements with foreign banks and alliance partners primarily to fund advances associated with operations in Latin America through our settlement anticipation program. The following table provides a summary of the outstanding borrowings and weighted average interest rates of our foreign lines of credit and other borrowing arrangements by country at December 31, 2025:
| Weighted-Average Interest Rate | Outstanding Borrowings (In millions) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 51.559 | % | $ | 282 | |
| Brazil | 15.482 | % | 365 | ||
| Uruguay and Other | 7.964 | % | 115 | ||
| Total | 27.727 | % | $ | 762 |
Net merchant cash advances, including our Clover Capital and settlement anticipation programs, during 2025 were $636 million. We offer advanced funding of settlement activity associated with operations in Latin America through our settlement
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anticipation program by utilizing local operating cash and various short-term lines of credit. In the event we are unable to continue to borrow in the local Latin America markets, we may fund future advances with our consolidated cash and cash equivalents and available capacity under our revolving credit facility.
We maintain unsecured U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper programs with various maturities generally ranging from one day to four months. Outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs bear interest based on the prevailing rates at the time of issuance.
In August 2025, we entered into a new senior unsecured multicurrency revolving credit facility with substantially the same syndicate of banks that were lenders under our prior revolving credit facility, which we voluntarily terminated and replaced. The new credit facility matures in August 2030 and provides for a maximum aggregate principal amount of availability of $8.0 billion. Borrowings under the credit facility bear interest at a variable base rate, determined by the term and currency of the borrowing, plus a specified margin based on our long-term debt rating. Outstanding borrowings under the revolving credit facility were $188 million at December 31, 2025. We are required to pay a facility fee based on the aggregate commitments in effect under the credit agreement from time to time.
Debt Covenants and Compliance
The indentures governing our senior notes contain covenants that, among other matters, limit (i) our ability to consolidate or merge with or into, or convey, transfer or lease all or substantially all of our properties and assets to, another person, (ii) our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to create or assume liens, and (iii) our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to engage in sale and leaseback transactions. We may, at our option, redeem the senior notes, in whole or in part, at any time and from time to time, at the applicable redemption price.
The revolving credit facility contains various restrictions and covenants that require us to, among other things, limit our consolidated indebtedness as of the end of each fiscal quarter to no more than 3.75 times our consolidated net income before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, non-cash charges and expenses and certain other adjustments during the period of four fiscal quarters then ended, subject to certain exceptions.
During the year ended December 31, 2025, we were in compliance with all financial debt covenants. Our ability to meet future debt covenant requirements will depend on our continued ability to generate earnings and cash flows. We expect to remain in compliance with all terms and conditions associated with our outstanding debt, including financial debt covenants.
Debt Guarantees
We maintain noncontrolling ownership interests in Sagent M&C, LLC and defi SOLUTIONS Group, LLC (collectively, the “Lending Joint Ventures”). The Lending Joint Ventures maintain variable-rate term loan facilities with aggregate outstanding borrowings of $399 million in senior unsecured debt at December 31, 2025 and variable-rate revolving credit facilities with an aggregate borrowing capacity of $83 million with a syndicate of banks, which mature in April 2027. There were $18 million of aggregate outstanding borrowings on the revolving credit facilities at December 31, 2025. We have guaranteed the debt of the Lending Joint Ventures. We maintained a liability of $12 million at December 31, 2025 for the estimated fair value of our non-contingent obligations to stand ready to perform over the term of the guarantee arrangements. Such guarantees will be amortized in future periods over the contractual term of the debt. In addition, we maintained a contingent liability of $6 million at December 31, 2025, representing the current expected credit losses to which we are exposed. This contingent liability is estimated based on certain financial metrics of the Lending Joint Ventures and historical industry data, which is used to develop assumptions of the likelihood the guaranteed parties will default and the level of credit losses in the event a default occurs. We have not made any payments under the guarantees, nor have we been called upon to do so, and do not anticipate that the Lending Joint Ventures will fail to fulfill their debt obligations.
Supplemental Guarantor Information
Fiserv, Inc. has fully, unconditionally and solely guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis the 2028 notes, 2032 notes and 2036 notes (the “Guaranteed Notes”) issued by Fiserv Funding Unlimited Company (the “Issuer”), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Fiserv, Inc. No other subsidiary of Fiserv, Inc. or the Issuer has guaranteed the Guaranteed Notes. The Guaranteed Notes are the Issuer’s unsecured senior obligations and rank equally with other unsecured senior indebtedness of the Issuer from time to time outstanding. The guarantees of Fiserv, Inc. are unsecured senior obligations of Fiserv, Inc. and rank equally with other unsecured senior indebtedness of Fiserv, Inc. from time to time outstanding.
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Other
Access to capital markets impacts our cost of capital and our ability to refinance maturing debt and fund future acquisitions. Our ability to access capital on favorable terms depends on a number of factors, including general market conditions, interest rates, credit ratings on our debt securities, perception of our potential future earnings and the market price of our common stock. As of December 31, 2025, we had a corporate credit rating of Baa2 with a stable outlook from Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) and BBB with a negative outlook from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“S&P”) on our senior unsecured debt securities. As of December 31, 2025, we had a commercial paper credit rating of P-2 from Moody’s and A-2 from S&P. On November 5, 2025, our corporate credit rating outlook was revised from stable to negative by S&P. We continue to maintain strong liquidity through cash and cash equivalents on hand, and we actively monitor developments to mitigate any potential impact on our capital structure. We continue to target a long-term leverage ratio of 2.5 to 3.0 times our consolidated net income before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, non-cash charges and expenses, and certain other adjustments.
The interest rates payable on certain of our senior notes are subject to adjustment from time to time if Moody’s or S&P changes the debt rating applicable to the notes. If the ratings from Moody’s or S&P decrease below investment grade, the per annum interest rates on certain senior notes are subject to increase by up to two percent. In no event will the total increase in the per annum interest rates exceed two percent above the original interest rates, nor will the per annum interest rate be reduced below the original interest rate applicable to the senior notes.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Investments, exclusive of settlement assets, with original maturities of 90 days or less that are readily convertible to cash are considered to be cash equivalents as reflected within our consolidated balance sheets.
The table below details our cash and cash equivalents held at:
| December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2025 | 2024 | ||||
| Available | $ | 342 | $ | 665 | ||
| Unavailable (1) | 456 | 571 | ||||
| Total | $ | 798 | $ | 1,236 |
(1)Represents cash associated with: intermediary settlement balances; wholly owned entities subject to regulatory requirements; cash in transit; or cash in our joint ventures that is not available to fund operations outside of the respective entities unless approved by the board of directors of the relevant entity.
MD&A history
Prior-year 10-K MD&A spans are extracted from SEC filings with the same bounded parser used for the latest filing. The latest 10-K appears above; prior years are below.
FY 2024 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000798354-25-000047.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is provided as a supplement to our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes to help provide an understanding of our financial condition, the changes in our financial condition and our results of operations. Effective in the first quarter of 2024, we realigned our reportable segments to correspond with changes in our business designed to further enhance operational performance in the delivery of our integrated portfolio of products and solutions to our financial institution clients (the “Segment Realignment”). Our new reportable segments are the Merchant Solutions (“Merchant”) segment and the Financial Solutions (“Financial”) segment. Segment results for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 have been recast to reflect the Segment Realignment.
This section generally discusses information and results pertaining to the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023. Information and discussion of results pertaining to the year ended December 31, 2022 not included herein can be found in Part II, “Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 22, 2024. Our discussion is organized as follows:
•Overview. This section contains background information on our company and the products and services that we provide, acquisitions and dispositions, our enterprise priorities, and the trends affecting our industry in order to provide context for management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations.
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•Critical accounting policies and estimates. This section contains a discussion of the accounting policies that we believe are important to our financial condition and results of operations and that require judgment and estimates on the part of management in their application. Our critical accounting policies are also summarized in Note 1 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
•Results of operations. This section contains an analysis of our results of operations presented in the accompanying consolidated statements of income by comparing the consolidated and segment results for the year ended December 31, 2024 to the consolidated and segment results for the year ended December 31, 2023. Due to the Segment Realignment, this section also compares segment results for the year ended December 31, 2023 to the segment results for the year ended December 31, 2022.
•Liquidity and capital resources. This section provides an analysis of our cash flows and a discussion of our outstanding debt and commitments at December 31, 2024.
Overview
Company Background
We are a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions. We serve clients around the globe, including merchants, banks, credit unions, other financial institutions, corporate and public sector clients. We help clients achieve best-in-class results through a commitment to innovation and excellence in areas including account processing and digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing; and the Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale (“POS”) and business management platform. Most of the products and services we provide are necessary for our clients to operate their businesses and are therefore non-discretionary in nature. We serve our global client base by working among our geographic teams across various regions, including the United States of America (“U.S.”) and Canada; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Latin America; and Asia Pacific.
The businesses in our Merchant segment provide commerce-enabling products and services to companies of all sizes around the world. These products and services include merchant acquiring and digital commerce services; mobile payment services; security and fraud protection solutions; stored-value solutions; software-as-a-service; POS devices; and pay-by-bank solutions. The business lines aggregated within the Merchant segment consist of the following:
•Small Business – provides products and services to small businesses and independent software vendors (“ISV”), including Clover®, our POS and business management platform for small business clients
•Enterprise – provides products and services to large businesses, including our integrated omnichannel operating system for enterprise clients
•Processing – provides products and services to financial institutions, joint ventures, and other third party resellers which have direct relationships with merchants
We distribute the products and services in our Merchant segment businesses through a variety of channels, including direct sales teams, strategic partnerships with agent sales forces, ISV’s, financial institutions and other strategic partners in the form of joint venture alliances, revenue sharing alliances and referral agreements.
The businesses in our Financial segment provide products and services to financial institution, corporate and public sector clients across the world, enabling the processing of customer loan and deposit accounts, digital payments and card transactions. The business lines aggregated within the Financial segment consist of the following:
•Digital Payments – provides debit card processing services; debit network services; security and fraud protection products; bill payment; person-to-person payments; and account-to-account transfers
•Issuing – provides credit card processing services; prepaid card processing services; card production services; print services; government payment processing; and student loan processing
•Banking – provides customer loan and deposit account processing; digital banking; financial and risk management; professional services and consulting; and check processing
Corporate and Other supports the reportable segments described above, and consists of amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, unallocated corporate expenses and other activities that are not considered when we evaluate segment performance, such as gains or losses on sales of businesses, certain assets or investments; costs associated with acquisition and divestiture activity; certain services revenue associated with various dispositions; and postage reimbursements.
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Acquisitions and Dispositions
We frequently review our businesses to ensure we have the necessary assets to execute our strategy. We expect to acquire businesses when we identify: a compelling strategic need, such as a product, service or technology that helps meet client demand; a way to achieve business scale that enables competition and operational efficiency; or similar considerations. We expect to divest businesses that are not in line with our market, product or financial strategies. The results of operations for the following acquired and divested businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition and through the respective dates of disposition.
Acquisitions of Businesses
On October 9, 2023, we acquired Skytef Solucões em Captura de Transações Ltda (“Skytef”), a distributor for ISV partners and merchants of our Electronic Funds Transfer payments software. Skytef is included within the Merchant segment and expands our distribution network and POS applications. On November 1, 2023, we acquired Sled S.A. (“Sled”), a provider of instant payment solutions. Sled is included within the Merchant segment and expands our direct payment service capabilities. We acquired these businesses in Latin America for an aggregate purchase price, including hold-backs, of $17 million.
Pending Acquisitions
In 2024, we entered into definitive agreements to acquire CCV Group B.V. (“CCV”) and Payfare Inc. (“Payfare”). CCV is a supplier of POS payment solutions. Upon the closing of this acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, CCV will be included within the Merchant segment and is expected to expand our network of payment solutions. Payfare is a provider of program management solutions powering instant access to earnings and banking solutions for workforces. Upon the closing of this acquisition, which is subject to shareholder and court approvals and customary closing conditions, Payfare will be included within the Financial segment and is expected to expand our embedded finance capabilities. We expect these acquisitions, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $360 million, to close in the first quarter of 2025.
Dispositions of Businesses
On July 25, 2023, we sold our financial reconciliation business, which was reported within the Financial segment, for cash proceeds of $235 million. We recognized a pre-tax gain of $172 million on the sale during the year ended December 31, 2023.
Other Transactions
In the third quarter of 2024, Wells Fargo Bank, National Association (“Wells Fargo”) provided us with a notice of non-renewal for the Wells Fargo Merchant Services merchant alliance (“WFMS”), which is accounted for as an equity method investment. With the joint venture expected to expire on April 1, 2025, we expect to receive a cash payment equal to the fair value of our 40% ownership interest of WFMS as determined in accordance with an agreed upon contractual valuation and separation process. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we recorded a $595 million non-cash impairment as a result of an other-than-temporary decline in the fair value of our equity method investment in WFMS. In connection with the expiration of WFMS, we entered into a multi-year agreement with Wells Fargo to provide processing for current and future merchant clients as well as other services to Wells Fargo’s merchant business.
On September 25, 2023, we acquired the remaining 49% ownership interest in European Merchant Services B.V., a Netherlands-based merchant acceptance business, for $56 million. We previously held a majority controlling financial interest in this subsidiary, which continues to be consolidated and reported within the Merchant segment.
Enterprise Priorities
We aspire to move money and information in a way that moves the world. Our purpose is to deliver superior value for our clients through leading technology, targeted innovation and excellence in everything we do. We are focused on driving growth and creating value by assembling a high-performing and diverse team; integrating our solutions; delivering operational excellence; allocating capital in a disciplined manner, including share repurchase and merger and acquisition activity; and investing for organic growth through innovation. Our long-term focus is to meet our financial commitments; continue to build high-quality revenue; deepen client relationships with an emphasis on digital solutions and value-added services; deliver innovation and integration enabling differentiated value for our clients; and generate integration value, including cost and revenue synergies from acquisitions.
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Industry Trends
The global payments landscape continues to evolve, with rapidly advancing technologies and a steady expansion of digital payments, e-commerce and real-time payments infrastructure. Because of this growth, competition also continues to intensify. Business and consumer expectations continue to rise, with a focus on speed, convenience, choice and security. To meet these expectations, payments companies are focused on modernizing their technology, expanding the use of data and enhancing the customer experience.
Merchants
The rapid growth in and globalization of mobile and e-commerce, driven by consumers’ desire for simpler, more efficient shopping experiences, has created an opportunity for merchants to reach consumers nearly anywhere, through any device, which often requires a merchant acquiring provider to enable and optimize the acceptance of payments. Merchants are demanding simpler, integrated and flexible systems to enable them to serve customers and help manage cash flow and everyday business operations. When combined with the ever-increasing ways a consumer can pay for goods and services, merchants have sought modern end-to-end solutions throughout their growth lifecycle to streamline the complexity. Furthermore, merchants can now search, discover, compare, purchase and even install a new system through direct, digital-only experiences. This direct, digital-only channel is a source of new merchant acquisition opportunities, especially with respect to smaller merchants.
Additionally, there are numerous software-as-a-service solution providers in the industry, many of which have chosen to integrate merchant acquiring into their software as a way to generate revenue from existing client relationships. Such providers are independent software vendors, typically referred to as ISVs, and we believe there are numerous potential distribution partnership opportunities to cross-sell multiple value-added solutions available to us.
We believe that our merchant acquiring products and solutions create compelling value propositions for merchant clients of all sizes, from small and mid-sized businesses to medium-sized regional businesses to global enterprise merchants. The depth and breadth of our omnichannel solutions, and flexibility to serve clients across various channels and geographies, drives higher product attach rates with new and existing clients across all verticals. Furthermore, we believe that our strength in distribution, our progress growing software and services, and our value-based pricing as we continue to invest in our operating systems, gives us a solid foundation for growth.
Financial Institutions
Financial services providers regularly introduce and implement new payment, deposit, risk management, lending and investment products, and the distinctions among the products and services traditionally offered by different types of financial institutions continue to narrow as they seek to serve the same customers. At the same time, the evolving global regulatory and cybersecurity landscape has continued to create a challenging operating environment for financial institutions. These conditions are driving heightened interest in solutions that help financial institutions win and retain customers, generate revenue, comply with regulations and enhance operating efficiency. In addition, the focus on the customer experience, including through mobile and online engagement, by both financial institutions and their customers, as well as the growing volume and types of payment transactions in the marketplace, continues to elevate the data and transaction processing needs of financial institutions.
Financial institutions must be able to serve their customers with tailored solutions, delivered how and when those customers want. In addition, financial institutions are striving for this single, integrated view of a customer’s activity. This requires financial institutions to not only process customer transactions, but to integrate financial institutions’ products and services to give customers easy access to integrated solutions. We believe that the integration of our products and services creates a compelling value proposition for our clients by providing, among other things, new sources of revenue and opportunities to reduce their costs. We have invested in integrating our platforms and value-added solutions to make it easy for a client to buy across our full product suite.
We expect that financial institutions will continue to invest significant capital to process transactions, manage information, maintain regulatory compliance and offer innovative new services to their customers in this rapidly evolving and competitive environmental shift from traditional to digital banking. We believe that economies of scale in developing and maintaining the infrastructure, technology, products, services and networks necessary to be competitive in such an environment are essential to justify these investments, and we anticipate that demand for products that facilitate customer interaction with financial institutions, including a unified, seamless customer experience across mobile and online channels, will continue to increase, which we expect to create revenue opportunities for us.
Our focus on long-term client relationships and recurring, transaction-oriented products and services has reduced the impact that consolidation in the financial services industry has had on us. Rather than reducing the overall market, these consolidations transfer accounts among financial institutions. If a client loss occurs due to merger or acquisition, we typically receive a
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contract termination fee based on the size of the client and how early in the contract term the contract is terminated. We believe that our sizable and diverse client base, combined with our value-added software and services-led model, and our position as a leading provider of non-discretionary, recurring revenue-based products and services, gives us a solid foundation for growth.
Recent Market Conditions
Global macroeconomic conditions, including changing interest rates, inflation, disruptions in the global supply chain, changes in consumer spending, the effects of international hostilities, political conditions, and regulations restricting trade or impacting our ability to offer products or services, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Personal consumption and consumer savings growth in the U.S. may also negatively impact our business and financial results. We actively monitor and manage our business in response to these unpredictable geopolitical and market conditions, as they may adversely impact our operations and financial results.
In addition, our operating results in certain foreign countries in which we operate may be adversely impacted by fluctuations in exchange rates for currencies other than the U.S. dollar, including the Euro, British Pound Sterling, Indian Rupee, Brazilian Real and Argentine Peso. The strengthening of the U.S. dollar against certain foreign currencies in countries in which we operate would negatively impact our revenue and earnings. We also have exposure to risks related to currency devaluation in certain countries, which may negatively impact our international operating results if there is a prolonged devaluation of local currencies relative to the U.S. dollar or if the economic conditions in these countries decline. While the majority of our revenue is earned in the U.S., we actively monitor the foreign exchange rate environment and may enter into derivative instruments and utilize other non-derivative hedging instruments with creditworthy institutions in an effort to manage these risks.
The operations of our Argentina subsidiary have experienced higher interest rates and inflation relative to historical averages. The potential benefits of higher transitory revenue from above-average interest and inflation may be offset in whole or in part by, or may be less than, foreign currency exchange losses related to a significant devaluation of the Argentine Peso.
For discussion of risks and potential challenges applicable to our business, results of operations and financial condition, see “Part I. Item 1A. Risk Factors.” For management’s assessment of market risks, including interest rate and foreign currency risks, see “Part II. Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.”
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S., which require management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses. We continually evaluate the accounting policies and estimates that we use to prepare our consolidated financial statements, including for recently adopted accounting pronouncements, and base our estimates on historical experience and assumptions that we believe are reasonable in light of current circumstances. Actual amounts and results could differ materially from these estimates.
Acquisitions
From time to time, we make strategic acquisitions that may have a material impact on our consolidated results of operations or financial position. We allocate the purchase price of acquired businesses to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the transaction at their estimated fair values. The estimates used to determine the fair value of long-lived assets, such as intangible assets, can be complex and require significant judgments. We use information available to us to make fair value determinations and engage independent valuation specialists, when necessary, to assist in the fair value determination of significant acquired long-lived assets. The determination of fair value requires estimates about discount rates, growth and retention rates, royalty rates, expected future cash flows and other future events that are judgmental in nature. While we use our best estimates and assumptions as a part of the purchase price allocation process, our estimates are inherently uncertain and subject to refinement. As a result, during the measurement period, which may be up to one year from the acquisition date, we record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with the corresponding offset to goodwill. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period or final determination of the values of assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever comes first, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to our consolidated statements of income. We are also required to estimate the useful lives of intangible assets to determine the amount of acquisition-related intangible asset amortization expense to record in future periods. We periodically review the estimated useful lives assigned to our intangible assets to determine whether such estimated useful lives continue to be appropriate. Additional information regarding our acquisitions of businesses is included in Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements.
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Goodwill and Intangible Assets
We review the carrying value of goodwill for impairment annually, or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill is tested for impairment at a reporting unit level, which is one level below our operating segments. When reviewing goodwill for impairment, we consider the prior test’s amount of excess fair value over the carrying value of each reporting unit, the period of time since a reporting unit’s last quantitative test, the extent a reorganization or disposition changes the composition of one or more of our reporting units, and other factors to determine whether or not to first perform a qualitative test. When performing a qualitative test, we assess numerous factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of our reporting units are less than their respective carrying values. Examples of qualitative factors that we assess include our share price, our financial performance, market and competitive factors in our industry and other events specific to our reporting units. If we conclude that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, we perform a quantitative impairment test.
The quantitative impairment test compares the estimated fair value of the reporting unit to its carrying value, and recognizes an impairment loss for the amount by which a reporting unit’s carrying amount exceeds its fair value, without exceeding the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. We determine the fair value of a reporting unit using both a discounted cash flow analysis and a market approach. Determining the fair value of a reporting unit involves judgment and the use of significant estimates and assumptions, which include assumptions regarding the revenue growth rates and operating margins used to calculate estimated future cash flows, risk-adjusted discount rates and future economic and market conditions.
In connection with the Segment Realignment, certain of our reporting units changed in composition as a result of which goodwill was allocated to such reporting units using a relative fair value approach. Our most recent annual impairment assessment of our reporting units in the fourth quarter of 2024 determined that our goodwill of $36.6 billion was not impaired as the estimated fair values of each of the respective reporting units exceeded their carrying values. The excess of the estimated fair value over carrying value for our lowest reporting unit, which maintains a goodwill balance of $1.3 billion, was 29%. The fair value for each of our other reporting units exceeds their respective carrying value by at least 40%. However, if future operating performance is below our expectations or there are material changes to forecasted revenue growth rates or operating margins, risk-adjusted discount rates, foreign currency exchange rates, effective income tax rates, or some combination thereof, a decline in the fair value of the reporting units could result in, and we may be required to record, a goodwill impairment charge. It is also reasonably possible that future developments related to the interest rate environment, a shift in strategic initiatives, or significant changes in the composition of certain of our reporting units could have a future material impact on one or more of the estimates and assumptions used to evaluate goodwill impairment. We have no accumulated goodwill impairment through December 31, 2024. Additional information regarding our goodwill is included in Note 7 to the consolidated financial statements.
We review intangible assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable. We review capitalized software development costs for impairment at each reporting date. Recoverability of intangible assets is assessed by comparing the carrying amount of the asset to either the undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset or the net realizable value of the asset, depending on the type of asset. Determining future cash flows and net realizable values involves judgment and the use of significant estimates and assumptions regarding future economic and market conditions. Measurement of any impairment loss is based on estimated fair value. Additional information regarding our intangible assets is included in Note 6 to the consolidated financial statements. Given the significance of our goodwill and intangible asset balances, an adverse change in fair value could result in an impairment charge, which could be material to our consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
Revenue is measured based on consideration specified in a contract with a customer, and excludes any amounts collected on behalf of third parties. As a practical expedient, we do not adjust the transaction price for the effects of a significant financing component if, at contract inception, the period between customer payment and the transfer of goods or services is expected to be one year or less. Contracts with customers are evaluated on a contract-by-contract basis as contracts may include multiple types of goods and services as described below.
Processing and Services
Processing and services revenue is generated from account- and transaction-based fees for data processing, merchant transaction processing and acquiring, electronic billing and payment services, electronic funds transfer and debit/credit processing services; consulting and professional services; and software maintenance for ongoing client support.
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We recognize processing and services revenue in the period in which the specific service is performed unless they are not deemed distinct from other goods or services, which revenue would then be recognized as control is transferred of the combined goods and services. Our arrangements for processing and services typically consist of an obligation to provide specific services to our customers on a when- and if-needed basis (a stand-ready performance obligation) and revenue is recognized from the satisfaction of the performance obligations in the amount billable to the customer. These services are typically provided under a fixed or declining (tier-based) price per unit based on volume of service; however, pricing for services may also be based on fixed or monthly minimum processing fees. Fees for our processing and services arrangements are typically billed and paid on a monthly basis.
Product
Product revenue is generated from print and card production sales, as well as software license and hardware (primarily POS devices) sales. For software license agreements that are distinct, we recognize software license revenue upon delivery, assuming a contract is deemed to exist. Revenue for arrangements with customers that include significant customization, modification or production of software such that the software is not distinct is typically recognized over time based upon efforts expended, such as labor hours, to measure progress towards completion. For arrangements involving hosted licensed software for the customer, a software element is considered present to the extent the customer has the contractual right to take possession of the software at any time during the hosting period without significant penalty and it is feasible for the customer to either operate the software on their own hardware or contract with another vendor to host the software. We sell or lease hardware (POS devices) and other peripherals as part of our contracts with customers. Hardware typically consists of terminals or Clover devices. We do not manufacture hardware, rather we purchase hardware from third-party vendors and hold such hardware in inventory until purchased by a customer. We account for the sale of distinct hardware as a separate performance obligation and recognize the revenue at the standalone selling price when the customer obtains control of the hardware.
Significant Judgments
We use the following methods, inputs and assumptions in determining amounts of revenue to recognize. For multi-element arrangements, we account for individual goods or services as a separate performance obligation if they are distinct, if the good or service is separately identifiable from other items in the arrangement, and if a customer can benefit from the good or service on its own or with other resources that are readily available to the customer. If these criteria are not met, the promised goods or services are accounted for as a combined performance obligation. Determining whether goods or services are distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately may require significant judgment.
Technology or service components from third parties are frequently embedded in or combined with our applications or service offerings. Whether we recognize revenue based on the gross amount billed to a customer or the net amount retained involves judgment that depends on the relevant facts and circumstances, including the level of contractual responsibilities and obligations for delivering solutions to end customers, to determine whether we obtain control of goods and services prior to their transfer to a customer.
The transaction price is determined based on the consideration to which we will be entitled in exchange for transferring products or services to the customer. We include any fixed charges within our contracts as part of the total transaction price. To the extent that variable consideration is not constrained, we include an estimate of the variable amount, as appropriate, within the total transaction price and update our assumptions over the duration of the contract. We may constrain the estimated transaction price in the event of a high degree of uncertainty as to the final consideration amount owed. The transaction price (including any discounts or rebates) is allocated between distinct goods and services in a multi-element arrangement based on their relative standalone selling prices. For items that are not sold separately, we estimate the standalone selling prices using available information such as market conditions and internally approved pricing guidelines. Judgment may be required to determine standalone selling prices for each performance obligation and whether it depicts the amount we expect to receive in exchange for the related good or service.
Contract modifications occur when we and our customers agree to modify existing customer contracts to change the scope or price (or both) of the contract, or when a customer terminates some, or all, of the existing services provided by us. When a contract modification occurs, it requires us to exercise judgment to determine if the modification should be accounted for as (i) a separate contract, (ii) the termination of the original contract and creation of a new contract, or (iii) a cumulative catch up adjustment to the original contract. Further, contract modifications require the identification and evaluation of the performance obligations of the modified contract, including the allocation of consideration to the remaining performance obligations and the period of recognition for each identified performance obligation. Additional information regarding our revenue recognition policies is included in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements.
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Income Taxes
The determination of our provision for income taxes requires management’s judgment in the use of estimates and the interpretation and application of complex tax laws, including certain complexities attributed to our global footprint. Judgment is also required in assessing the timing and amounts of deductible and taxable items. We establish a liability for known tax exposures relating to deductions, transactions and other matters involving some uncertainty as to the proper tax treatment of the item. In establishing a liability for known tax exposures, assumptions are made in determining whether, and the extent to which, a tax position will be sustained. A tax benefit with respect to a tax position is recognized only when it is more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by the relevant taxing authority, based on its technical merits, considering the facts and circumstances available as of the reporting date. The amount of tax benefit recognized reflects the largest benefit that we believe is more likely than not to be realized on settlement with the relevant taxing authority. As additional information becomes available, we evaluate our tax positions and appropriately adjust our liability for known tax exposures.
We maintain net operating loss carryforwards in various taxing jurisdictions, resulting in the establishment of deferred tax assets. We establish a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets when, based upon the weight of all available evidence, we believe it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. In making this determination, we have considered the relative impact of all of the available positive and negative evidence regarding future sources of taxable income and available tax planning strategies. However, there could be a significant impact to our effective income tax rate in the event there is a significant change in our judgment. To the extent our judgment changes, the valuation allowances are then adjusted as appropriate, generally through the provision for income taxes, in the period in which the change in facts and circumstances occurs. Additional information regarding our income taxes is included in Note 17 to the consolidated financial statements.
Results of Operations
Components of Revenue and Expenses
The following summary describes the components of revenue and expenses as presented in our consolidated statements of income.
Processing and Services
Processing and services revenue, which comprised 81% of our total revenue in 2024, is primarily generated from account- and transaction-based fees under multi-year contracts. Processing and services revenue is most reflective of our business performance as a significant amount of our total operating profit is generated from these services. Cost of processing and services consists of costs directly associated with providing services to clients and includes the following: personnel; equipment and data processing; facility costs, including costs to maintain software applications; client support; certain depreciation and amortization; and other operating expenses.
Product
Product revenue, which comprised 19% of our total revenue in 2024, is derived from print and card production sales, as well as software license and hardware (primarily POS devices) sales. Cost of product consists of costs directly associated with the products sold and includes the following: costs of materials and postage; hardware costs (primarily POS devices); personnel; facility costs; certain depreciation and amortization; and other costs directly associated with product revenue.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses primarily consist of: salaries, wages, commissions and related expenses paid to sales personnel, administrative employees and management; third-party commissions and payments to distribution partners; marketing costs; certain depreciation and amortization; and other selling and administrative expenses.
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Financial Results
The following table presents certain amounts included in our consolidated statements of income, the relative percentage that those amounts represent to revenue and the change in those amounts from year to year. This information should be read together with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. The financial results presented below have been affected by acquisitions, dispositions, non-cash impairment charges, and foreign currency fluctuations. Segment results for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 have been recast to reflect the Segment Realignment.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | Percentage of Revenue (1) | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| (In millions) | 2024 | 2023 | $ | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Processing and services | $ | 16,637 | $ | 15,630 | 81.3 | % | 81.9 | % | $ | 1,007 | 6 | % | ||||||||||||
| Product | 3,819 | 3,463 | 18.7 | % | 18.1 | % | 356 | 10 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | 20,456 | 19,093 | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 1,363 | 7 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Expenses: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of processing and services | 5,363 | 5,332 | 32.2 | % | 34.1 | % | 31 | 1 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Cost of product | 2,650 | 2,338 | 69.4 | % | 67.5 | % | 312 | 13 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Sub-total | 8,013 | 7,670 | 39.2 | % | 40.2 | % | 343 | 4 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 6,564 | 6,576 | 32.1 | % | 34.4 | % | (12) | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Net gain on sale of businesses and other assets | — | (167) | — | % | (0.9) | % | (167) | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Total expenses | 14,577 | 14,079 | 71.3 | % | 73.7 | % | 498 | 4 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 5,879 | 5,014 | 28.7 | % | 26.3 | % | 865 | 17 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | (1,195) | (976) | (5.8) | % | (5.1) | % | 219 | 22 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Other expense, net | (178) | (140) | (0.9) | % | (0.7) | % | 38 | 27 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income before income taxes and loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 4,506 | 3,898 | 22.0 | % | 20.4 | % | 608 | 16 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income tax provision | (641) | (754) | (3.1) | % | (3.9) | % | (113) | (15) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | (685) | (15) | (3.3) | % | (0.1) | % | (670) | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Net income | 3,180 | 3,129 | 15.5 | % | 16.4 | % | 51 | 2 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Less: net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests | 49 | 61 | 0.2 | % | 0.3 | % | (12) | (20) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. | $ | 3,131 | $ | 3,068 | 15.3 | % | 16.1 | % | $ | 63 | 2 | % |
(1)Percentage of revenue is calculated as the relevant revenue, expense, or income amount divided by total revenue, except for cost of processing and services and cost of product amounts, which are divided by the related component of revenue.
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| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Percentage of Revenue (1) | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| (In millions) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Processing and services | $ | 15,630 | $ | 14,460 | 81.9 | % | 81.5 | % | $ | 1,170 | 8 | % | ||||||||||||
| Product | 3,463 | 3,277 | 18.1 | % | 18.5 | % | 186 | 6 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | 19,093 | 17,737 | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 1,356 | 8 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Expenses: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of processing and services | 5,332 | 5,771 | 34.1 | % | 39.9 | % | (439) | (8) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Cost of product | 2,338 | 2,221 | 67.5 | % | 67.8 | % | 117 | 5 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Sub-total | 7,670 | 7,992 | 40.2 | % | 45.1 | % | (322) | (4) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 6,576 | 6,059 | 34.4 | % | 34.2 | % | 517 | 9 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Net gain on sale of businesses and other assets | (167) | (54) | (0.9) | % | (0.3) | % | 113 | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Total expenses | 14,079 | 13,997 | 73.7 | % | 78.9 | % | 82 | 1 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 5,014 | 3,740 | 26.3 | % | 21.1 | % | 1,274 | 34 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | (976) | (733) | (5.1) | % | (4.1) | % | 243 | 33 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Other expense, net | (140) | (94) | (0.7) | % | (0.5) | % | 46 | 49 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income before income taxes and (loss) income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 3,898 | 2,913 | 20.4 | % | 16.4 | % | 985 | 34 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income tax provision | (754) | (551) | (3.9) | % | (3.1) | % | 203 | 37 | % | |||||||||||||||
| (Loss) income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | (15) | 220 | (0.1) | % | 1.2 | % | (235) | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Net income | 3,129 | 2,582 | 16.4 | % | 14.6 | % | 547 | 21 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Less: net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests | 61 | 52 | 0.3 | % | 0.3 | % | 9 | 17 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. | $ | 3,068 | $ | 2,530 | 16.1 | % | 14.3 | % | $ | 538 | 21 | % |
(1)Percentage of revenue is calculated as the relevant revenue, expense, or income amount divided by total revenue, except for cost of processing and services and cost of product amounts, which are divided by the related component of revenue.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | Merchant | Financial | Corporate and Other | Total | ||||||||||||
| Total revenue: | ||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | $ | 9,631 | $ | 9,477 | $ | 1,348 | $ | 20,456 | ||||||||
| 2023 | 8,722 | 9,101 | 1,270 | 19,093 | ||||||||||||
| Revenue growth | $ | 909 | $ | 376 | $ | 78 | $ | 1,363 | ||||||||
| Revenue growth percentage | 10 | % | 4 | % | 6 | % | 7 | % | ||||||||
| Operating income (loss): | ||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | $ | 3,561 | $ | 4,485 | $ | (2,167) | $ | 5,879 | ||||||||
| 2023 | 2,974 | 4,178 | (2,138) | 5,014 | ||||||||||||
| Operating income growth | $ | 587 | $ | 307 | $ | (29) | $ | 865 | ||||||||
| Operating income growth percentage | 20 | % | 7 | % | 17 | % | ||||||||||
| Operating margin: | ||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 37.0 | % | 47.3 | % | 28.7 | % | ||||||||||
| 2023 | 34.1 | % | 45.9 | % | 26.3 | % | ||||||||||
| Operating margin growth (1) | 290 | bps | 140 | bps | 240 | bps |
(1)Represents the basis point growth in operating margin.
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| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | Merchant | Financial | Corporate and Other | Total | ||||||||||||
| Total revenue: | ||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | $ | 8,722 | $ | 9,101 | $ | 1,270 | $ | 19,093 | ||||||||
| 2022 | 7,883 | 8,681 | 1,173 | 17,737 | ||||||||||||
| Revenue growth | $ | 839 | $ | 420 | $ | 97 | $ | 1,356 | ||||||||
| Revenue growth percentage | 11 | % | 5 | % | 8 | % | 8 | % | ||||||||
| Operating income (loss): | ||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | $ | 2,974 | $ | 4,178 | $ | (2,138) | $ | 5,014 | ||||||||
| 2022 | 2,441 | 3,806 | (2,507) | 3,740 | ||||||||||||
| Operating income growth | $ | 533 | $ | 372 | $ | 369 | $ | 1,274 | ||||||||
| Operating income growth percentage | 22 | % | 10 | % | 34 | % | ||||||||||
| Operating margin: | ||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | 34.1 | % | 45.9 | % | 26.3 | % | ||||||||||
| 2022 | 31.0 | % | 43.8 | % | 21.1 | % | ||||||||||
| Operating margin growth (1) | 310 | bps | 210 | bps | 520 | bps |
(1)Represents the basis point growth in operating margin.
Operating margin percentages are calculated using actual, unrounded amounts.
Total Revenue
Total revenue increased $1,363 million, or 7%, in 2024 compared to 2023. The revenue increase in 2024 was primarily driven by higher global processing revenue across our businesses, partially offset by a 8% decrease due to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.
Revenue in our Merchant segment increased $909 million, or 10%, in 2024 compared to 2023 and increased $839 million, or 11%, in 2023 compared to 2022. Small Business contributed 8% and 9% to Merchant segment revenue growth in 2024 and 2023, respectively, driven by an increase in payment volumes in both 2024 and 2023, partially offset by foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. Small Business revenue growth also included payment volume growth and increased hardware offerings from our Clover POS and business management platform, and the expansion of our merchant relationships through value-added services. Additionally, Enterprise contributed 3% and 2% to Merchant segment revenue growth in 2024 and 2023, respectively, primarily driven by transaction growth in both 2024 and 2023, as well as new clients wins in 2024. Processing partially offset Merchant segment revenue growth in 2024.
Revenue in our Financial segment increased $376 million, or 4%, in 2024 compared to 2023 and increased $420 million, or 5%, in 2023 compared to 2022. Digital Payments contributed 2% and 3% to Financial segment revenue growth in 2024 and 2023, respectively, driven by an increase in transaction volume, including growth in Zelle® transactions, in both years. Digital Payments revenue growth in 2024 also benefited from transaction growth on our network routing services. Issuing contributed 1% and 2% to Financial segment growth in 2024 and 2023, respectively, primarily driven by an increase in active accounts in both years. Banking contributed 1% to Financial segment revenue growth in 2024.
Revenue at Corporate and Other increased $78 million, or 6%, in 2024 compared to 2023 and increased $97 million, or 8%, in 2023 compared to 2022 due to increased postage revenue in both 2024 and 2023.
Total Expenses
Total expenses increased $498 million, or 4%, in 2024 compared to 2023 and total expenses as a percentage of total revenue decreased 240 basis points to 71.3% in 2024 compared to 2023. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue were favorably impacted in 2024 by operating leverage across our various businesses, as well as a reduction in amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets of approximately 100 basis points. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue were favorably impacted in 2023 by a $172 million pre-tax gain on the sale of our financial reconciliation business.
Cost of processing and services as a percentage of processing and services revenue decreased to 32.2% in 2024 compared to 34.1% in 2023. Cost of processing and services as a percentage of processing and services revenue was favorably impacted in 2024 by strong operating leverage accompanying scalable revenue growth.
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Cost of product as a percentage of product revenue increased to 69.4% in 2024 compared to 67.5% in 2023. Cost of product as a percentage of product revenue in 2024 was impacted by revenue mix, including an increase in postage revenue.
Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue decreased to 32.1% in 2024 compared to 34.4% in 2023. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue in 2024 was favorably impacted by a reduction in amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets of approximately 80 basis points, as well as expense management initiatives.
Operating Income and Operating Margin
Total operating income increased $865 million, or 17%, in 2024 compared to 2023 and total operating margin increased 240 basis points to 28.7%. Total operating income and total operating margin in 2024 benefited from scalable revenue growth and productivity. Total operating margin in 2023 was favorably impacted by a $172 million pre-tax gain on the sale of our financial reconciliation business.
Operating income in our Merchant segment increased $587 million, or 20%, in 2024 compared to 2023 and increased $533 million, or 22%, in 2023 compared to 2022. Operating margin increased 290 basis points to 37.0% in 2024 compared to 2023 and increased 310 basis points to 34.1% in 2023 compared to 2022. Operating income and operating margin growth in our Merchant segment were primarily due to operating leverage and productivity in both 2024 and 2023.
Operating income in our Financial segment increased $307 million, or 7%, in 2024 compared to 2023 and increased $372 million, or 10%, in 2023 compared to 2022. Operating margin increased 140 basis points to 47.3% in 2024 compared to 2023 and increased 210 basis points to 45.9% in 2023 compared to 2022. Operating income and operating margin growth in our Financial segment were primarily due to operating leverage and scalable revenue growth in both 2024 and 2023, as well as favorable vendor spend in 2024.
The operating loss in Corporate and Other increased $29 million in 2024 compared to 2023 and decreased $369 million in 2023 compared to 2022. The operating loss in 2023 was favorably impacted by a reduction of $191 million and $135 million in amortization of acquisition related intangible assets and severance costs, respectively, compared to 2022. The operating loss in 2023 also included a $172 million pre-tax gain on the sale of our financial reconciliation business.
Interest Expense, Net
Interest expense, net increased $219 million, or 22%, in 2024 compared to 2023 due to higher fixed rate outstanding borrowings associated with our public offering and issuance of $2.0 billion and $1.75 billion of senior notes in March 2024 and August 2024, respectively.
Other Expense, Net
Other expense, net increased $38 million in 2024 compared to 2023. Other expense, net includes the remeasurement of monetary assets and liabilities for subsidiaries located in highly inflationary economies, gains or losses from a sale or change in fair value of investments in certain equity securities, and amounts related to debt guarantee arrangements of certain joint ventures. Other expense, net in 2024 also included a $147 million non-cash settlement charge associated with the terminations of certain defined benefit pension plans, as well as $29 million related to gains on the sale and remeasurement of certain equity securities. The remeasurement of monetary assets and liabilities for subsidiaries located in highly inflationary economies, including Argentina, resulted in foreign currency exchange losses of $98 million and $164 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Income Tax Provision
The income tax provision as a percentage of income before income taxes and loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates was 14.2% and 19.3% in 2024 and 2023, respectively. The effective income tax rate as a percentage of income before income taxes and loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2024 included a deferred tax benefit recorded within the income tax provision associated with a non-cash impairment of certain equity method investments, primarily related to WFMS, recorded within loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates. The effective income tax rate as a percentage of income before income taxes and loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2024 also included benefits associated with transferable federal tax credits, resulting in a lower effective income tax rate.
Loss from Investments in Unconsolidated Affiliates
Our share of net loss from unconsolidated affiliates accounted for using the equity method is reported as loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates, and the related tax benefit is reported within the income tax provision in the consolidated
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statements of income. Loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates, including acquired intangible asset amortization from valuations in purchase accounting, was $685 million and $15 million in 2024 and 2023, respectively. Loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2024 included a $595 million non-cash impairment related to the Wells Fargo Merchant Services merchant alliance.
Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests relates to the minority partners’ share of the net income in our consolidated subsidiaries. Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests, including acquired intangible asset amortization from valuations in purchase accounting, was $49 million and $61 million in 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Net Income Per Share - Diluted
Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. per share-diluted was $5.38 and $4.98 in 2024 and 2023, respectively. In addition to the impacts to net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. described above, our diluted weighted average outstanding shares were reduced by 5% in 2024 compared to 2023, due to our share repurchase program.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
Our primary liquidity needs in the ordinary course of business are to: (i) fund normal operating expenses; (ii) meet the interest and principal requirements of our outstanding indebtedness, including finance leases; and (iii) fund capital expenditures and operating lease payments. We believe these needs will be satisfied in both the short and long term using cash flow generated by our operations, along with our cash and cash equivalents of $1.2 billion, proceeds from the issuance of U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper, and available capacity under our revolving credit facility of $2.8 billion (net of outstanding revolver borrowings and $3.2 billion of capacity designated for outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs, senior notes due in the next twelve months and letters of credit) at December 31, 2024.
The following table summarizes our net cash provided by operating activities, or operating cash flow, and capital expenditures:
| Year Ended December 31, | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2024 | 2023 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 3,180 | $ | 3,129 | $ | 51 | ||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 3,138 | 3,162 | (24) | |||||||||||
| Share-based compensation | 367 | 342 | 25 | |||||||||||
| Deferred income taxes | (662) | (511) | (151) | |||||||||||
| Net gain on sale of businesses and other assets | — | (167) | 167 | |||||||||||
| Loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 685 | 15 | 670 | |||||||||||
| Distributions from unconsolidated affiliates | 39 | 55 | (16) | |||||||||||
| Non-cash settlement charge for terminated pension plans | 147 | — | 147 | |||||||||||
| Net changes in working capital and other | (263) | (863) | 600 | |||||||||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | $ | 6,631 | $ | 5,162 | $ | 1,469 | 28 | % | ||||||
| Capital expenditures, including capitalized software and other intangibles | $ | 1,569 | $ | 1,388 | $ | 181 | 13 | % |
Our operating cash flow was $6.6 billion in 2024, an increase of 28% compared with $5.2 billion in 2023. This increase was primarily attributable to increased profitability (excluding the non-cash settlement charge for terminated pension plans and non-cash impairments included within loss from investments in unconsolidated affiliates), and corresponding cash flows, along with working capital improvements associated with receivables and payables.
Our current policy is to use our operating cash flow primarily to fund capital expenditures, merchant cash advances, share repurchases, acquisitions and to repay debt rather than to pay dividends. Net merchant cash advances, primarily associated with our operations in Latin America, were $801 million during 2024. These cash advances are funded through a combination of local operating cash and various short-term lines of credit. Our capital expenditures were approximately 8% and 7% of our total revenue in 2024 and 2023, respectively.
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Cash Requirements
The following table details our future cash requirements under certain contractual obligations at December 31, 2024:
| (In millions) | Total | Less than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-term debt, including interest (1) (2) | $ | 30,812 | $ | 2,025 | $ | 9,165 | $ | 6,738 | $ | 12,884 | |||||||||
| Minimum finance lease payments (1) | 699 | 238 | 339 | 101 | 21 | ||||||||||||||
| Minimum operating lease payments (1) | 933 | 133 | 265 | 167 | 368 | ||||||||||||||
| Purchase obligations (1) (3) | 2,181 | 872 | 880 | 275 | 154 | ||||||||||||||
| Unrecognized income tax obligations | 85 | 7 | 8 | 22 | 48 | ||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 34,710 | $ | 3,275 | $ | 10,657 | $ | 7,303 | $ | 13,475 |
(1)Interest, finance lease, operating lease and purchase obligations are reported on a pre-tax basis.
(2)The calculations assume that only mandatory debt repayments are made, no additional refinancing or lending occurs, except for our 3.850% senior notes due in June 2025 and 2.250% senior notes due in July 2025, and U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper notes programs as we have the intent to refinance this debt on a long-term basis through the issuance of new commercial paper notes upon maturity, and we have the ability to do so under our revolving credit facility maturing in June 2027. The variable rate on the revolving credit facility is priced at the rate in effect at December 31, 2024.
(3)Represents enforceable and legally binding agreements to purchase goods or services based on signed contracts as of December 31, 2024.
Share Repurchases
We repurchased $5.5 billion of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2024. In August 2023, we repurchased 4.1 million shares of our common stock for $121.98 per share in a privately negotiated transaction with ValueAct Capital Master Fund, L.P. for an aggregate purchase price of $500 million. Including this transaction, we repurchased $4.7 billion of our common stock in 2023.
On February 19, 2025 and February 22, 2023, our board of directors authorized the purchase of up to 60.0 million and 75.0 million shares of our common stock, respectively. As of December 31, 2024, we had approximately 18.0 million shares remaining under our existing repurchase authorization. Shares repurchased are generally held for issuance in connection with our equity plans.
Acquisitions and Dispositions
Acquisitions of Businesses
We acquired Skytef in October 2023 and Sled in November 2023 for an aggregate purchase price, including hold-backs, of $17 million. We funded these acquisitions by utilizing available cash. The results of operations for these acquired businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition.
In 2024, we entered into definitive agreements to acquire CCV and Payfare, which are expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, for an estimated aggregate purchase price of $360 million.
Dispositions of Businesses
We sold our financial reconciliation business in July 2023 for cash proceeds of $235 million. Net proceeds from the sale were primarily used to pay down indebtedness and repurchase shares of our common stock.
Other Transactions
In the third quarter of 2024, Wells Fargo provided us with a notice of non-renewal for WFMS. With the joint venture expected to expire on April 1, 2025, we expect to receive a cash payment equal to the fair value of our 40% ownership interest of WFMS as determined in accordance with an agreed upon contractual valuation and separation process.
In September 2023, we acquired the remaining 49% ownership interest in European Merchant Services B.V., in which we previously held a majority controlling financial interest in this consolidated subsidiary, for $56 million. We funded this transaction by utilizing a combination of available cash and proceeds from the issuance of commercial paper.
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Indebtedness
Our debt consisted of the following at:
| December 31, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2024 | 2023 | |||||
| Short-term and current maturities of long-term debt: | |||||||
| Foreign lines of credit | $ | 784 | $ | 442 | |||
| Finance lease and other financing obligations | 326 | 313 | |||||
| Total short-term and current maturities of long-term debt | $ | 1,110 | $ | 755 | |||
| Long-term debt: | |||||||
| 2.750% senior notes due July 2024 | $ | — | $ | 2,000 | |||
| 3.850% senior notes due June 2025 | 900 | 900 | |||||
| 2.250% senior notes due July 2025 (British Pound-denominated) | 661 | 672 | |||||
| 3.200% senior notes due July 2026 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| 5.150% senior notes due March 2027 | 750 | — | |||||
| 2.250% senior notes due June 2027 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 1.125% senior notes due July 2027 (Euro-denominated) | 521 | 555 | |||||
| 5.450% senior notes due March 2028 | 900 | 900 | |||||
| 5.375% senior notes due August 2028 | 700 | 700 | |||||
| 4.200% senior notes due October 2028 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 3.500% senior notes due July 2029 | 3,000 | 3,000 | |||||
| 4.750% senior notes due March 2030 | 850 | — | |||||
| 2.650% senior notes due June 2030 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 1.625% senior notes due July 2030 (Euro-denominated) | 521 | 555 | |||||
| 5.350% senior notes due March 2031 | 500 | — | |||||
| 4.500% senior notes due May 2031 (Euro-denominated) | 835 | 889 | |||||
| 3.000% senior notes due July 2031 (British Pound-denominated) | 661 | 672 | |||||
| 5.600% senior notes due March 2033 | 900 | 900 | |||||
| 5.625% senior notes due August 2033 | 1,300 | 1,300 | |||||
| 5.450% senior notes due March 2034 | 750 | — | |||||
| 5.150% senior notes due August 2034 | 900 | — | |||||
| 4.400% senior notes due July 2049 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| U.S. dollar commercial paper notes | 221 | 418 | |||||
| Euro commercial paper notes | 1,239 | 1,321 | |||||
| Revolving credit facility | 115 | 74 | |||||
| Unamortized discount and deferred financing costs | (150) | (145) | |||||
| Finance lease and other financing obligations | 656 | 652 | |||||
| Total long-term debt | $ | 23,730 | $ | 22,363 |
In August 2024, we completed the public offering and issuance of $1.75 billion of senior notes, comprised of $850 million aggregate principal amount of 4.750% senior notes due in March 2030 and $900 million aggregate principal amount of 5.150% senior notes due in August 2034. We used the net proceeds from this senior notes offering for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of a portion of our commercial paper notes and for share repurchases.
In March 2024, we completed the public offering and issuance of $2.0 billion of senior notes, comprised of $750 million aggregate principal amount of 5.150% senior notes due in March 2027, $500 million aggregate principal amount of 5.350% senior notes due in March 2031 and $750 million aggregate principal amount of 5.450% senior notes due in March 2034. We used the net proceeds from this senior notes offering for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of a portion of our commercial paper notes and for share repurchases, and in July 2024, the repayment of a portion of our 2.750% senior notes.
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In August 2023, we completed the public offering and issuance of $2.0 billion of senior notes, comprised of $700 million aggregate principal amount of 5.375% senior notes due in August 2028 and $1.3 billion aggregate principal amount of 5.625% senior notes due in August 2033. In May 2023, we completed the public offering and issuance of 800 million Euros aggregate principal amount of 4.500% senior notes due in May 2031. In March 2023, we completed the public offering and issuance of $1.8 billion of senior notes, comprised of $900 million aggregate principal amount of 5.450% senior notes due in March 2028 and $900 million aggregate principal amount of 5.600% senior notes due in March 2033. We used the net proceeds from these senior notes offerings for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of U.S. dollar commercial paper notes, share repurchases, the repayment of the 0.375% Euro-denominated senior notes in July 2023 and the repayment of the 3.800% senior notes in October 2023.
At December 31, 2024, our debt consisted primarily of $21.6 billion of fixed-rate senior notes and $1.5 billion of outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs. Interest on our U.S. dollar-denominated senior notes is paid semi-annually, while interest on our Euro and British Pound-denominated senior notes is paid annually. Interest on our revolving credit facility and commercial paper notes is generally paid weekly, or more frequently on occasion.
At December 31, 2024, the 3.850% senior notes due in June 2025 and 2.250% senior notes due in July 2025 were classified in the consolidated balance sheet as long-term, as we have the intent to refinance this debt on a long-term basis, and the ability to do so under our revolving credit facility. Outstanding borrowings under the commercial paper programs are also classified in the consolidated balance sheet as long-term, as we have the intent to refinance this commercial paper on a long-term basis through the continued issuance of new commercial paper upon maturity, and also have the ability to refinance such commercial paper under our revolving credit facility.
Variable Rate Debt
Our variable rate debt consisted of the following at December 31, 2024:
| (In millions) | Maturity | Weighted-Average Interest Rate | Outstanding Borrowings | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign lines of credit | various | 31.695% | $ | 784 | ||
| U.S. dollar commercial paper notes | various | 4.534% | 221 | |||
| Euro commercial paper notes | various | 3.115% | 1,239 | |||
| Revolving credit facility | June 2027 | 5.440% | 115 | |||
| Total variable rate debt | 12.856% | $ | 2,359 |
We maintain various short-term lines of credit and other borrowing arrangements with foreign banks and alliance partners primarily to fund merchant settlement advances associated with operations in Latin America. The following table provides a summary of the outstanding borrowings and weighted average interest rates of our foreign lines of credit and other borrowing arrangements by country at December 31, 2024:
| Outstanding Borrowings (in millions) | Weighted-Average Interest Rate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | $ | 597 | 38.470 | % | ||||
| Brazil | 94 | 12.976 | % | |||||
| Uruguay | 49 | 9.766 | % | |||||
| Other | 44 | 3.984 | % | |||||
| Total | $ | 784 | 31.695 | % |
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We offer advanced funding of settlement activity associated with operations in Latin America by utilizing local operating cash and various short-term lines of credit. Net merchant cash advances during 2024 were $801 million. As we collect a portion of the corresponding receivables from card issuers over several months, in the event we are unable to continue to borrow in the Argentina overnight market, we may fund future advances with our consolidated cash and cash equivalents and available capacity under our revolving credit facility.
We maintain unsecured U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper programs with various maturities generally ranging from one day to four months. Outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs bear interest based on the prevailing rates at the time of issuance.
We also maintain a senior unsecured multicurrency revolving credit facility, which matures in June 2027 and provides for a maximum aggregate principal amount of availability of $6.0 billion. Borrowings under the credit facility bear interest at a variable base rate, determined by the term and currency of the borrowing, plus a specified margin based on our long-term debt rating. Outstanding borrowings under the revolving credit facility were $115 million at December 31, 2024. We are required to pay a facility fee based on the aggregate commitments in effect under the credit agreement from time to time.
Debt Covenants and Compliance
The indentures governing our senior notes contain covenants that, among other matters, limit (i) our ability to consolidate or merge with or into, or convey, transfer or lease all or substantially all of our properties and assets to, another person, (ii) our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to create or assume liens, and (iii) our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to engage in sale and leaseback transactions. We may, at our option, redeem the senior notes, in whole or in part, at any time and from time to time, at the applicable redemption price.
The revolving credit facility contains various restrictions and covenants that require us to, among other things, limit our consolidated indebtedness as of the end of each fiscal quarter to no more than 3.75 times our consolidated net income before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, non-cash charges and expenses and certain other adjustments during the period of four fiscal quarters then ended, subject to certain exceptions.
During the year ended December 31, 2024, we were in compliance with all financial debt covenants. Our ability to meet future debt covenant requirements will depend on our continued ability to generate earnings and cash flows. We expect to remain in compliance with all terms and conditions associated with our outstanding debt, including financial debt covenants.
Debt Guarantees
We maintain noncontrolling ownership interests in Sagent M&C, LLC and defi SOLUTIONS Group, LLC (collectively, the “Lending Joint Ventures”). The Lending Joint Ventures maintain variable-rate term loan facilities with aggregate outstanding borrowings of $421 million in senior unsecured debt at December 31, 2024 and variable-rate revolving credit facilities with an aggregate borrowing capacity of $83 million with a syndicate of banks, which mature in April 2027. There were $35 million of outstanding borrowings on the revolving credit facilities at December 31, 2024. We have guaranteed the debt of the Lending Joint Ventures. We maintained a liability of $21 million at December 31, 2024 for the estimated fair value of our non-contingent obligations to stand ready to perform over the term of the guarantee arrangements. Such guarantees will be amortized in future periods over the contractual term of the debt. In addition, we maintained a contingent liability of $15 million at December 31, 2024, representing the current expected credit losses to which we are exposed. This contingent liability is estimated based on certain financial metrics of the Lending Joint Ventures and historical industry data, which is used to develop assumptions of the likelihood the guaranteed parties will default and the level of credit losses in the event a default occurs. We have not made any payments under the guarantees, nor have we been called upon to do so, and do not anticipate that the Lending Joint Ventures will fail to fulfill their debt obligations.
Other
Access to capital markets impacts our cost of capital and our ability to refinance maturing debt and fund future acquisitions. Our ability to access capital on favorable terms depends on a number of factors, including general market conditions, interest rates, credit ratings on our debt securities, perception of our potential future earnings and the market price of our common stock. As of December 31, 2024, we had a corporate credit rating of Baa2 with a stable outlook from Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) and BBB with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“S&P”) on our senior unsecured debt securities. As of December 31, 2024, we had a commercial paper credit rating of P-2 from Moody’s and A-2 from S&P.
The interest rates payable on certain of our senior notes and commercial paper notes programs are subject to adjustment from time to time if Moody’s or S&P changes the debt rating applicable to the notes. If the ratings from Moody’s or S&P decrease
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below investment grade, the per annum interest rates on certain senior notes are subject to increase by up to two percent. In no event will the total increase in the per annum interest rates exceed two percent above the original interest rates, nor will the per annum interest rate be reduced below the original interest rate applicable to the senior notes.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Investments, exclusive of settlement assets, with original maturities of 90 days or less that are readily convertible to cash are considered to be cash equivalents as reflected within our consolidated balance sheets.
The table below details our cash and cash equivalents held at:
| December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2024 | 2023 | ||||
| Available | $ | 665 | $ | 450 | ||
| Unavailable (1) | 571 | 754 | ||||
| Total | $ | 1,236 | $ | 1,204 |
(1)Represents cash held by our joint ventures that is not available to fund operations outside of those entities unless the board of directors of the relevant entity declares a dividend, as well as cash held by other entities that are subject to foreign exchange controls in certain countries or regulatory capital requirements.
FY 2023 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000798354-24-000037.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is provided as a supplement to our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes to help provide an understanding of our financial condition, the changes in our financial condition and our results of operations. This section generally discusses information and results pertaining to the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022. Information and discussion of results pertaining to the year ended December 31, 2021 not included herein can be found in Part II, “Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2022, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 23, 2023. Our discussion is organized as follows:
•Overview. This section contains background information on our company and the products and services that we provide, acquisitions and dispositions, our enterprise priorities, and the trends affecting our industry in order to provide context for management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations.
•Critical accounting policies and estimates. This section contains a discussion of the accounting policies that we believe are important to our financial condition and results of operations and that require judgment and estimates on the part of management in their application. Our critical accounting policies are also summarized in Note 1 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
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•Results of operations. This section contains an analysis of our results of operations presented in the accompanying consolidated statements of income by comparing the results for the year ended December 31, 2023 to the results for the year ended December 31, 2022.
•Liquidity and capital resources. This section provides an analysis of our cash flows and a discussion of our outstanding debt and commitments at December 31, 2023.
Overview
Company Background
We are a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions. We serve clients around the globe, including merchants, banks, credit unions, other financial institutions and corporate clients. We provide account processing and digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing; and the Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale (“POS”) and business management platform. Our operations are comprised of the Merchant Acceptance (“Acceptance”) segment, the Financial Technology (“Fintech”) segment and the Payments and Network (“Payments”) segment.
The businesses in our Acceptance segment provide a wide range of commerce-enabling solutions and serve merchants of all sizes around the world. These solutions include merchant acquiring and digital commerce services; mobile payment services; security and fraud protection products; Clover, our cloud-based POS and integrated commerce operating system for small and mid-sized businesses (“SMBs”) and independent software vendors (“ISVs”); and CaratSM, our integrated operating system for large businesses. We distribute the products and services in the Acceptance segment businesses through a variety of channels, including direct sales teams, strategic partnerships with agent sales forces, ISVs, financial institutions and other strategic partners in the form of joint venture alliances, revenue sharing alliances and referral agreements. Merchants, financial institutions and distribution partners in the Acceptance segment are frequently clients of our other segments.
The businesses in our Fintech segment provide financial institutions around the world with the technology solutions they need to run their operations, including products and services that enable financial institutions to process customer deposit and loan accounts and manage an institution’s general ledger and central information files. As a complement to the core account processing functionality, the Fintech segment businesses also provide digital banking, financial and risk management, professional services and consulting, check processing, and other products and services that support numerous types of financial transactions. Certain of the businesses in the Fintech segment provide products or services to corporate clients to facilitate the management of financial processes and transactions. Many of the products and services offered in the Fintech segment are integrated with products and services provided by our other segments.
The businesses in our Payments segment provide financial institutions and corporate and public sector clients with the products and services required to process digital payment transactions. This includes card transactions such as debit, credit and prepaid card processing and services; a range of network services; security and fraud protection products; and card production and print services. In addition, the Payments segment businesses offer non-card digital payment software and services, including bill payment, account-to-account transfers, person-to-person payments, electronic billing, and security and fraud protection products. Clients of the Payments segment businesses reflect a wide range of industries around the world, including merchants, distribution partners and financial institution customers in our other segments.
Corporate and Other supports the reportable segments described above, and consists of amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, unallocated corporate expenses and other activities that are not considered when we evaluate segment performance, such as gains or losses on sales of businesses, certain assets or investments; costs associated with acquisition and divestiture activity; certain services revenue associated with various dispositions; and our Output Solutions postage reimbursements.
We are effecting changes in our business designed to further enhance operational performance in the delivery of our integrated portfolio of products and solutions to our financial institution clients. As a result, we expect to realign our reportable segments to correspond with these organizational changes, which we expect to be completed effective for the quarter ending March 31, 2024. We continue to allocate resources and assess performance based on the current reportable segment structure.
Acquisitions and Dispositions
We frequently review our businesses to ensure we have the necessary assets to execute our strategy. We expect to acquire businesses when we identify: a compelling strategic need, such as a product, service or technology that helps meet client demand; an opportunity to change industry dynamics; a way to achieve business scale that enables competition and operational efficiency; or similar considerations. We expect to divest businesses that are not in line with our market, product or financial
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strategies. The results of operations for the following acquired and divested businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition and through the respective dates of disposition.
Acquisitions of Businesses
On October 9, 2023, we acquired Skytef Solucões em Captura de Transações Ltda (“Skytef”), a distributor for ISV partners and merchants of our Electronic Funds Transfer payments software. Skytef is included within the Acceptance segment and expands our distribution network and POS applications. On November 1, 2023, we acquired Sled S.A. (“Sled”), a provider of instant payment solutions. Sled is included within the Acceptance segment and expands our direct payment service capabilities. We acquired these businesses in Latin America for an aggregate purchase price, including hold-backs, of approximately $17 million.
On December 29, 2022, we acquired OrangeData S.A. (“Yacaré”), an Argentina-based payment service provider that enables customers to transact at merchant locations using QR codes. Yacaré is included within the Acceptance segment and enhances our instant payment transaction capabilities. On December 20, 2022, we acquired Merchant One, Inc. (“Merchant One”), an independent sales organization (“ISO”) focused on acquiring merchants in the restaurant, retail and e-commerce industries using an innovative mix of direct and digital marketing strategies. Merchant One is included within the Acceptance segment and enhances our merchant distribution and sales force channels. On September 1, 2022, we acquired NexTable, Inc. (“NexTable”), a provider of cloud-based reservation and table management solutions for restaurants. NexTable is included within the Acceptance segment and expands our end-to-end restaurant solutions. On June 1, 2022, we acquired The LR2 Group, LLC (“City POS”), an ISO that promotes payment processing services and facilitates the sale of POS equipment for merchants. City POS is included within the Acceptance segment and expands our merchant services business. On April 1, 2022, we acquired the remaining majority controlling ownership interest in Finxact, Inc. (“Finxact”), a developer of cloud-native banking solutions powering digital transformation throughout the financial services sector. Finxact is included within the Fintech segment and advances our digital banking strategy, expanding our account processing, digital and payments solutions. We acquired these businesses in 2022 for an aggregate purchase price of $994 million, net of $28 million of acquired cash, and including earn-out provisions estimated at a fair value of $6 million.
Dispositions of Businesses
On July 25, 2023, we sold our financial reconciliation business, which was reported within the Fintech segment, for cash proceeds of $235 million. We recognized a pre-tax gain of $172 million on the sale during the year ended December 31, 2023.
On October 17, 2022, we sold Fiserv Costa Rica, S.A. and our Systems Integration Services (“SIS”) operations, which provides information technology engineering services in the United States of America (“U.S.”) and India, to a single buyer. Fiserv Costa Rica, S.A. and SIS were reported primarily within the Fintech segment. On September 30, 2022, we sold our Korea operations, which were reported within the Acceptance segment. We sold these operations in 2022 for total consideration of $99 million and recognized an aggregate net pre-tax loss on the sales of $83 million. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we recognized a pre-tax loss of $3 million associated with final working capital adjustments related to the disposition of Fiserv Costa Rica, S.A.
Other Transactions
On September 25, 2023, we acquired the remaining 49% ownership interest in European Merchant Services B.V., a Netherlands-based merchant acceptance business, for $56 million. We previously held a majority controlling financial interest in this subsidiary, which continues to be consolidated and reported within the Acceptance segment.
Effective March 2022, we mutually agreed with a minority partner to terminate one of our merchant alliance joint ventures. In conjunction with such termination, the joint venture minority partner elected to exercise its option to purchase certain additional merchant contracts of the joint venture for $175 million, resulting in the recognition of a pre-tax gain of $137 million during the year ended December 31, 2022.
Enterprise Priorities
We aspire to move money and information in a way that moves the world. Our purpose is to deliver superior value for our clients through leading technology, targeted innovation and excellence in everything we do. We are focused on driving growth and creating value by assembling a high-performing and diverse team, integrating our solutions, delivering operational excellence, allocating capital in a disciplined manner, including share repurchase and merger and acquisition activity, and delivering breakthrough innovation. Our long-term priorities are to meet our financial commitments; continue to build high-quality revenue; deepen client relationships with an emphasis on digital solutions and value-added services; deliver innovation
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and integration enabling differentiated value for our clients; and generate integration value, including cost and revenue synergies from acquisitions.
Industry Trends
The global payments landscape continues to evolve, with rapidly advancing technologies and a steady expansion of digital payments, e-commerce and real-time payments infrastructure. Because of this growth, competition also continues to intensify. Business and consumer expectations continue to rise, with a focus on speed, convenience, choice and security. To meet these expectations, payments companies are focused on modernizing their technology, expanding the use of data and enhancing the customer experience.
Merchants
The rapid growth in and globalization of mobile and e-commerce, driven by consumers’ desire for simpler, more efficient shopping experiences, has created an opportunity for merchants to reach consumers nearly anywhere, through any device, which often requires a merchant acquiring provider to enable and optimize the acceptance of payments. Merchants are demanding simpler, integrated and flexible systems to enable them to serve customers and help manage cash flow and everyday business operations. When combined with the ever-increasing ways a consumer can pay for goods and services, merchants have sought modern end-to-end solutions throughout their growth lifecycle to streamline the complexity. Furthermore, merchants can now search, discover, compare, purchase and even install a new system through direct, digital-only experiences. This direct, digital-only channel is a source of new merchant acquisition opportunities, especially with respect to smaller merchants.
Additionally, there are numerous software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) solution providers in the industry, many of which have chosen to integrate merchant acquiring into their software as a way to generate revenue from existing client relationships. Such providers are independent software vendors, typically referred to as ISVs, and we believe there are thousands of these potential distribution partnership opportunities to cross-sell multiple value-added solutions available to us.
We believe that our merchant acquiring products and solutions create compelling value propositions for merchant clients of all sizes, from small and mid-sized businesses to medium-sized regional businesses to global enterprise merchants. The depth and breadth of our omnichannel solutions, and flexibility to serve clients across various channels and geographies, drives higher product attach rates with new and existing clients across all verticals. Furthermore, we believe that our strength in distribution, our progress growing software and services, and our value-based pricing as we continue to invest in our operating systems, gives us a solid foundation for growth.
Financial Institutions and Other Financial Technology Providers
Financial services providers regularly introduce and implement new payment, deposit, risk management, lending and investment products, and the distinctions among the products and services traditionally offered by different types of financial institutions and other financial technology providers continue to narrow as they seek to serve the same customers. At the same time, the evolving global regulatory and cybersecurity landscape has continued to create a challenging operating environment for financial institutions. These conditions are driving heightened interest in solutions that help financial institutions win and retain customers, generate revenue, comply with regulations and enhance operating efficiency. In addition, the focus on the customer experience, including through mobile and online engagement, by both financial institutions and their customers, as well as the growing volume and types of payment transactions in the marketplace, continues to elevate the data and transaction processing needs of financial institutions.
Financial institutions must now be able to serve their customers with tailored solutions, delivered how and when those customers want. This requires financial institutions to not only process their transactions, but to integrate their products and services to give customers easy access to such integrated solutions, when they need it. Financial institutions are striving for this single, integrated view of a customer’s activity. We believe that the integration of our products and services creates a compelling value proposition for our clients by providing, among other things, new sources of revenue and opportunities to reduce their costs. We have invested in integrating our platforms and value-added solutions to make it easy for a client to buy across our full product suite.
We expect that financial institutions and other financial technology providers will continue to invest significant capital to process transactions, manage information, maintain regulatory compliance and offer innovative new services to their customers in this rapidly evolving and competitive environmental shift from traditional to digital banking. We believe that economies of scale in developing and maintaining the infrastructure, technology, products, services and networks necessary to be competitive in such an environment are essential to justify these investments, and we anticipate that demand for products that facilitate customer interaction with financial institutions, including a unified, seamless customer experience across mobile and online channels, will continue to increase, which we expect to create revenue opportunities for us.
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Our focus on long-term client relationships and recurring, transaction-oriented products and services has reduced the impact that consolidation in the financial services industry has had on us. Rather than reducing the overall market, these consolidations transfer accounts among financial institutions. If a client loss occurs due to merger or acquisition, we typically receive a contract termination fee based on the size of the client and how early in the contract term the contract is terminated. We believe that our sizable and diverse client base, combined with our position as a leading provider of non-discretionary, recurring revenue-based products and services, gives us a solid foundation for growth.
Recent Market Conditions
Global macroeconomic conditions, including rising interest rates, inflation, bank failures, disruptions in the global supply chain, changes in consumer spending, the effects of international hostilities and regulations restricting trade or impacting our ability to offer products or services, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. While bank failures in early 2023 created uncertainty in the global financial markets, they did not have a material impact on our operating results. However, future bank failures could impact our receivable collections and cash flows or affect our ability to find merchant alliance partners. In addition, in recent years, we have observed increased shortages and delays in the global supply chain for components and inputs necessary to our businesses, such as point-of-sale devices, semiconductors, paper and plastic, and may experience difficulty procuring those components and inputs in the future on a timely basis or at historical prices. Personal consumption and consumer savings growth in the U.S. are expected to be lower in 2024, which may also negatively impact our business and financial results. We actively monitor and manage our business in response to these unpredictable geopolitical and market conditions, as they may adversely impact our operations and financial results.
In addition, our operating results in certain foreign countries in which we operate may be adversely impacted by fluctuations in exchange rates for currencies other than the U.S. dollar, including the Euro, British Pound Sterling and Argentine Peso. The strengthening of the U.S. dollar against certain foreign currencies in countries in which we operate would negatively impact our revenue and earnings. We also have exposure to risks related to currency devaluation in certain countries, which may negatively impact our international operating results if there is a prolonged devaluation of local currencies relative to the U.S. dollar or if the economic conditions in these countries decline. While the majority of our revenue is earned domestically, we actively monitor the foreign exchange rate environment in an effort to manage these risks.
The operations of our Argentina subsidiary are experiencing higher interest rates and higher inflation as compared to historical averages. We expect the anticipated benefits in 2024 of higher transitory revenue from above-average interest and inflation may be offset in whole or in part by foreign currency exchange losses related to a significant devaluation of the Argentine Peso.
For discussion of risks related to potential impacts of supply chain, geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges on our business, results of operations and financial condition, see “Part I. Item 1A. Risk Factors.” For management’s assessment of market risks, including interest rate and foreign currency risks, see “Part II. Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.”
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S., which require management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses. We continually evaluate the accounting policies and estimates that we use to prepare our consolidated financial statements, including for recently adopted accounting pronouncements, and base our estimates on historical experience and assumptions that we believe are reasonable in light of current circumstances. Actual amounts and results could differ materially from these estimates.
Acquisitions
From time to time, we make strategic acquisitions that may have a material impact on our consolidated results of operations or financial position. We allocate the purchase price of acquired businesses to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the transaction at their estimated fair values. The estimates used to determine the fair value of long-lived assets, such as intangible assets, can be complex and require significant judgments. We use information available to us to make fair value determinations and engage independent valuation specialists, when necessary, to assist in the fair value determination of significant acquired long-lived assets. The determination of fair value requires estimates about discount rates, growth and retention rates, royalty rates, expected future cash flows and other future events that are judgmental in nature. While we use our best estimates and assumptions as a part of the purchase price allocation process, our estimates are inherently uncertain and subject to refinement. As a result, during the measurement period, which may be up to one year from the acquisition date, we record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with the corresponding offset to goodwill. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period or final determination of the values of assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever comes first, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to our consolidated statements of income. We are also required to estimate the useful lives of
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intangible assets to determine the amount of acquisition-related intangible asset amortization expense to record in future periods. We periodically review the estimated useful lives assigned to our intangible assets to determine whether such estimated useful lives continue to be appropriate. Additional information regarding our acquisitions is included in Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements.
Goodwill and Intangible Assets
We review the carrying value of goodwill for impairment annually, or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill is tested for impairment at a reporting unit level, which is one level below our reportable segments. When reviewing goodwill for impairment, we consider the prior test’s amount of excess fair value over the carrying value of each reporting unit, the period of time since a reporting unit’s last quantitative test, the extent a reorganization or disposition changes the composition of one or more of our reporting units, and other factors to determine whether or not to first perform a qualitative test. When performing a qualitative test, we assess numerous factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of our reporting units are less than their respective carrying values. Examples of qualitative factors that we assess include our share price, our financial performance, market and competitive factors in our industry and other events specific to our reporting units. If we conclude that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, we perform a quantitative impairment test.
The quantitative impairment test compares the estimated fair value of the reporting unit to its carrying value, and recognizes an impairment loss for the amount by which a reporting unit’s carrying amount exceeds its fair value, without exceeding the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. We determine the fair value of a reporting unit using both a discounted cash flow analysis and a market approach. Determining the fair value of a reporting unit involves judgment and the use of significant estimates and assumptions, which include assumptions regarding the revenue growth rates and operating margins used to calculate estimated future cash flows, risk-adjusted discount rates and future economic and market conditions.
Our most recent annual impairment assessment of our reporting units in the fourth quarter of 2023 determined that our goodwill of $37.2 billion was not impaired as the estimated fair values of the respective reporting units exceeded the carrying values. However, for three of our reporting units, with aggregate goodwill of $10.8 billion, the excess of the respective reporting unit’s fair value over carrying value ranged from 16 to 36 percent. If future operating performance is below our expectations or there are material changes to forecasted revenue growth rates or operating margins, risk-adjusted discount rates, foreign currency exchange rates, effective income tax rates, or some combination thereof, a decline in the fair value of the reporting units could result in, and we may be required to record, a goodwill impairment charge. Additionally, a significant change in a merchant alliance business relationship or operating performance could result in a material goodwill impairment charge. It is also reasonably possible that future developments related to the interest rate environment, a shift in strategic initiatives, or significant changes in the composition of certain of our reporting units could have a future material impact on one or more of the estimates and assumptions used to evaluate goodwill impairment. We have no accumulated goodwill impairment through December 31, 2023. Additional information regarding our goodwill is included in Note 7 to the consolidated financial statements.
We review intangible assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable. We review capitalized software development costs for impairment at each reporting date. Recoverability of intangible assets is assessed by comparing the carrying amount of the asset to either the undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset or the net realizable value of the asset, depending on the type of asset. Determining future cash flows and net realizable values involves judgment and the use of significant estimates and assumptions regarding future economic and market conditions. Measurement of any impairment loss is based on estimated fair value. Additional information regarding our intangible assets is included in Note 6 to the consolidated financial statements. Given the significance of our goodwill and intangible asset balances, an adverse change in fair value could result in an impairment charge, which could be material to our consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
Revenue is measured based on consideration specified in a contract with a customer, and excludes any amounts collected on behalf of third parties. As a practical expedient, we do not adjust the transaction price for the effects of a significant financing component if, at contract inception, the period between customer payment and the transfer of goods or services is expected to be one year or less. Contracts with customers are evaluated on a contract-by-contract basis as contracts may include multiple types of goods and services as described below.
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Processing and Services
Processing and services revenue is generated from account- and transaction-based fees for data processing, merchant transaction processing and acquiring, electronic billing and payment services, electronic funds transfer and debit/credit processing services; consulting and professional services; and software maintenance for ongoing client support.
We recognize processing and services revenue in the period in which the specific service is performed unless they are not deemed distinct from other goods or services, which revenue would then be recognized as control is transferred of the combined goods and services. Our arrangements for processing and services typically consist of an obligation to provide specific services to our customers on a when- and if-needed basis (a stand-ready obligation) and revenue is recognized from the satisfaction of the performance obligations in the amount billable to the customer. These services are typically provided under a fixed or declining (tier-based) price per unit based on volume of service; however, pricing for services may also be based on minimum monthly usage fees. Fees for our processing and services arrangements are typically billed and paid on a monthly basis.
Product
Product revenue is generated from print and card production sales, as well as software license and hardware (primarily POS devices) sales. For software license agreements that are distinct, we recognize software license revenue upon delivery, assuming a contract is deemed to exist. Revenue for arrangements with customers that include significant customization, modification or production of software such that the software is not distinct is typically recognized over time based upon efforts expended, such as labor hours, to measure progress towards completion. For arrangements involving hosted licensed software for the customer, a software element is considered present to the extent the customer has the contractual right to take possession of the software at any time during the hosting period without significant penalty and it is feasible for the customer to either operate the software on their own hardware or contract with another vendor to host the software. We sell or lease hardware (POS devices) and other peripherals as part of our contracts with customers. Hardware typically consists of terminals or Clover devices. We do not manufacture hardware, rather we purchase hardware from third-party vendors and hold such hardware in inventory until purchased by a customer. We account for the sale of hardware as a separate performance obligation and recognize the revenue at the standalone selling price when the customer obtains control of the hardware.
Significant Judgments
We use the following methods, inputs and assumptions in determining amounts of revenue to recognize. For multi-element arrangements, we account for individual goods or services as a separate performance obligation if they are distinct, if the good or service is separately identifiable from other items in the arrangement, and if a customer can benefit from the good or service on its own or with other resources that are readily available to the customer. If these criteria are not met, the promised goods or services are accounted for as a combined performance obligation. Determining whether goods or services are distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately may require significant judgment.
Technology or service components from third parties are frequently embedded in or combined with our applications or service offerings. Whether we recognize revenue based on the gross amount billed to a customer or the net amount retained involves judgment that depends on the relevant facts and circumstances, including the level of contractual responsibilities and obligations for delivering solutions to end customers, to determine whether we obtain control of goods and services prior to their transfer to a customer.
The transaction price is determined based on the consideration to which we will be entitled in exchange for transferring products or services to the customer. We include any fixed charges within our contracts as part of the total transaction price. To the extent that variable consideration is not constrained, we include an estimate of the variable amount, as appropriate, within the total transaction price and update our assumptions over the duration of the contract. We may constrain the estimated transaction price in the event of a high degree of uncertainty as to the final consideration amount owed because of an extended length of time over which the fees may be adjusted. The transaction price (including any discounts or rebates) is allocated between distinct goods and services in a multi-element arrangement based on their relative standalone selling prices. For items that are not sold separately, we estimate the standalone selling prices using available information such as market conditions and internally approved pricing guidelines. Judgment may be required to determine standalone selling prices for each performance obligation and whether it depicts the amount we expect to receive in exchange for the related good or service.
Contract modifications occur when we and our customers agree to modify existing customer contracts to change the scope or price (or both) of the contract, or when a customer terminates some, or all, of the existing services provided by us. When a contract modification occurs, it requires us to exercise judgment to determine if the modification should be accounted for as (i) a separate contract, (ii) the termination of the original contract and creation of a new contract, or (iii) a cumulative catch up adjustment to the original contract. Further, contract modifications require the identification and evaluation of the performance obligations of the modified contract, including the allocation of revenue to the remaining performance obligations and the
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period of recognition for each identified performance obligation. Additional information regarding our revenue recognition policies is included in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements.
Income Taxes
The determination of our provision for income taxes requires management’s judgment in the use of estimates and the interpretation and application of complex tax laws, including certain complexities attributed to our global footprint. Judgment is also required in assessing the timing and amounts of deductible and taxable items. We establish a liability for known tax exposures relating to deductions, transactions and other matters involving some uncertainty as to the proper tax treatment of the item. In establishing a liability for known tax exposures, assumptions are made in determining whether, and the extent to which, a tax position will be sustained. A tax benefit with respect to a tax position is recognized only when it is more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by the relevant taxing authority, based on its technical merits, considering the facts and circumstances available as of the reporting date. The amount of tax benefit recognized reflects the largest benefit that we believe is more likely than not to be realized on settlement with the relevant taxing authority. As additional information becomes available, we evaluate our tax positions and appropriately adjust our liability for known tax exposures.
We maintain net operating loss carryforwards in various taxing jurisdictions, resulting in the establishment of deferred tax assets. We establish a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets when, based upon the weight of all available evidence, we believe it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. In making this determination, we have considered the relative impact of all of the available positive and negative evidence regarding future sources of taxable income and available tax planning strategies. However, there could be a material impact to our effective income tax rate if there is a significant change in our judgment. To the extent our judgment changes, the valuation allowances are then adjusted as appropriate, generally through the provision for income taxes, in the period in which the change in facts and circumstances occurs. Additional information regarding our income taxes is included in Note 17 to the consolidated financial statements.
Results of Operations
Components of Revenue and Expenses
The following summary describes the components of revenue and expenses as presented in our consolidated statements of income.
Processing and Services
Processing and services revenue, which represented 82% of our total revenue in 2023, is primarily generated from account- and transaction-based fees under multi-year contracts. Processing and services revenue is most reflective of our business performance as a significant amount of our total operating profit is generated by these services. Cost of processing and services consists of costs directly associated with providing services to clients and includes the following: personnel; equipment and data communication; infrastructure costs, including costs to maintain software applications; client support; certain depreciation and amortization; and other operating expenses.
Product
Product revenue, which represented 18% of our total revenue in 2023, is derived from print and card production sales, as well as software license and hardware (primarily POS devices) sales. Cost of product consists of costs directly associated with the products sold and includes the following: costs of materials and postage; software development; hardware costs (primarily POS devices); personnel; infrastructure costs; certain depreciation and amortization; and other costs directly associated with product revenue.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses primarily consist of: salaries, wages, commissions and related expenses paid to sales personnel, administrative employees and management; third-party commissions; advertising and promotional costs; certain depreciation and amortization; and other selling and administrative expenses.
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Financial Results
The following table presents certain amounts included in our consolidated statements of income, the relative percentage that those amounts represent to revenue and the change in those amounts from year to year. This information should be read together with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. The financial results presented below have been affected by acquisitions, dispositions, and foreign currency fluctuations.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Percentage of Revenue (1) | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| (In millions) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Processing and services | $ | 15,630 | $ | 14,460 | 81.9 | % | 81.5 | % | $ | 1,170 | 8 | % | ||||||||||||
| Product | 3,463 | 3,277 | 18.1 | % | 18.5 | % | 186 | 6 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | 19,093 | 17,737 | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 1,356 | 8 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Expenses: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of processing and services | 5,332 | 5,771 | 34.1 | % | 39.9 | % | (439) | (8) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Cost of product | 2,338 | 2,221 | 67.5 | % | 67.8 | % | 117 | 5 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Sub-total | 7,670 | 7,992 | 40.2 | % | 45.1 | % | (322) | (4) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 6,576 | 6,059 | 34.4 | % | 34.2 | % | 517 | 9 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Net gain on sale of businesses and other assets | (167) | (54) | (0.9) | % | (0.3) | % | 113 | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Total expenses | 14,079 | 13,997 | 73.7 | % | 78.9 | % | 82 | 1 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 5,014 | 3,740 | 26.3 | % | 21.1 | % | 1,274 | 34 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | (976) | (733) | (5.1) | % | (4.1) | % | 243 | 33 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Other expense, net | (140) | (94) | (0.7) | % | (0.5) | % | 46 | 49 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income before income taxes and (loss) income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 3,898 | 2,913 | 20.4 | % | 16.4 | % | 985 | 34 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income tax provision | (754) | (551) | (3.9) | % | (3.1) | % | 203 | 37 | % | |||||||||||||||
| (Loss) income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | (15) | 220 | (0.1) | % | 1.2 | % | (235) | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Net income | 3,129 | 2,582 | 16.4 | % | 14.6 | % | 547 | 21 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Less: net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests | 61 | 52 | 0.3 | % | 0.3 | % | 9 | 17 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. | $ | 3,068 | $ | 2,530 | 16.1 | % | 14.3 | % | $ | 538 | 21 | % |
(1)Percentage of revenue is calculated as the relevant revenue, expense, or income amount divided by total revenue, except for cost of processing and services and cost of product amounts, which are divided by the related component of revenue.
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| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | Acceptance | Fintech | Payments | Corporate and Other | Total | |||||||||||||
| Total revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | $ | 8,132 | $ | 3,171 | $ | 6,696 | $ | 1,094 | $ | 19,093 | ||||||||
| 2022 | 7,292 | 3,170 | 6,262 | 1,013 | 17,737 | |||||||||||||
| Revenue growth | $ | 840 | $ | 1 | $ | 434 | $ | 81 | $ | 1,356 | ||||||||
| Revenue growth percentage | 12 | % | — | % | 7 | % | 8 | % | ||||||||||
| Operating income (loss): | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | $ | 2,856 | $ | 1,159 | $ | 3,189 | $ | (2,190) | $ | 5,014 | ||||||||
| 2022 | 2,321 | 1,157 | 2,823 | (2,561) | 3,740 | |||||||||||||
| Operating income growth | $ | 535 | $ | 2 | $ | 366 | $ | 371 | $ | 1,274 | ||||||||
| Operating income growth percentage | 23 | % | — | % | 13 | % | 34 | % | ||||||||||
| Operating margin: | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | 35.1 | % | 36.6 | % | 47.6 | % | 26.3 | % | ||||||||||
| 2022 | 31.8 | % | 36.5 | % | 45.1 | % | 21.1 | % | ||||||||||
| Operating margin growth (1) | 330 | bps | 10 | bps | 250 | bps | 520 | bps |
(1)Represents the basis point growth in operating margin.
Operating margin percentages are calculated using actual, unrounded amounts.
Total Revenue
Total revenue increased $1,356 million, or 8%, in 2023 compared to 2022. The revenue increase was primarily driven by higher global processing revenue, partially offset by a 3% decrease due to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations in 2023.
Revenue in our Acceptance segment increased $840 million, or 12%, in 2023 compared to 2022. The revenue increase was driven by higher merchant acquiring payment volume, primarily from our international operations, as well as higher global merchant acquiring transaction volume. The revenue increase also included contributions from our Clover and Carat operating systems and the expansion of our merchant relationships through value-added services. Acceptance segment revenue growth was partially offset by an 8% decrease due to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations in 2023.
Revenue in our Fintech segment was relatively flat in 2023 compared to 2022. An increase in Fintech segment processing revenue was primarily offset by a $54 million decrease in license and termination fee revenue in 2023.
Revenue in our Payments segment increased $434 million, or 7%, in 2023 compared to 2022. In 2023, our debit and credit processing businesses each contributed 2% to Payments segment revenue growth, primarily driven by an increase in debit transactions and active accounts, respectively. Our Zelle® and Output Solutions businesses each contributed 1% to Payments segment revenue growth in 2023, driven by an increase in transactions and favorable product mix, respectively.
Revenue at Corporate and Other increased $81 million, or 8%, in 2023 compared to 2022, primarily due to increased postage revenue from postage rate increases during 2023.
Total Expenses
Total expenses increased $82 million, or 1%, in 2023 compared to 2022. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue decreased 520 basis points to 73.7% in 2023 compared to 2022. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue were favorably impacted in 2023 by a reduction in amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets and severance costs of approximately 100 basis points and 70 basis points, respectively. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue were also favorably impacted by a $172 million pre-tax gain on the sale of our financial reconciliation business in 2023. The remaining decrease in total expenses as a percentage of total revenue was due to operating leverage across our various businesses.
Cost of processing and services as a percentage of processing and services revenue decreased to 34.1% in 2023 compared to 39.9% in 2022. Cost of processing and services as a percentage of processing and services revenue was favorably impacted in 2023 by strong operating leverage accompanying scalable revenue growth and expense management initiatives.
Cost of product as a percentage of product revenue decreased slightly to 67.5% in 2023 compared to 67.8% in 2022. The cost of product as a percentage of product revenue in 2023 was impacted by revenue mix between license fee and hardware revenue.
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Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue increased slightly to 34.4% in 2023 compared to 34.2% in 2022. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue in 2023 included an increase in personnel costs and payments to our distribution partners, offset by a reduction in amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets of approximately 90 basis points.
The net gain on sale of businesses and other assets in 2023 primarily included a $172 million pre-tax gain from the sale of our financial reconciliation business. The net gain on sale of businesses and other assets in 2022 of $54 million included a $137 million pre-tax gain from the sale of certain merchant contracts in conjunction with the mutual termination of one of our merchant alliance joint ventures and a $44 million pre-tax gain from the sale of Fiserv Costa Rica, S.A. and our SIS operations. The gains in 2022 were partially offset by a $127 million pre-tax loss from the sale of our Korea operations.
Operating Income and Operating Margin
Total operating income increased $1,274 million, or 34%, in 2023 compared to 2022. Total operating margin increased 520 basis points to 26.3% in 2023 compared to 2022. Total operating income and total operating margin benefited from scalable revenue growth, along with a reduction in amortization of acquisition related intangible assets and severance costs. Total operating margin in 2023 was also favorably impacted by a $172 million pre-tax gain from the sale of our financial reconciliation business.
Operating income in our Acceptance segment increased $535 million, or 23%, in 2023 compared to 2022. Operating margin increased 330 basis points to 35.1% in 2023 compared to 2022. Operating income and operating margin growth in our Acceptance segment was primarily due to operating leverage.
Operating income and operating margin in our Fintech segment was relatively flat in 2023 compared to 2022. Operating income and operating margin growth in our Fintech segment from operating leverage and expense management initiatives was primarily offset by a $54 million decrease in high margin license and termination fee revenue.
Operating income in our Payments segment increased $366 million, or 13%, in 2023 compared to 2022. Operating margin increased 250 basis points to 47.6% in 2023 compared to 2022. Payments segment operating income and margin growth in 2023 was primarily due to scalable revenue growth from our debit and credit processing businesses, as well as expense management initiatives in 2023.
The operating loss in Corporate and Other decreased $371 million in 2023 compared to 2022. The operating loss in 2023 was favorably impacted by a reduction of $191 million and $135 million in amortization of acquisition related intangible assets and severance costs, respectively. The operating loss in 2023 included a $172 million pre-tax gain on the sale of our financial reconciliation business and in 2022 a $54 million net pre-tax gain, attributed to the sale of businesses and other assets, as described above.
Interest Expense, Net
Interest expense, net increased $243 million, or 33%, in 2023 compared to 2022 due to our public offering and issuance of $1.8 billion, 800 million Euros and $2.0 billion of higher fixed-rate senior notes in March 2023, May 2023 and August 2023, respectively, as well as increased variable rate borrowings associated with our settlement advance cash program in Latin America.
Other Expense, Net
Other expense, net increased $46 million in 2023 compared to 2022. Other expense, net includes foreign currency transaction gains and losses, gains or losses from a change in fair value of investments in certain equity securities, and amounts related to debt guarantee arrangements of certain joint ventures. Net foreign currency transaction losses increased $114 million in 2023, including devaluation losses from the remeasurement of our Argentina subsidiary’s monetary assets and liabilities in Argentina’s highly inflationary economy. Other expense, net in 2022 included net pre-tax expense of $48 million associated with joint venture debt guarantees.
Income Tax Provision
Income tax provision as a percentage of income before income taxes and (loss) income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates was 19.3% and 18.9% in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The effective income tax rate for both 2023 and 2022 included discrete tax benefits from subsidiary restructurings and equity compensation related tax benefits. The effective income tax rate for 2023 also included tax benefits from the purchase of transferable federal tax credits.
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(Loss) Income from Investments in Unconsolidated Affiliates
Our share of net (loss) income from unconsolidated affiliates accounted for using the equity method is reported as (loss) income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates, and the related tax benefit (expense) is reported within the income tax provision in the consolidated statements of income. (Loss) income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates, including acquired intangible asset amortization from valuations in purchase accounting, was $(15) million and $220 million in 2023 and 2022, respectively. Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2022 included pre-tax net gains totaling $209 million, primarily related to the acquisition-date fair value remeasurement of our previously held equity interest in Finxact of $110 million, as well as $80 million resulting from the dilution of our ownership interest in conjunction with the Sagent M&C, LLC transaction with a third party.
Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests relates to the minority partners’ share of the net income in our consolidated subsidiaries. Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests, including acquired intangible asset amortization from valuations in purchase accounting, was $61 million and $52 million in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Net Income Per Share - Diluted
Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. per share-diluted was $4.98 and $3.91 in 2023 and 2022, respectively. In addition to the favorable impacts to net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. described above, we repurchased 40.0 million shares of our common stock, reducing diluted weighted average outstanding shares by 5% for the full year.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
Our primary liquidity needs in the ordinary course of business are to: (i) fund normal operating expenses; (ii) meet the interest and principal requirements of our outstanding indebtedness, including finance leases; and (iii) fund capital expenditures and operating lease payments. We believe these needs will be satisfied in both the short and long term using cash flow generated by our operations, along with our cash and cash equivalents of $1.2 billion, proceeds from the issuance of U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper, and available capacity under our revolving credit facility of $2.2 billion (net of outstanding revolver borrowings and $3.8 billion of capacity designated for outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs, senior notes due in 2024 and letters of credit) at December 31, 2023.
The following table summarizes our net cash provided by operating activities, or operating cash flow, and capital expenditures:
| Year Ended December 31, | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 3,129 | $ | 2,582 | $ | 547 | ||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 3,162 | 3,212 | (50) | |||||||||||
| Share-based compensation | 342 | 323 | 19 | |||||||||||
| Deferred income taxes | (511) | (558) | 47 | |||||||||||
| Net gain on sale of businesses and other assets | (167) | (54) | (113) | |||||||||||
| Loss (income) from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 15 | (220) | 235 | |||||||||||
| Distributions from unconsolidated affiliates | 55 | 73 | (18) | |||||||||||
| Non-cash impairment charges | — | 14 | (14) | |||||||||||
| Net changes in working capital and other | (863) | (754) | (109) | |||||||||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | $ | 5,162 | $ | 4,618 | $ | 544 | 12 | % | ||||||
| Capital expenditures, including capitalized software and other intangibles | $ | 1,388 | $ | 1,479 | $ | (91) | (6) | % |
Our operating cash flow was $5.2 billion in 2023, an increase of 12% compared with $4.6 billion in 2022. This increase was attributable to improved profitability and corresponding cash flows, partially offset by higher working capital use.
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We maintain investments in various affiliates that are accounted for as equity method investments. Total distributions from unconsolidated affiliates, including those classified as cash flows from investing activities, were $191 million and $211 million during 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Our current policy is to use our operating cash flow primarily to fund capital expenditures, share repurchases, acquisitions and to repay debt rather than to pay dividends. Our capital expenditures were approximately 7% and 8% of our total revenue in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Cash Requirements
The following table details our future cash requirements under certain contractual obligations at December 31, 2023:
| (In millions) | Total | Less than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-term debt, including interest (1) (2) | $ | 28,937 | $ | 1,576 | $ | 5,322 | $ | 9,120 | $ | 12,919 | |||||||||
| Minimum finance lease payments (1) | 686 | 216 | 336 | 128 | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| Minimum operating lease payments (1) (2) | 946 | 131 | 239 | 190 | 386 | ||||||||||||||
| Purchase obligations (1) (3) | 1,890 | 688 | 768 | 292 | 142 | ||||||||||||||
| Income tax obligations | 84 | 5 | 10 | 23 | 46 | ||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 32,543 | $ | 2,616 | $ | 6,675 | $ | 9,753 | $ | 13,499 |
(1)Interest, finance lease, operating lease and purchase obligations are reported on a pre-tax basis.
(2)The calculations assume that only mandatory debt repayments are made, no additional refinancing or lending occurs, except for our 2.750% senior notes due in July 2024, and U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper notes programs as we have the intent to refinance this debt on a long-term basis through the issuance of new commercial paper notes upon maturity, and we have the ability to do so under our revolving credit facility maturing in June 2027. The variable rate on the revolving credit facility is priced at the rate in effect at December 31, 2023.
(3)Represents enforceable and legally binding agreements to purchase goods or services based on signed contracts as of December 31, 2023.
Share Repurchases
On August 8, 2023, we repurchased 4.1 million shares of our common stock for $121.98 per share in a privately negotiated transaction with ValueAct Capital Master Fund, L.P. for an aggregate purchase price of $500 million. Including this transaction, we repurchased $4.7 billion and $2.5 billion of our common stock in 2023 and 2022, respectively. On February 22, 2023, our board of directors approved a repurchase authorization for an additional 75.0 million shares. As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately 52.0 million shares remaining under our then existing repurchase authorization. Shares repurchased are generally held for issuance in connection with our equity plans.
Acquisitions and Dispositions
Acquisitions of Businesses
We acquired Skytef in October 2023 and Sled in November 2023 for an aggregate purchase price, including hold-backs, of approximately $17 million. We acquired Yacaré and Merchant One in December 2022, NexTable in September 2022 and City POS in June 2022. Additionally, we acquired the remaining majority controlling ownership interest in Finxact in April 2022. We acquired these businesses in 2022 for an aggregate purchase price of $994 million, net of $28 million of acquired cash, and including earn-out provisions estimated at a fair value of $6 million.
We funded these acquisitions by utilizing a combination of available cash and proceeds from the issuance of commercial paper. The results of operations for these acquired businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition.
Dispositions of Businesses
We sold our financial reconciliation business in July 2023 for cash proceeds of $235 million. Net proceeds from the sale were primarily used to pay down indebtedness and repurchase shares of our common stock.
We sold Fiserv Costa Rica, S.A. and our SIS operations in October 2022 and our Korea operations in September 2022 for aggregate net cash proceeds of $77 million, along with a minority noncontrolling equity interest in the buyer of the Korea
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operations. The net proceeds from these dispositions were primarily used to pay down indebtedness and repurchase shares of our common stock.
Other Transactions
In September 2023, we acquired the remaining 49% ownership interest in European Merchant Services B.V., in which we previously held a majority controlling financial interest in this consolidated subsidiary, for $56 million. We funded this transaction by utilizing a combination of available cash and proceeds from the issuance of commercial paper.
Effective March 2022, we mutually agreed to terminate a merchant alliance joint venture with a minority partner. In conjunction with such termination, the joint venture minority partner elected to exercise its option to purchase certain additional merchant contracts of the joint venture for cash proceeds of $175 million. The net proceeds from this transaction were primarily used to pay down indebtedness and repurchase shares of our common stock.
Indebtedness
Our debt consisted of the following at:
| December 31, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2023 | 2022 | |||||
| Short-term and current maturities of long-term debt: | |||||||
| Foreign lines of credit | $ | 442 | $ | 198 | |||
| Finance lease and other financing obligations | 313 | 270 | |||||
| Total short-term and current maturities of long-term debt | $ | 755 | $ | 468 | |||
| Long-term debt: | |||||||
| 0.375% senior notes due July 2023 (Euro-denominated) | $ | — | $ | 531 | |||
| 3.800% senior notes due October 2023 | — | 1,000 | |||||
| 2.750% senior notes due July 2024 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| 3.850% senior notes due June 2025 | 900 | 900 | |||||
| 2.250% senior notes due July 2025 (British Pound-denominated) | 672 | 632 | |||||
| 3.200% senior notes due July 2026 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| 2.250% senior notes due June 2027 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 1.125% senior notes due July 2027 (Euro-denominated) | 555 | 531 | |||||
| 5.450% senior notes due March 2028 | 900 | — | |||||
| 5.375% senior notes due August 2028 | 700 | — | |||||
| 4.200% senior notes due October 2028 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 3.500% senior notes due July 2029 | 3,000 | 3,000 | |||||
| 2.650% senior notes due June 2030 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 1.625% senior notes due July 2030 (Euro-denominated) | 555 | 531 | |||||
| 4.500% senior notes due May 2031 (Euro-denominated) | 889 | — | |||||
| 3.000% senior notes due July 2031 (British Pound-denominated) | 672 | 632 | |||||
| 5.600% senior notes due March 2033 | 900 | — | |||||
| 5.625% senior notes due August 2033 | 1,300 | — | |||||
| 4.400% senior notes due July 2049 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| U.S. dollar commercial paper notes | 418 | 2,329 | |||||
| Euro commercial paper notes | 1,321 | 1,210 | |||||
| Revolving credit facility | 74 | 35 | |||||
| Term loan facility | — | 200 | |||||
| Unamortized discount and deferred financing costs | (145) | (120) | |||||
| Finance lease and other financing obligations | 652 | 539 | |||||
| Total long-term debt | $ | 22,363 | $ | 20,950 |
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In August 2023, we completed the public offering and issuance of $2.0 billion of senior notes, comprised of $700 million aggregate principal amount of 5.375% senior notes due in August 2028 and $1.3 billion aggregate principal amount of 5.625% senior notes due in August 2033. In May 2023, we completed the public offering and issuance of 800 million Euros aggregate principal amount of 4.500% senior notes due in May 2031. In March 2023, we completed the public offering and issuance of $1.8 billion of senior notes, comprised of $900 million aggregate principal amount of 5.450% senior notes due in March 2028 and $900 million aggregate principal amount of 5.600% senior notes due in March 2033. We used the net proceeds from these senior notes offerings for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of U.S. dollar commercial paper notes, share repurchases, the repayment of the 0.375% Euro-denominated senior notes in July 2023 and the repayment of the 3.800% senior notes in October 2023.
At December 31, 2023, our debt consisted primarily of $20.0 billion of fixed-rate senior notes and $1.7 billion of outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs. Interest on our U.S. dollar-denominated senior notes is paid semi-annually, while interest on our Euro and British Pound-denominated senior notes is paid annually. Interest on our revolving credit facility and commercial paper notes is generally paid weekly, or more frequently on occasion, and interest on our term loan was paid monthly.
At December 31, 2023, the 2.750% senior notes due in July 2024 were classified in the consolidated balance sheet as long-term, as we have the intent to refinance this debt on a long-term basis and the ability to do so under our revolving credit facility. Outstanding borrowings under the commercial paper programs are also classified in the consolidated balance sheet as long-term, as we have the intent to refinance this commercial paper on a long-term basis through the continued issuance of new commercial paper upon maturity, and also have the ability to refinance such commercial paper under our revolving credit facility.
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Variable Rate Debt
Our variable rate debt consisted of the following at December 31, 2023:
| (In millions) | Maturity | Weighted-Average Interest Rate | Outstanding Borrowings | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign lines of credit | n/a | 63.060% | $ | 442 | ||
| U.S. dollar commercial paper notes | various | 5.454% | 418 | |||
| Euro commercial paper notes | various | 4.029% | 1,321 | |||
| Revolving credit facility | June 2027 | 6.450% | 74 | |||
| Total variable rate debt | 15.882% | $ | 2,255 |
We maintain certain short-term lines of credit and other borrowing arrangements with foreign banks and alliance partners primarily to fund settlement activity associated with operations in Latin America. We entered into an annually renewable term loan facility, which was fully funded in April 2023, to fund settlement advance cash payments in Brazil. This term loan has a notional value of 514 million Brazilian real ($106 million U.S. dollar equivalent) at December 31, 2023 that matures in April 2024 and bears interest at a variable Certificado de Depósito Interbancário (CDI) Rate, plus a specified margin of 1.70% per annum.
The following table provides a summary of the outstanding borrowings and weighted average interest rates of our foreign lines of credit and other borrowing arrangements by country at December 31, 2023:
| Outstanding Borrowings (in millions) | Weighted-Average Interest Rate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | $ | 208 | 121.581 | % | ||||
| Brazil | 123 | 13.500 | % | |||||
| Uruguay | 55 | 11.125 | % | |||||
| Other | 56 | 4.912 | % | |||||
| Total | $ | 442 | 63.060 | % |
We maintain unsecured U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper programs with various maturities generally ranging from one day to four months. Outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs bear interest based on the prevailing rates at the time of issuance.
We also maintain a senior unsecured multicurrency revolving credit facility, which matures in June 2027 and provides for a maximum aggregate principal amount of availability of $6.0 billion. Borrowings under the credit facility bear interest at a variable rate based on a Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) or a base rate in the case of U.S. dollar borrowings, in each case, plus a specified margin based on our long-term debt rating in effect from time to time. We are required to pay a facility fee based on the aggregate commitments in effect under the credit agreement from time to time.
In June 2023, we repaid all remaining outstanding borrowings on our existing term loan facility utilizing proceeds from the issuance of U.S. dollar commercial paper notes and operating cash on hand, thereby terminating such facility. Borrowings under the term loan facility accrued interest at a variable rate based on one-month LIBOR or on a base rate, plus, in each case, a specified margin based on our long-term debt rating in effect from time to time.
Debt Covenants and Compliance
The indentures governing our senior notes contain covenants that, among other matters, limit (i) our ability to consolidate or merge with or into, or convey, transfer or lease all or substantially all of our properties and assets to, another person, (ii) our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to create or assume liens, and (iii) our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to engage in sale and leaseback transactions. We may, at our option, redeem the senior notes, in whole or in part, at any time and from time to time, at the applicable redemption price.
The revolving credit facility contains various restrictions and covenants that require us to, among other things, limit our consolidated indebtedness as of the end of each fiscal quarter to no more than 3.75 times our consolidated net income before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, non-cash charges and expenses and certain other adjustments during the period of four fiscal quarters then ended, subject to certain exceptions.
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During the year ended December 31, 2023, we were in compliance with all financial debt covenants. Our ability to meet future debt covenant requirements will depend on our continued ability to generate earnings and cash flows. We expect to remain in compliance with all terms and conditions associated with our outstanding debt, including financial debt covenants.
Debt Guarantees
We maintain noncontrolling ownership interests in Sagent M&C, LLC and defi SOLUTIONS Group, LLC (collectively, the “Lending Joint Ventures”). The Lending Joint Ventures maintain, as amended in April 2022, variable-rate term loan facilities with aggregate outstanding borrowings of $437 million in senior unsecured debt at December 31, 2023 and variable-rate revolving credit facilities with an aggregate borrowing capacity of $83 million with a syndicate of banks, which mature in April 2027. There were $24 million of outstanding borrowings on the revolving credit facilities at December 31, 2023. We have guaranteed the debt of the Lending Joint Ventures and do not anticipate that the Lending Joint Ventures will fail to fulfill their debt obligations. We maintained a liability of $31 million at December 31, 2023 for the estimated fair value of our non-contingent obligations to stand ready to perform over the term of the guarantee arrangements. Such guarantees will be amortized in future periods over the contractual term of the debt. In addition, we maintained a contingent liability of $23 million at December 31, 2023, representing the current expected credit losses to which we are exposed. This contingent liability is estimated based on certain financial metrics of the Lending Joint Ventures and historical industry data, which is used to develop assumptions of the likelihood the guaranteed parties will default and the level of credit losses in the event a default occurs. We have not made any payments under the guarantees, nor have we been called upon to do so.
Other
Access to capital markets impacts our cost of capital and our ability to refinance maturing debt and fund future acquisitions. Our ability to access capital on favorable terms depends on a number of factors, including general market conditions, interest rates, credit ratings on our debt securities, perception of our potential future earnings and the market price of our common stock. As of December 31, 2023, we had a corporate credit rating of Baa2 with a stable outlook from Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) and BBB with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“S&P”) on our senior unsecured debt securities. As of December 31, 2023, we had a commercial paper credit rating of P-2 from Moody’s and A-2 from S&P.
The interest rates payable on certain of our senior notes and commercial paper notes programs are subject to adjustment from time to time if Moody’s or S&P changes the debt rating applicable to the notes. If the ratings from Moody’s or S&P decrease below investment grade, the per annum interest rates on certain senior notes are subject to increase by up to two percent. In no event will the total increase in the per annum interest rates exceed two percent above the original interest rates, nor will the per annum interest rate be reduced below the original interest rate applicable to the senior notes.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Investments, exclusive of settlement assets, with original maturities of 90 days or less that are readily convertible to cash are considered to be cash equivalents as reflected within our consolidated balance sheets.
The table below details our cash and cash equivalents held at:
| December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2023 | 2022 | ||||
| Available | $ | 450 | $ | 288 | ||
| Unavailable (1) | 754 | 614 | ||||
| Total | $ | 1,204 | $ | 902 |
(1)Represents cash held by our joint ventures that is not available to fund operations outside of those entities unless the board of directors of the relevant entity declares a dividend, as well as cash held by other entities that are subject to foreign exchange controls in certain countries or regulatory capital requirements.
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FY 2022 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000798354-23-000004.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is provided as a supplement to our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes to help provide an understanding of our financial condition, the changes in our financial condition and our results of operations. This section generally discusses information and results pertaining to the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021. Information and discussion of results pertaining to the year ended December 31, 2020 not included herein can be found in Part II, “Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2021, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 24, 2022. Our discussion is organized as follows:
•Overview. This section contains background information on our company and the products and services that we provide, acquisitions and dispositions, our enterprise priorities, and the trends affecting our industry in order to provide context for management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations.
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•Critical accounting policies and estimates. This section contains a discussion of the accounting policies that we believe are important to our financial condition and results of operations and that require judgment and estimates on the part of management in their application. In addition, all of our significant accounting policies, including critical accounting policies, are summarized in Note 1 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
•Results of operations. This section contains an analysis of our results of operations presented in the accompanying consolidated statements of income by comparing the results for the year ended December 31, 2022 to the results for the year ended December 31, 2021.
•Liquidity and capital resources. This section provides an analysis of our cash flows and a discussion of our outstanding debt and commitments at December 31, 2022.
Overview
Company Background
We are a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions. We serve clients around the globe, including merchants, banks, credit unions, other financial institutions and corporate clients. We provide account processing and digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing; and the Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale (“POS”) and business management platform. Our operations are comprised of the Merchant Acceptance (“Acceptance”) segment, the Financial Technology (“Fintech”) segment and the Payments and Network (“Payments”) segment.
The businesses in our Acceptance segment provide a wide range of commerce-enabling solutions and serve merchants of all sizes around the world. These solutions include POS merchant acquiring and digital commerce services; mobile payment services; security and fraud protection products; Clover, our cloud-based POS and integrated commerce operating system for small and mid-sized businesses (“SMBs”) and independent software vendors (“ISVs”); and CaratSM, our integrated operating system for large businesses. We distribute the products and services in the Acceptance segment businesses through a variety of channels, including direct sales teams, strategic partnerships with agent sales forces, ISVs, financial institutions, and other strategic partners in the form of joint venture alliances, revenue sharing alliances, and referral agreements. Merchants, financial institutions and distribution partners in the Acceptance segment are frequently clients of our other segments.
The businesses in our Fintech segment provide financial institutions around the world with technology solutions they need to run their operations, including products and services that enable financial institutions to process customer deposit and loan accounts and manage an institution’s general ledger and central information files. As a complement to the core account processing functionality, the Fintech segment businesses also provide digital banking, financial and risk management, professional services and consulting, item processing and source capture, and other products and services that support numerous types of financial transactions. Certain of the businesses in the Fintech segment provide products or services to corporate clients to facilitate the management of financial processes and transactions. Many of the products and services offered in the Fintech segment are integrated with products and services provided by our other segments.
The businesses in the Payments segment provide financial institutions, corporate clients and the public sector with the products and services required to process digital payment transactions. This includes card transactions such as debit, credit and prepaid card processing and services; a range of network services, security and fraud protection products; and card production and print services. In addition, the Payments segment businesses offer non-card digital payment software and services, including bill payment, account-to-account transfers, person-to-person payments, electronic billing, and security and fraud protection products. Clients of the Payments segment businesses reflect a wide range of industries around the world, including merchants, distribution partners and financial institution customers in our other segments.
The majority of our revenue is generated from recurring account- and transaction-based fees under multi-year contracts that generally have high renewal rates. Most of the services we provide within our segments are necessary for our clients to operate their businesses and are, therefore, non-discretionary in nature.
Corporate and Other supports the reportable segments described above, and consists of amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, unallocated corporate expenses and other activities that are not considered when we evaluate segment performance, such as gains or losses on sales of businesses, certain assets or investments; costs associated with acquisition and divestiture activity; certain services revenue associated with various dispositions; and our Output Solutions postage reimbursements.
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Acquisitions and Dispositions
We frequently review our portfolio to ensure we have the necessary business assets to execute our strategy. We expect to acquire businesses when we identify: a compelling strategic need, such as a product, service or technology that helps meet client demand; an opportunity to change industry dynamics; a way to achieve business scale that enables competition and operational efficiency; or similar considerations. We expect to divest businesses that are not in line with our market, product or financial strategies. The results of operations for the following acquired and divested businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition and through the respective dates of disposition.
Acquisitions
On December 29, 2022, we acquired OrangeData S.A. (“Yacaré”), an Argentina-based payment service provider that enables customers to transact at merchant locations using QR codes. Yacaré is included within the Acceptance segment and enhances our instant payment transaction capabilities. On December 20, 2022, we acquired Merchant One, Inc. (“Merchant One”), an independent sales organization (“ISO”) focused on acquiring merchants in the restaurant, retail and e-commerce industries using an innovative mix of direct and digital marketing strategies. Merchant One is included within the Acceptance segment and enhances our merchant distribution and sales force channels. On September 1, 2022, we acquired NexTable, Inc. (“NexTable”), a provider of cloud-based reservation and table management solutions for restaurants. NexTable is included within the Acceptance segment and expands our end-to-end restaurant solutions. On June 1, 2022, we acquired The LR2 Group, LLC (“City POS”), an ISO that promotes payment processing services and facilitates the sale of POS equipment for merchants. City POS is included within the Acceptance segment and expands the reach of our merchant services business. On April 1, 2022, we acquired a remaining ownership interest in Finxact, Inc. (“Finxact”), a developer of cloud-native banking solutions powering digital transformation throughout the financial services sector. Finxact is included within the Fintech segment and advances our digital banking strategy, expanding our account processing, digital and payments solutions. We acquired these businesses in 2022 for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $994 million, net of $28 million of acquired cash, and including earn-out provisions estimated at a fair value of $6 million.
On November 22, 2021, we acquired BentoBox CMS, Inc. (“BentoBox”), a digital marketing and commerce platform that helps restaurants connect with their guests. BentoBox is included within the Acceptance segment and expands our Clover dining solutions and commerce and business management capabilities. On November 15, 2021, we acquired a remaining ownership interest in NetPay Solutions Group (“NetPay”), a multi-channel payment service provider offering a range of onboarding, customer lifecycle, risk management and settlement capabilities to businesses of all sizes. NetPay is included within the Acceptance segment and expands our merchant services business. On October 1, 2021, we acquired Integrity Payments, LLC (“AIP”), an ISO that promotes payment processing services for merchants and is included within the Acceptance segment. On June 14, 2021, we acquired Spend Labs Inc. (“SpendLabs”), a mobile-native, cloud-based software provider of commercial card payment solutions. SpendLabs is included within the Payments segment and expands our digital capabilities across mobile and desktop devices for small and mid-sized businesses. On May 4, 2021, we acquired Pineapple Payments Holdings, LLC (“Pineapple Payments”), an ISO that provides payment processing, proprietary technology and payment acceptance solutions for merchants. Pineapple Payments is included within the Acceptance segment and expands the reach of our payment solutions through its technology- and relationship-led distribution channels. On March 1, 2021, we acquired Radius8, Inc. (“Radius8”), a technology provider that uses consumer location and other information to drive incremental merchant transactions. Radius8 is included within the Acceptance segment and enhances our ability to help merchants increase sales, expand mobile application registration and improve one-to-one target marketing. On January 22, 2021, we acquired a remaining ownership interest in Ondot Systems, Inc. (“Ondot”), a provider of card management and digital experience technology. Ondot is included within the Payments segment and expands our digital capabilities, enhancing our suite of integrated payments, banking and merchant solutions. We acquired these businesses in 2021 for an aggregate purchase price of $882 million, net of $43 million of acquired cash, and including earn-out provisions at an aggregate fair value of $34 million.
Dispositions
On October 17, 2022, we sold Fiserv Costa Rica, S.A. and our Systems Integration Services (“SIS”) operations, which provides information technology engineering services in the United States (“U.S.”) and India, to a single buyer. Fiserv Costa Rica, S.A. and SIS were reported primarily within our Fintech segment. On September 30, 2022, we sold our Korea operations, which were reported within our Acceptance segment. We sold these operations for total consideration of $99 million and recognized an aggregate net pre-tax loss on the sales of $83 million. These divestitures were the result of a strategic review of our business portfolio.
We mutually agreed with a minority partner to terminate one of our merchant alliance joint ventures effective March 2022. In conjunction with such termination, the joint venture minority partner elected to exercise its option to purchase certain merchant contracts of the joint venture for $175 million, resulting in the recognition of a pre-tax gain of $137 million.
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Enterprise Priorities
We aspire to move money and information in a way that moves the world. Our purpose is to deliver superior value for our clients through leading technology, targeted innovation and excellence in everything we do. We are focused on driving growth and creating value by assembling a high-performing and diverse team, integrating our solutions, delivering operational excellence, allocating capital in a disciplined manner, including share repurchase and merger and acquisition activity, and delivering breakthrough innovation. Our long-term priorities are to continue to build high-quality revenue while meeting our financial commitments; deepen client relationships with an emphasis on digital channels and payment solutions; deliver innovation and integration enabling differentiated value for our clients; and generate integration value, including cost and revenue synergies from acquisitions.
Industry Trends
The global payments landscape continues to evolve, with rapidly advancing technologies and a steady expansion of digital payments, e-commerce and real-time payments infrastructure. Because of this growth, competition also continues to intensify. Business and consumer expectations continue to rise, with a focus on speed, convenience, choice and security. To meet these expectations, payments companies are focused on modernizing their technology, expanding the use of data and enhancing the customer experience.
Merchants
The rapid growth in and globalization of mobile and e-commerce, driven by consumers’ desire for simpler, more efficient shopping experiences, has created an opportunity for merchants to reach consumers nearly anywhere, through any device, which often requires a merchant acquiring provider to enable and optimize the acceptance of payments. Merchants are demanding simpler, integrated and flexible systems to accept payments and help manage their everyday business operations. When combined with the ever-increasing ways a consumer can pay for goods and services, merchants have sought modern systems to streamline the complexity. Furthermore, merchants can now search, discover, compare, purchase and even install a new system through direct, digital-only experiences. This direct, digital-only channel is a source of new merchant acquisition opportunities, especially with respect to smaller merchants.
Additionally, there are numerous software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) solution providers in the industry, many of which have chosen to integrate merchant acquiring into their software as a way to further monetize their client relationships. Such providers are typically referred to as ISVs, and we believe there are thousands of these potential distribution partnership opportunities available to us.
We believe that our merchant acquiring products and solutions create compelling value propositions for merchant clients of all sizes, from small and mid-sized businesses to medium-sized regional businesses to global enterprise merchants, and across all verticals. Furthermore, we believe that our sizable and diverse client base, combined with valued partnerships with merchant acquiring businesses of financial and non-financial institutions of all sizes, gives us a solid foundation for growth.
Financial Institutions and Other Financial Technology Providers
Financial services providers regularly introduce and implement new payment, deposit, risk management, lending and investment products, and the distinctions among the products and services traditionally offered by different types of financial institutions and other financial technology providers continue to narrow as they seek to serve the same customers. At the same time, the evolving global regulatory and cybersecurity landscape has continued to create a challenging operating environment for financial institutions. These conditions are driving heightened interest in solutions that help financial institutions win and retain customers, generate incremental revenue, comply with regulations and enhance operating efficiency. In addition, the focus on the customer experience, including through mobile and online engagement, by both financial institutions and their customers, as well as the growing volume and types of payment transactions in the marketplace, continues to elevate the data and transaction processing needs of financial institutions.
We expect that financial institutions and other financial technology providers will continue to invest significant capital and human resources to process transactions, manage information, maintain regulatory compliance and offer innovative new services to their customers in this rapidly evolving and competitive environment. We anticipate that we will benefit over the long term from the trend of financial institutions moving from in-house technology to outsourced solutions as they seek to remain current on technology changes in an evolving marketplace. We believe that economies of scale in developing and maintaining the infrastructure, technology, products, services and networks necessary to be competitive in such an environment are essential to justify these investments, and we anticipate that demand for products that facilitate customer interaction with financial institutions, including a unified, seamless customer experience across mobile and online channels, will continue to increase, which we expect to create revenue opportunities for us.
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The number of financial institutions in the United States has declined at a relatively steady rate, primarily as a result of voluntary mergers and acquisitions. Rather than reducing the overall market, these consolidations transfer accounts among financial institutions. If a client loss occurs due to merger or acquisition, we typically receive a contract termination fee based on the size of the client and how early in the contract term the contract is terminated. These fees can vary from period to period with the variance depending on the quantum of financial institution merger activity in a given period and whether or not our clients are involved in the activity. Our focus on long-term client relationships and recurring, transaction-oriented products and services has also reduced the impact that consolidation in the financial services industry has had on us. We believe that the integration of our products and services creates a compelling value proposition for our clients by providing, among other things, new sources of revenue and opportunities to reduce their costs. Furthermore, we believe that our sizable and diverse client base, combined with our position as a leading provider of non-discretionary, recurring revenue-based products and services, gives us a solid foundation for growth.
Recent Market Conditions
Global macroeconomic conditions, including fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, inflation, disruptions in the global supply chain, the effects of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the continuing impact of the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, and regulations restricting trade or that impact our ability to offer products or services, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, since 2021, we have observed increased shortages and delays in the global supply chain for components and inputs necessary to our businesses, such as semiconductors, paper and plastic, and may experience difficulty procuring those components and inputs in the future on a timely basis or at historical prices. For discussion of risks related to potential impacts of supply chain, geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges on our business, results of operations and financial condition, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S., which require management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses. We continually evaluate the accounting policies and estimates that we use to prepare our consolidated financial statements, including for recently adopted accounting pronouncements, and base our estimates on historical experience and assumptions that we believe are reasonable in light of current circumstances. Actual amounts and results could differ materially from these estimates.
Acquisitions
From time to time, we make strategic acquisitions that may have a material impact on our consolidated results of operations or financial position. We allocate the purchase price of acquired businesses to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the transaction at their estimated fair values. The estimates used to determine the fair value of long-lived assets, such as intangible assets, can be complex and require significant judgments. We use information available to us to make fair value determinations and engage independent valuation specialists, when necessary, to assist in the fair value determination of significant acquired long-lived assets. The determination of fair value requires estimates about discount rates, growth and retention rates, royalty rates, expected future cash flows and other future events that are judgmental in nature. While we use our best estimates and assumptions as a part of the purchase price allocation process, our estimates are inherently uncertain and subject to refinement. As a result, during the measurement period, which may be up to one year from the acquisition date, we record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with the corresponding offset to goodwill. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period or final determination of the values of assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever comes first, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to our consolidated statements of income. We are also required to estimate the useful lives of intangible assets to determine the amount of acquisition-related intangible asset amortization expense to record in future periods. We periodically review the estimated useful lives assigned to our intangible assets to determine whether such estimated useful lives continue to be appropriate. Additional information regarding our acquisitions is included in Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements.
Goodwill and Intangible Assets
We review the carrying value of goodwill for impairment annually, or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill is tested for impairment at a reporting unit level, which is one level below our reportable segments. When reviewing goodwill for impairment, we consider the prior test’s amount of excess fair value over the carrying value of each reporting unit, the period of time since a reporting unit’s last quantitative test, the extent a reorganization or disposition changes the composition of one or more of our reporting units, and other factors to determine whether or not to first perform a qualitative test. When performing a qualitative test, we assess numerous factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of our reporting units are less than their respective carrying values. Examples of qualitative factors that we assess include our share price, our financial performance, market and competitive factors in our industry and
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other events specific to our reporting units. If we conclude that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, we perform a quantitative impairment test.
The quantitative impairment test compares the estimated fair value of the reporting unit to its carrying value, and recognizes an impairment loss for the amount by which a reporting unit’s carrying amount exceeds its fair value, without exceeding the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. We determine the fair value of a reporting unit using both a discounted cash flow analysis and a market approach. Determining the fair value of a reporting unit involves judgment and the use of significant estimates and assumptions, which include assumptions regarding the revenue growth rates and operating margins used to calculate estimated future cash flows, risk-adjusted discount rates and future economic and market conditions.
Our most recent annual impairment assessment of our reporting units in the fourth quarter of 2022 determined that our goodwill of $36.8 billion was not impaired as the estimated fair values of the respective reporting units exceeded the carrying values. However, for four of our reporting units, with aggregate goodwill of $10.9 billion, the excess of the respective reporting unit’s fair value over carrying value ranged from 7 to 18 percent. If future operating performance is below our expectations or there are material changes to forecasted revenue growth rates or operating margins, risk-adjusted discount rates, foreign currency exchange rates, effective income tax rates, or some combination thereof, a decline in the fair value of the reporting units could result in, and we may be required to record, a goodwill impairment charge. Additionally, a significant change in a merchant alliance business relationship or operating performance could result in a material goodwill impairment charge. It is also reasonably possible that future developments related to the interest rate environment, a shift in strategic initiatives, or significant changes in the composition of certain of our reporting units could have a future material impact on one or more of the estimates and assumptions used to evaluate goodwill impairment. We have no accumulated goodwill impairment through December 31, 2022. Additional information regarding our goodwill is included in Note 7 to the consolidated financial statements.
We review intangible assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable. We review capitalized software development costs for impairment at each reporting date. Recoverability of intangible assets is assessed by comparing the carrying amount of the asset to either the undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset or the net realizable value of the asset, depending on the type of asset. Determining future cash flows and net realizable values involves judgment and the use of significant estimates and assumptions regarding future economic and market conditions. Measurement of any impairment loss is based on estimated fair value. Additional information regarding our intangible assets is included in Note 6 to the consolidated financial statements. Given the significance of our goodwill and intangible asset balances, an adverse change in fair value could result in an impairment charge, which could be material to our consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
Revenue is measured based on consideration specified in a contract with a customer, and excludes any amounts collected on behalf of third parties. As a practical expedient, we do not adjust the transaction price for the effects of a significant financing component if, at contract inception, the period between customer payment and the transfer of goods or services is expected to be one year or less. Contracts with customers are evaluated on a contract-by-contract basis as contracts may include multiple types of goods and services as described below.
Processing and Services
Processing and services revenue is generated from account- and transaction-based fees for data processing, merchant transaction processing and acquiring, electronic billing and payment services, electronic funds transfer and debit/credit processing services; consulting and professional services; and software maintenance for ongoing client support.
We recognize processing and services revenue in the period in which the specific service is performed unless they are not deemed distinct from other goods or services, which revenue would then be recognized as control is transferred of the combined goods and services. Our arrangements for processing and services typically consist of an obligation to provide specific services to our customers on a when- and if-needed basis (a stand-ready obligation) and revenue is recognized from the satisfaction of the performance obligations in the amount billable to the customer. These services are typically provided under a fixed or declining (tier-based) price per unit based on volume of service; however, pricing for services may also be based on minimum monthly usage fees. Fees for our processing and services arrangements are typically billed and paid on a monthly basis.
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Product
Product revenue is generated from print and card production sales, as well as software license and hardware (primarily POS devices) sales. For software license agreements that are distinct, we recognize software license revenue upon delivery, assuming a contract is deemed to exist. Revenue for arrangements with customers that include significant customization, modification or production of software such that the software is not distinct is typically recognized over time based upon efforts expended, such as labor hours, to measure progress towards completion. For arrangements involving hosted licensed software for the customer, a software element is considered present to the extent the customer has the contractual right to take possession of the software at any time during the hosting period without significant penalty and it is feasible for the customer to either operate the software on their own hardware or contract with another vendor to host the software. We sell or lease hardware (POS devices) and other peripherals as part of our contracts with customers. Hardware typically consists of terminals or Clover devices. We do not manufacture hardware, rather we purchase hardware from third-party vendors and hold such hardware in inventory until purchased by a customer. We account for the sale of hardware as a separate performance obligation and recognize the revenue at the standalone selling price when the customer obtains control of the hardware.
Significant Judgments
We use the following methods, inputs and assumptions in determining amounts of revenue to recognize. For multi-element arrangements, we account for individual goods or services as a separate performance obligation if they are distinct, if the good or service is separately identifiable from other items in the arrangement, and if a customer can benefit from the good or service on its own or with other resources that are readily available to the customer. If these criteria are not met, the promised goods or services are accounted for as a combined performance obligation. Determining whether goods or services are distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately may require significant judgment.
Technology or service components from third parties are frequently embedded in or combined with our applications or service offerings. Whether we recognize revenue based on the gross amount billed to a customer or the net amount retained involves judgment that depends on the relevant facts and circumstances, including the level of contractual responsibilities and obligations for delivering solutions to end customers, to determine whether we obtain control of goods and services prior to their transfer to a customer.
The transaction price is determined based on the consideration to which we will be entitled in exchange for transferring products or services to the customer. We include any fixed charges within our contracts as part of the total transaction price. To the extent that variable consideration is not constrained, we include an estimate of the variable amount, as appropriate, within the total transaction price and update our assumptions over the duration of the contract. We may constrain the estimated transaction price in the event of a high degree of uncertainty as to the final consideration amount owed because of an extended length of time over which the fees may be adjusted. The transaction price (including any discounts or rebates) is allocated between distinct goods and services in a multi-element arrangement based on their relative standalone selling prices. For items that are not sold separately, we estimate the standalone selling prices using available information such as market conditions and internally approved pricing guidelines. Judgment may be required to determine standalone selling prices for each performance obligation and whether it depicts the amount we expect to receive in exchange for the related good or service.
Contract modifications occur when we and our customers agree to modify existing customer contracts to change the scope or price (or both) of the contract, or when a customer terminates some, or all, of the existing services provided by us. When a contract modification occurs, it requires us to exercise judgment to determine if the modification should be accounted for as (i) a separate contract, (ii) the termination of the original contract and creation of a new contract, or (iii) a cumulative catch up adjustment to the original contract. Further, contract modifications require the identification and evaluation of the performance obligations of the modified contract, including the allocation of revenue to the remaining performance obligations and the period of recognition for each identified performance obligation. Additional information regarding our revenue recognition policies is included in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements.
Income Taxes
The determination of our provision for income taxes requires management’s judgment in the use of estimates and the interpretation and application of complex tax laws, sometimes made more complex by our global footprint. Judgment is also required in assessing the timing and amounts of deductible and taxable items. We establish a liability for known tax exposures relating to deductions, transactions and other matters involving some uncertainty as to the proper tax treatment of the item. In establishing a liability for known tax exposures, assumptions are made in determining whether, and the extent to which, a tax position will be sustained. A tax benefit with respect to a tax position is recognized only when it is more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by the relevant taxing authority, based on its technical merits, considering the facts and circumstances available as of the reporting date. The amount of tax benefit recognized reflects the largest benefit that we
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believe is more likely than not to be realized on settlement with the relevant taxing authority. As additional information becomes available, we evaluate our tax positions and adjust our liability for known tax exposures as appropriate.
We maintain net operating loss carryforwards in various taxing jurisdictions, resulting in the establishment of deferred tax assets. We establish a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets when, based upon the weight of all available evidence, we believe it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. In making this determination, we have considered the relative impact of all of the available positive and negative evidence regarding future sources of taxable income and available tax planning strategies. However, there could be a material impact to our effective income tax rate if there is a significant change in our judgment. To the extent our judgment changes, the valuation allowances are then adjusted, generally through the provision for income taxes, in the period in which the change in facts and circumstances occurs. Additional information regarding our income taxes is included in Note 17 to the consolidated financial statements.
Results of Operations
Components of Revenue and Expenses
The following summary describes the components of revenue and expenses as presented in our consolidated statements of income.
Processing and Services
Processing and services revenue, which represented 82% of our total revenue in 2022, is primarily generated from account- and transaction-based fees under multi-year contracts. Processing and services revenue is most reflective of our business performance as a significant amount of our total operating profit is generated by these services. Cost of processing and services consists of costs directly associated with providing services to clients and includes the following: personnel; equipment and data communication; infrastructure costs, including costs to maintain software applications; client support; certain depreciation and amortization; and other operating expenses.
Product
Product revenue, which represented 18% of our total revenue in 2022, is derived from print and card production sales, as well as software license and hardware (primarily POS devices) sales. Cost of product consists of costs directly associated with the products sold and includes the following: costs of materials and postage; software development; hardware costs (primarily POS devices); personnel; infrastructure costs; certain depreciation and amortization; and other costs directly associated with product revenue.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses primarily consist of: salaries, wages, commissions and related expenses paid to sales personnel, administrative employees and management; third-party commissions; advertising and promotional costs; certain depreciation and amortization; and other selling and administrative expenses.
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Financial Results
The following table presents certain amounts included in our consolidated statements of income, the relative percentage that those amounts represent to revenue and the change in those amounts from year to year. This information should be read together with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. The financial results presented below have been affected by acquisitions, dispositions, and foreign currency fluctuations.
| (In millions) | Percentage of Revenue (1) | Increase (Decrease) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2022 | 2021 | 2022 | 2021 | 2022 vs. 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Processing and services | $ | 14,460 | $ | 13,307 | 81.5 | % | 82.0 | % | $ | 1,153 | 9 | % | ||||||||||||
| Product | 3,277 | 2,919 | 18.5 | % | 18.0 | % | 358 | 12 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | 17,737 | 16,226 | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 1,511 | 9 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Expenses: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of processing and services | 5,771 | 6,084 | 39.9 | % | 45.7 | % | (313) | (5) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Cost of product | 2,221 | 2,044 | 67.8 | % | 70.0 | % | 177 | 9 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Sub-total | 7,992 | 8,128 | 45.1 | % | 50.1 | % | (136) | (2) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 6,059 | 5,810 | 34.2 | % | 35.8 | % | 249 | 4 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Net gain on sale of businesses and other assets | (54) | — | (0.3) | % | — | % | 54 | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Total expenses | 13,997 | 13,938 | 78.9 | % | 85.9 | % | 59 | — | % | |||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 3,740 | 2,288 | 21.1 | % | 14.1 | % | 1,452 | 63 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | (733) | (693) | (4.1) | % | (4.3) | % | 40 | 6 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Other (expense) income | (94) | 71 | (0.5) | % | 0.4 | % | (165) | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Income before income taxes and income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 2,913 | 1,666 | 16.4 | % | 10.3 | % | 1,247 | 75 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income tax provision | (551) | (363) | (3.1) | % | (2.2) | % | 188 | 52 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 220 | 100 | 1.2 | % | 0.6 | % | 120 | 120 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Net income | 2,582 | 1,403 | 14.6 | % | 8.6 | % | 1,179 | 84 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Less: net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests | 52 | 69 | 0.3 | % | 0.4 | % | (17) | (25) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. | $ | 2,530 | $ | 1,334 | 14.3 | % | 8.2 | % | $ | 1,196 | 90 | % |
(1)Percentage of revenue is calculated as the relevant revenue, expense, or income amount divided by total revenue, except for cost of processing and services and cost of product amounts, which are divided by the related component of revenue.
| (In millions) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | Acceptance | Fintech | Payments | Corporate and Other | Total | |||||||||||||||||
| Total revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | $ | 7,292 | $ | 3,170 | $ | 6,262 | $ | 1,013 | $ | 17,737 | ||||||||||||
| 2021 | 6,479 | 3,022 | 5,833 | 892 | 16,226 | |||||||||||||||||
| Revenue growth | $ | 813 | $ | 148 | $ | 429 | $ | 121 | $ | 1,511 | ||||||||||||
| Revenue growth percentage | 13 | % | 5 | % | 7 | % | 9 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Operating income (loss): | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | $ | 2,321 | $ | 1,157 | $ | 2,823 | $ | (2,561) | $ | 3,740 | ||||||||||||
| 2021 | 1,996 | 1,081 | 2,557 | (3,346) | 2,288 | |||||||||||||||||
| Operating income growth | $ | 325 | $ | 76 | $ | 266 | $ | 785 | $ | 1,452 | ||||||||||||
| Operating income growth percentage | 16 | % | 7 | % | 10 | % | 63 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Operating margin: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 31.8 | % | 36.5 | % | 45.1 | % | 21.1 | % | ||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 30.8 | % | 35.8 | % | 43.8 | % | 14.1 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Operating margin growth (1) | 100 | bps | 70 | bps | 130 | bps | 700 | bps |
(1)Represents the basis point growth in operating margin.
Operating margin percentages are calculated using actual, unrounded amounts.
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Total Revenue
Total revenue increased $1,511 million, or 9%, in 2022 compared to 2021. The revenue increase was driven by higher processing revenue and product sales across all of our business segments, partially offset by a 2% decrease due to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.
Revenue in our Acceptance segment increased $813 million, or 13%, in 2022 compared to 2021. The revenue increase was driven by higher global merchant acquiring payment and transaction volumes, an increase in the number of active merchants on our Clover operating system and the expansion of our merchant relationships through value-added services. The revenue growth of our Clover and Carat operating systems were above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels and contributed 5% and 1%, respectively, to Acceptance segment growth. The remaining revenue growth in our Acceptance segment was attributable to higher merchant acquiring payment and transaction volumes across our other merchant acquiring platforms.
Revenue in our Fintech segment increased $148 million, or 5%, in 2022 compared to 2021. The revenue increase was driven by both higher processing revenue and license and termination fee revenue across our Fintech businesses, with each contributing approximately 2% to Fintech revenue growth.
Revenue in our Payments segment increased $429 million, or 7%, in 2022 compared to 2021. The revenue increase was driven by our debit processing business, which contributed 3% to Payments segment revenue growth through new client wins on our network routing services; our Output Solutions business, which contributed 2%, primarily driven by new client growth; and our credit processing business, which contributed 1%, primarily driven by an increase in active accounts.
Revenue at Corporate and Other increased $121 million, or 14%, in 2022 compared to 2021, primarily due to increased postage revenue.
Total Expenses
Total expenses in 2022 were relatively consistent compared to 2021. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue decreased 700 basis points to 78.9% in 2022 compared to 2021. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue were favorably impacted in 2022 by a reduction of approximately 390 basis points in acquisition and integration related expense and approximately 90 basis points in amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue for 2022 were also favorably impacted by operating leverage, along with a pre-tax gain on the sale of businesses and other assets of $54 million.
Cost of processing and services as a percentage of processing and services revenue decreased to 39.9% in 2022 compared to 45.7% in 2021. Cost of processing and services as a percentage of processing and services revenue was favorably impacted in 2022 by approximately 330 basis points from a reduction in acquisition and integration related expenses, as well as strong operating leverage across our businesses, and partially offset by an increase in severance costs of approximately 50 basis points in 2022.
Cost of product as a percentage of product revenue decreased to 67.8% in 2022 compared to 70.0% in 2021. The cost of product as a percentage of product revenue improved in 2022 as a result of higher margin revenue growth.
Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue decreased to 34.2% in 2022 compared to 35.8% in 2021. The decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue in 2022 was primarily due to a reduction in amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets of approximately 100 basis points.
The net gain on sale of businesses and other assets in 2022 included a $137 million pre-tax gain from the sale of certain merchant contracts in conjunction with the mutual termination of one of our merchant alliance joint ventures and a $44 million pre-tax gain from the sale of Fiserv Costa Rica, S.A. and our SIS operations. These gains were partially offset by a $127 million pre-tax loss from the sale of our Korea operations.
Operating Income and Operating Margin
Total operating income increased $1,452 million, or 63%, in 2022 compared to 2021. Total operating margin increased 700 basis points to 21.1% in 2022 compared to 2021. Total operating income and total operating margin benefited from revenue growth in 2022, along with a reduction in acquisition and integration related expenses. Total operating income and total operating margin were also favorably impacted by a $54 million net pre-tax gain on the sale of businesses and other assets in 2022, partially offset by an increase in severance costs of approximately $130 million.
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Operating income in our Acceptance segment increased $325 million, or 16%, in 2022 compared to 2021. Operating margin increased 100 basis points to 31.8% in 2022 compared to 2021. Operating margin growth in 2022 was primarily due to operating leverage and the divestiture of a lower-margin business within the Acceptance segment.
Operating income in our Fintech segment increased $76 million, or 7%, in 2022 compared to 2021. Operating margin increased 70 basis points to 36.5% in 2022 compared to 2021. Fintech segment operating income and margin growth in 2022 was due to an increase in license and termination fee revenue.
Operating income in our Payments segment increased $266 million, or 10%, in 2022 compared to 2021. Operating margin increased 130 basis points to 45.1% in 2022 compared to 2021. Payments segment operating income and margin growth in 2022 was primarily due to scalable revenue growth from our debit and credit processing businesses.
The operating loss in Corporate and Other decreased $785 million in 2022 compared to 2021. Corporate and Other was favorably impacted by a reduction of approximately $850 million in acquisition and integration related costs and amortization of acquisition related intangible assets. The operating loss in 2022 also included a $54 million pre-tax gain on the sale of businesses and other assets and approximately $130 million of increased severance costs.
Interest Expense, Net
Interest expense, net increased $40 million, or 6%, in 2022 compared to 2021 primarily due to higher interest rates on outstanding borrowings.
Other (Expense) Income
Other expense increased $165 million in 2022 compared to 2021. Other (expense) income includes net foreign currency transaction gains and losses, gains or losses from a change in fair value of investments in certain equity securities, and amounts related to debt guarantee arrangements of certain joint ventures. Net foreign currency transaction (losses) gains were $(62) million and $12 million in 2022 and 2021, respectively. Other expense in 2022 also includes net pre-tax expense of $48 million associated with joint venture debt guarantees. Other income in 2021 included $12 million related to a pre-tax gain on the remeasurement of a previously held investment in Ondot to fair value upon acquiring the remaining ownership interest in the entity.
Income Tax Provision
Income tax provision as a percentage of income before income taxes and income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates was 18.9% and 21.8% in 2022 and 2021, respectively. The decrease in the effective income tax rate in 2022 compared to 2021 was primarily the result of $134 million of income tax expense in 2021 attributed to the revaluation of certain net deferred tax liabilities, primarily related to intangible assets and investments in joint ventures recognized at fair value in connection with the acquisition of First Data Corporation, reflecting the effect of enacted corporate income tax rate changes in the United Kingdom (tax rate increase from 19% to 25% starting in 2023) and Argentina (tax rate increase from 25% to 35%).
Income from Investments in Unconsolidated Affiliates
Our share of net income from affiliates accounted for using the equity method is reported as income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates, and the related tax expense is reported within the income tax provision in the consolidated statements of income. Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates, including acquired intangible asset amortization from valuations in purchase accounting, was $220 million and $100 million in 2022 and 2021, respectively. Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2022 includes pre-tax gains totaling $209 million, primarily related to the acquisition-date fair value remeasurement of our previously held equity interest in Finxact of $110 million, as well as $80 million resulting from the dilution of our ownership interest in conjunction with the Sagent M&C, LLC transaction with a third party. Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2021 included a $33 million pre-tax gain resulting from the sale of our remaining ownership interest in InvestCloud Holdings, LLC (“InvestCloud”), as well as a $28 million pre-tax gain resulting from the dilution of our ownership interest in connection with the Tegra118 merger with a third party.
Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests relates to the minority partners’ share of the net income in our consolidated subsidiaries. Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests, including acquired intangible asset amortization from valuations in purchase accounting, was $52 million and $69 million in 2022 and 2021, respectively.
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Net Income Per Share - Diluted
Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. per share-diluted was $3.91 and $1.99 in 2022 and 2021, respectively. Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. per share-diluted in 2021 included $134 million of certain discrete tax expenses discussed above, as well as higher acquisition and integration related expenses.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
Our primary liquidity needs in the ordinary course of business are to: (i) fund normal operating expenses; (ii) meet the interest and principal requirements of our outstanding indebtedness, including finance leases; and (iii) fund capital expenditures and operating lease payments. We believe these needs will be satisfied in both the short and long term using cash flow generated by our operations, along with our cash and cash equivalents of $902 million, proceeds from the issuance of U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper, and available capacity under our revolving credit facility of $870 million (net of outstanding borrowings and $5.1 billion of capacity designated for outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs, senior notes due in 2023 and letters of credit) at December 31, 2022.
The following table summarizes our net cash provided by operating activities, or operating cash flow and capital expenditure amounts for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively:
| Year Ended December 31, | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2022 | 2021 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 2,582 | $ | 1,403 | $ | 1,179 | ||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 3,212 | 3,248 | (36) | |||||||||||
| Share-based compensation | 323 | 239 | 84 | |||||||||||
| Deferred income taxes | (558) | (262) | (296) | |||||||||||
| Net gain on sale of businesses and other assets | (54) | — | (54) | |||||||||||
| Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | (220) | (100) | (120) | |||||||||||
| Distributions from unconsolidated affiliates | 73 | 34 | 39 | |||||||||||
| Non-cash impairment charges | 14 | 15 | (1) | |||||||||||
| Net changes in working capital and other | (754) | (543) | (211) | |||||||||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | $ | 4,618 | $ | 4,034 | $ | 584 | 14 | % | ||||||
| Capital expenditures, including capitalized software and other intangibles | $ | 1,479 | $ | 1,160 | $ | 319 | 28 | % |
Our operating cash flow was $4.6 billion in 2022, an increase of 14% compared with $4.0 billion in 2021. This increase was primarily attributable to improved operating results, partially offset by higher working capital use compared to the prior year, including increased accounts receivable corresponding to revenue growth and slower customer payments, as well as an increase in future credit card receivables purchased under our Clover Capital program.
We maintain investments in various affiliates that are accounted for as equity method investments. Total distributions from unconsolidated affiliates, including those classified as cash flows from investing activities, were $211 million and $149 million during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Our current policy is to use our operating cash flow primarily to fund capital expenditures, share repurchases, acquisitions and to repay debt rather than to pay dividends. Our capital expenditures were approximately 8% and 7% of our total revenue in 2022 and 2021, respectively.
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Cash Requirements
The following table details our future cash requirements under certain contractual obligations at December 31, 2022:
| (In millions) | Total | Less than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-term debt including interest (1) (2) | $ | 26,206 | $ | 950 | $ | 5,155 | $ | 9,705 | $ | 10,396 | |||||||||
| Minimum finance lease payments (1) | 576 | 183 | 272 | 120 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Minimum operating lease payments (1) (2) | 868 | 141 | 220 | 175 | 332 | ||||||||||||||
| Purchase obligations (1) | 1,727 | 683 | 715 | 209 | 120 | ||||||||||||||
| Income tax obligations | 96 | 10 | 36 | 41 | 9 | ||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 29,473 | $ | 1,967 | $ | 6,398 | $ | 10,250 | $ | 10,858 |
(1)Interest, finance lease, operating lease and purchase obligations are reported on a pre-tax basis.
(2)The calculations assume that only mandatory debt repayments are made, no additional refinancing or lending occurs, except for our 0.375% Euro-denominated senior notes due in July 2023, 3.800% senior notes due in October 2023, and U.S. dollar and Euro commercial paper notes programs as we have the intent to refinance this debt on a long-term basis through the issuance of new commercial paper notes upon maturity, and we have the ability to do so under our revolving credit facility maturing in June 2027. The variable rate on the revolving credit facility and term loans are priced at the rate in effect at December 31, 2022.
Share Repurchases
We repurchased $2.5 billion and $2.6 billion (including the repurchase described below) of our common stock in 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, we had approximately 16.9 million shares remaining under our then existing repurchase authorization. On February 22, 2023, our board of directors approved a repurchase authorization for an additional 75.0 million shares. Shares repurchased are generally held for issuance in connection with our equity plans.
In 2021, New Omaha Holdings L.P. (“New Omaha”), a shareholder of ours, completed an underwritten secondary public offering of 23.0 million shares of our common stock (the “offering”). We repurchased from the underwriters 5.0 million shares of our common stock that were subject to the offering. The share repurchase totaled $588 million and was funded with cash on hand. The repurchased shares were cancelled and no longer outstanding following the completion of the share repurchase.
Acquisitions and Dispositions
Acquisitions
We acquired Yacaré and Merchant One in December 2022, NexTable in September 2022 and City POS in June 2022. Additionally, we acquired a remaining ownership interest in Finxact in April 2022, in which we previously held a noncontrolling interest. We acquired these businesses for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $994 million, net of $28 million of acquired cash, and including earn-out provisions estimated at a fair value of $6 million. We funded these acquisitions in 2022 by utilizing a combination of available cash and proceeds from the issuance of commercial paper.
We acquired BentoBox in November 2021, AIP in October 2021, SpendLabs in June 2021, Pineapple Payments in May 2021, and Radius8 in March 2021. Additionally, we acquired a remaining ownership interest in NetPay in November 2021 and a remaining ownership interest in Ondot in January 2021, in which we previously held noncontrolling equity interests. We acquired these businesses for an aggregate purchase price of $882 million, net of $43 million of acquired cash, and including earn-out provisions at an aggregate fair value of $34 million. We funded these acquisitions in 2021 by utilizing a combination of available cash, proceeds from the issuance of commercial paper and existing availability under our revolving credit facility.
The results of operations for these acquired businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition.
Dispositions
We sold Fiserv Costa Rica, S.A. and our SIS operations in October 2022 and our Korea operations in September 2022 for aggregate net cash proceeds of $77 million, along with a minority noncontrolling equity interest in the buyer of the Korea operations. Effective March 2022, we mutually agreed to terminate a merchant alliance joint venture with a minority partner. In conjunction with such termination, the joint venture minority partner elected to exercise its option to purchase certain additional merchant contracts of the joint venture for cash proceeds of $175 million. The net proceeds from these dispositions were primarily used to pay down indebtedness and repurchase shares of our common stock.
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We previously maintained a noncontrolling interest in Tegra118, LLC (“Tegra118”) which was accounted for under the equity method. In February 2021, Tegra118 completed a merger with a third party, resulting in a dilution of our ownership interest in the combined new entity, Wealthtech Holdings, LLC, which was subsequently renamed as InvestCloud. In connection with the transaction, we made an additional capital contribution, funded under our revolving credit facility, of $200 million into the combined entity and, in June 2021, we sold our entire ownership interest in InvestCloud for $466 million. The net proceeds from the sale were primarily used to pay down outstanding borrowings on our term loan facility.
Indebtedness
Our debt consisted of the following at December 31:
| (In millions) | 2022 | 2021 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short-term and current maturities of long-term debt: | |||||||
| Foreign lines of credit | $ | 198 | $ | 240 | |||
| Finance lease and other financing obligations | 270 | 268 | |||||
| Total short-term and current maturities of long-term debt | $ | 468 | $ | 508 | |||
| Long-term debt: | |||||||
| 3.500% senior notes due October 2022 | $ | — | $ | 700 | |||
| 0.375% senior notes due July 2023 (Euro-denominated) | 531 | 566 | |||||
| 3.800% senior notes due October 2023 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 2.750% senior notes due July 2024 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| 3.850% senior notes due June 2025 | 900 | 900 | |||||
| 2.250% senior notes due July 2025 (British Pound-denominated) | 632 | 705 | |||||
| 3.200% senior notes due July 2026 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| 2.250% senior notes due June 2027 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 1.125% senior notes due July 2027 (Euro-denominated) | 531 | 566 | |||||
| 4.200% senior notes due October 2028 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 3.500% senior notes due July 2029 | 3,000 | 3,000 | |||||
| 2.650% senior notes due June 2030 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 1.625% senior notes due July 2030 (Euro-denominated) | 531 | 566 | |||||
| 3.000% senior notes due July 2031 (British Pound-denominated) | 632 | 705 | |||||
| 4.400% senior notes due July 2049 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| U.S. dollar commercial paper notes | 2,329 | 916 | |||||
| Euro commercial paper notes | 1,210 | 905 | |||||
| Revolving credit facility | 35 | 97 | |||||
| Receivable securitized loan | — | 500 | |||||
| Term loan facility | 200 | 200 | |||||
| Unamortized discount and deferred financing costs | (120) | (125) | |||||
| Finance lease and other financing obligations | 539 | 528 | |||||
| Total long-term debt | $ | 20,950 | $ | 20,729 |
At December 31, 2022, our debt consisted primarily of $16.8 billion of fixed-rate senior notes and $3.5 billion of outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs. Interest on our U.S. dollar-denominated senior notes is paid semi-annually, while interest on our Euro and British Pound-denominated senior notes is paid annually. Interest on our revolving credit facility and commercial paper notes is generally paid weekly, or more frequently on occasion, and interest on our term loan is paid monthly. Outstanding borrowings under our 0.375% Euro-denominated senior notes due in July 2023, 3.800% senior notes due in October 2023, and U.S dollar and Euro commercial paper programs are classified in the consolidated balance sheet as long-term, as we have the intent to refinance these borrowings on a long-term basis through the continued issuance of new commercial paper notes upon maturity, and we also have the ability to refinance such borrowings under our revolving credit facility, as further discussed below.
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In July 2022, we redeemed $700 million in aggregate principal amount of our outstanding 3.500% senior notes due in October 2022 at a redemption price equal to 100% of the aggregate principal amount of the notes being redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest. We financed the redemption of these notes using proceeds from the issuance of U.S. dollar commercial paper. We also repaid $485 million, representing all amounts outstanding on our receivable securitized loan, in July 2022, using proceeds from the issuance of U.S. dollar commercial paper and terminated the underlying receivables financing agreement.
In June 2022, we entered into a new senior unsecured multicurrency revolving credit facility with substantially the same syndicate of banks that were lenders under our prior amended and restated revolving credit facility, which we voluntarily terminated and replaced. The new credit agreement matures in June 2027 and provides for a maximum aggregate principal amount of availability of $6.0 billion.
Variable Rate Debt
Our variable rate debt consisted of the following at December 31, 2022:
| (In millions) | Maturity | Weighted-Average Interest Rate | Outstanding Borrowings | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign lines of credit | n/a | 30.58% | $ | 198 | ||
| U.S. dollar commercial paper notes | various | 4.82% | 2,329 | |||
| Euro commercial paper notes | various | 1.92% | 1,210 | |||
| Revolving credit facility | June 2027 | 5.44% | 35 | |||
| Term loan facility | July 2024 | 5.64% | 200 | |||
| Total variable rate debt | 5.27% | $ | 3,972 |
We maintain certain short-term lines of credit with foreign banks and alliance partners primarily to fund settlement activity associated with international operations in Latin America. We maintain U.S. dollar and Euro unsecured commercial paper programs with various maturities generally ranging from one day to four months. Outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs bear interest based on the prevailing rates at the time of issuance. In August 2022, we increased our U.S. commercial paper program borrowing capacity to $6.0 billion to align with the maximum amount of availability under our revolving credit facility.
As discussed above, we maintain a revolving credit facility with aggregate commitments available for $6.0 billion of total capacity. Borrowings under the credit facility bear interest at a variable rate based on a Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) or a base rate in the case of U.S. dollar borrowings, in each case plus a specified margin based on our long-term debt rating in effect from time to time. We are required to pay a facility fee based on the aggregate commitments in effect under the credit agreement from time to time.
We maintain a term loan credit agreement with a syndicate of financial institutions. Outstanding borrowings under the term loan bear interest at a variable rate based on one-month LIBOR or a base rate, in each case plus a specified margin based on our long-term debt rating in effect from time to time.
Debt Covenants and Compliance
The indentures governing our senior notes contain covenants that, among other matters, limit (i) our ability to consolidate or merge with or into, or convey, transfer or lease all or substantially all of our properties and assets to, another person, (ii) our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to create or assume liens, and (iii) our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to engage in sale and leaseback transactions. We may, at our option, redeem the senior notes, in whole or in part, at any time prior to the applicable maturity date.
The new revolving credit facility contains various restrictions and covenants that require us to, among other things, limit our consolidated indebtedness as of the end of each fiscal quarter to no more than 3.75 times our consolidated net income before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, non-cash charges and expenses and certain other adjustments (“EBITDA”) during the period of four fiscal quarters then ended, subject to certain exceptions.
The term loan facility contains various restrictions and covenants that require us to, among other things, (i) limit our consolidated indebtedness as of the end of each fiscal quarter to no more than 3.5 times our EBITDA during the period of four fiscal quarters then ended, subject to certain exceptions, and (ii) maintain EBITDA of at least 3.0 times our consolidated interest expense as of the end of each fiscal quarter for the period of four fiscal quarters then ended.
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During the year ended December 31, 2022, we were in compliance with all financial debt covenants. Our ability to meet future debt covenant requirements will depend on our continued ability to generate earnings and cash flows. We expect to remain in compliance with all terms and conditions associated with our outstanding debt, including financial debt covenants.
Debt Guarantees
We maintain noncontrolling ownership interests in Sagent M&C, LLC and defi SOLUTIONS Group, LLC (collectively, the “Lending Joint Ventures”). The Lending Joint Ventures maintain, as amended in April 2022, variable-rate term loan facilities with aggregate outstanding borrowings of $437 million in senior unsecured debt at December 31, 2022 and variable-rate revolving credit facilities with an aggregate borrowing capacity of $83 million with a syndicate of banks, which mature in April 2027. There were no outstanding borrowings on the revolving credit facilities at December 31, 2022. We have guaranteed the debt of the Lending Joint Ventures and do not anticipate that the Lending Joint Ventures will fail to fulfill their debt obligations. We maintained a liability of $40 million at December 31, 2022 for the estimated fair value of our non-contingent obligations to stand ready to perform over the term of the guarantee arrangements. Such guarantees will be amortized in future periods over the contractual term of the debt. In addition, we maintained a contingent liability of $21 million at December 31, 2022, representing the current expected credit losses to which we are exposed. This contingent liability is estimated based on certain financial metrics of the Lending Joint Ventures and historical industry data, which is used to develop assumptions of the likelihood the guaranteed parties will default and the level of credit losses in the event a default occurs. We have not made any payments under the guarantees, nor have we been called upon to do so.
Other
Access to capital markets impacts our cost of capital and our ability to refinance maturing debt and fund future acquisitions. Our ability to access capital on favorable terms depends on a number of factors, including general market conditions, interest rates, credit ratings on our debt securities, perception of our potential future earnings and the market price of our common stock. As of December 31, 2022, we had a corporate credit rating of Baa2 with a stable outlook from Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) and BBB with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“S&P”) on our senior unsecured debt securities. As of December 31, 2022, we had a commercial paper credit rating of P-2 from Moody’s and A-2 from S&P.
The interest rates payable on certain of our senior notes, term loan and commercial paper notes programs are subject to adjustment from time to time if Moody’s or S&P changes the debt rating applicable to the notes. If the ratings from Moody’s or S&P decrease below investment grade, the per annum interest rates on certain senior notes are subject to increase by up to two percent. In no event will the total increase in the per annum interest rates exceed two percent above the original interest rates, nor will the per annum interest rate be reduced below the original interest rate applicable to the senior notes.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Investments, exclusive of settlement assets, with original maturities of three months or less that are readily convertible to cash are considered to be cash equivalents as reflected within our consolidated balance sheets. At December 31, 2022 and 2021, we held $902 million and $835 million in cash and cash equivalents, respectively.
The table below details the cash and cash equivalents at December 31:
| 2022 | 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | Domestic | International | Total | Domestic | International | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Available | $ | 135 | $ | 153 | $ | 288 | $ | 180 | $ | 221 | $ | 401 | ||||||||||
| Unavailable (1) | 178 | 436 | 614 | 138 | 296 | 434 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 313 | $ | 589 | $ | 902 | $ | 318 | $ | 517 | $ | 835 |
(1)Represents cash held by our joint ventures that is not available to fund operations outside of those entities unless the board of directors of the relevant entity declares a dividend, as well as cash held by other entities that are subject to foreign exchange controls in certain countries or regulatory capital requirements.
Employee Termination Costs
We recorded $187 million and $95 million of employee termination costs related to cash severance and other separation costs for terminated employees during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Employee termination costs include those charges incurred in connection with the acquisition of First Data Corporation during the year ended December 31, 2021. The employee severance and other separation costs accrued balance of $23 million at December 31, 2022 is expected to be paid within the next twelve months.
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FY 2021 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0000798354-22-000004.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is provided as a supplement to our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes to help provide an understanding of our financial condition, the changes in our financial condition and our results of operations. Our discussion is organized as follows:
•Overview. This section contains background information on our company and the services and products that we provide, acquisitions and dispositions, our enterprise priorities, and the trends affecting our industry in order to provide context for management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations.
•Critical accounting policies and estimates. This section contains a discussion of the accounting policies that we believe are important to our financial condition and results of operations and that require judgment and estimates on the part of management in their application. In addition, all of our significant accounting policies, including critical accounting policies, are summarized in Note 1 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
•Results of operations. This section contains an analysis of our results of operations presented in the accompanying consolidated statements of income by comparing the results for the year ended December 31, 2021 to the results for the year ended December 31, 2020. Discussion of results for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the results for the year ended December 31, 2019 not included herein can be found in Part II, “Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2020, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 2021.
•Liquidity and capital resources. This section provides an analysis of our cash flows and a discussion of our outstanding debt and commitments at December 31, 2021.
Overview
Company Background
We are a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions. We serve clients around the globe, including merchants, banks, credit unions, other financial institutions, and corporate clients. We provide account processing and digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing; and the Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale (“POS”) and business management platform. Our operations are comprised of the Merchant Acceptance (“Acceptance”) segment, the Financial Technology (“Fintech”) segment and the Payments and Network (“Payments”) segment. The consolidated financial statements include the financial results of First Data from the date of acquisition.
The Acceptance segment provides a wide range of commerce-enabling solutions to merchants of all sizes and types around the world. These solutions include POS merchant acquiring and digital commerce services; mobile payment services; security and fraud protection products and services; CaratSM, our omnichannel commerce solution; Clover, our cloud-based POS and business management platform, which includes a marketplace for proprietary and third-party business applications; and Clover Connect, our independent software vendor (“ISV”) platform. The businesses in the Acceptance segment are subject to a modest level of seasonality, with the first quarter generally experiencing the lowest level of revenue and the fourth quarter experiencing the highest level of revenue.
The Fintech segment provides financial institutions around the world with technology solutions that enable them to process customer deposit and loan accounts and manage general ledger and central information files, as well as other products and services that support numerous types of financial transactions such as digital banking, financial and risk management, professional services and consulting, and item processing and source capture services. Our businesses in this segment also provide products and services to corporate clients to facilitate the management of financial processes and transactions.
The Payments segment primarily provides financial institutions and corporate clients with the products and services required to process digital payment transactions, including card transactions such as debit, credit and prepaid card processing and services, a range of network services, security and fraud protection products, card production and print services. In addition, our businesses in this segment offer non-card digital payment software and services, including bill payment, account-to-account transfers, person-to-person payments, electronic billing, and security and fraud protection products.
The majority of our revenue is generated from recurring account- and transaction-based fees under multi-year contracts with high renewal rates. Most of the services we provide within our segments are necessary for our clients to operate their businesses and are, therefore, non-discretionary in nature.
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Corporate and Other supports the reportable segments described above, and consists of amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, unallocated corporate expenses and other activities that are not considered when we evaluate segment performance, such as gains or losses on sales of businesses or investments, costs associated with acquisition and divestiture activity, and our Output Solutions postage reimbursements. Corporate and Other also includes the historical results of our Investment Services business prior to the disposition of our controlling financial interest in February 2020, as well as certain transition services revenue associated with various dispositions.
Acquisitions and Dispositions
We frequently review our portfolio to ensure we have the necessary business assets to execute our strategy. We expect to acquire businesses when we identify: a compelling strategic need, such as a product, service or technology that helps meet client demand; an opportunity to change industry dynamics; a way to achieve business scale; or similar considerations. We expect to divest businesses that are not in line with our market, product or financial strategies.
Acquisitions
On November 22, 2021, we acquired BentoBox CMS, Inc. (“BentoBox”), a digital marketing and commerce platform that helps restaurants connect with their guests. BentoBox is included within the Acceptance segment and expands our Clover dining solutions and commerce and business management capabilities. On November 15, 2021, we acquired a remaining ownership interest in NetPay Solutions Group (“NetPay”), a multi-channel payment service provider offering a range of capabilities around onboarding, customer lifecycle, risk management, and settlement to businesses of all sizes. We previously held a noncontrolling equity interest in NetPay, which was accounted for under the equity method. NetPay is included within the Acceptance segment and further expands our ability to develop and deliver a wide range of customer-focused solutions and seamless payments experiences for our clients. On October 1, 2021, we acquired Integrity Payments, LLC (“AIP”), a business that promotes payment processing services for merchants and is included within the Acceptance segment. On June 14, 2021, we acquired Spend Labs Inc. (“SpendLabs”), a mobile-native, cloud-based software provider of commercial card payment solutions. SpendLabs is included within the Payments segment and further expands our digital capabilities across mobile and desktop devices for small and mid-sized businesses. On May 4, 2021, we acquired Pineapple Payments Holdings, LLC (“Pineapple Payments”), an independent sales organization (“ISO”) that provides payment processing, proprietary technology, and payment acceptance solutions for merchants. Pineapple Payments is included within the Acceptance segment and expands the reach of our payment solutions through its technology- and relationship-led distribution channels. On March 1, 2021, we acquired Radius8, Inc. (“Radius8”), a provider of a platform that uses consumer location and other information to drive incremental merchant transactions. Radius8 is included within the Acceptance segment and enhances our ability to help merchants increase sales, expand mobile application registration and improve one-to-one target marketing. On January 22, 2021, we acquired a remaining ownership interest in Ondot Systems, Inc. (“Ondot”), a digital experience platform provider for financial institutions. We previously held a noncontrolling equity interest in Ondot, which was accounted for at cost. Ondot is included within the Payments segment and further expands our digital capabilities, enhancing our suite of integrated payments, banking and merchant solutions. We acquired these businesses for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $882 million, net of $43 million of acquired cash and the fair value of our previously held equity interests of $36 million, and including earn-out provisions estimated at an aggregate fair value of $34 million. The results of operations for these acquired businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition.
On March 2, 2020, we acquired MerchantPro Express LLC (“MerchantPro”), an ISO that provides processing services, POS equipment and merchant cash advances to businesses across the United States. MerchantPro is included within the Acceptance segment and further expands our merchant services business. On March 18, 2020, we acquired Bypass Mobile, LLC (“Bypass”), an independent software vendor and innovator in enterprise POS systems for sports and entertainment venues, food service management providers and national restaurant chains. Bypass is included within the Acceptance segment and further enhances our ability to help businesses deliver seamless physical and digital customer experiences. On May 11, 2020, we acquired Inlet, LLC (“Inlet”), a provider of secure digital delivery solutions for enterprise and middle-market billers’ invoices and statements. Inlet is included within the Payments segment and further enhances our digital bill payment strategy. We acquired these businesses for an aggregate purchase price of $167 million, net of $2 million of acquired cash, and including earn-out provisions estimated at a fair value of $45 million. The results of operations for these acquired businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition.
On July 29, 2019, we acquired First Data for a total purchase price of $46.5 billion by acquiring 100% of the First Data stock that was issued and outstanding as of the date of acquisition. As a result of the acquisition, First Data stockholders received 286 million shares of common stock of Fiserv, Inc., at an exchange ratio of 0.303 shares of Fiserv, Inc. for each share of First Data common stock, with cash paid in lieu of fractional shares. We also converted 15 million outstanding First Data equity awards into corresponding equity awards relating to common stock of Fiserv, Inc. in accordance with the exchange ratio. In addition, concurrent with the closing of the acquisition, we made a cash payment of $16.4 billion to repay existing First Data debt. We
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funded the transaction-related expenses and the repayment of First Data debt through a combination of available cash on-hand, proceeds from the issuance of senior notes, and term loan and revolving credit facility borrowings. The acquisition of First Data, included within the Acceptance and Payments segments, increases our footprint as a global payments and financial technology provider by expanding the portfolio of services provided to financial institutions, corporate and merchant clients and consumers.
In February 2022, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining ownership interest in Finxact, Inc. (“Finxact”), a developer of cloud-native banking solutions powering digital transformation throughout financial services, for approximately $650 million. We expect the acquisition to close in 2022, subject to customary approvals and closing conditions. Upon closing of the acquisition, Finxact will be included within the Fintech segment. We expect to recognize a gain on the remeasurement of our previously held equity interest to its fair value at the acquisition date.
Dispositions
Effective July 1, 2020, we and Bank of America (“BANA”) dissolved the Banc of America Merchant Services joint venture (“BAMS” or the “joint venture”), of which we maintained a 51% controlling ownership interest. Upon dissolution of the joint venture’s operations, the joint venture transferred a proportionate share of value, primarily the client contracts, to each party via an agreed upon contractual separation. The transfer of value to BANA was accounted for at fair value, resulting in the recognition of a pre-tax gain of $36 million, with a related tax expense of $13 million. The remaining activities of the joint venture consist primarily of an orderly wind down of remaining BAMS assets and liabilities. The revenues and expenses of the BAMS joint venture were consolidated into our financial results though the date of dissolution. The business transferred to us continues to be operated and managed within our Acceptance segment.
We will continue to provide merchant processing and related services to former BAMS clients allocated to BANA, at BAMS pricing, through June 2023. We will also provide processing and other support services to new BANA merchant clients pursuant to a five-year non-exclusive agreement which, after June 2023, will also apply to the former BAMS clients allocated to BANA. In addition, both companies are entitled to certain transition services, at fair value, from each other through June 2023.
On February 18, 2020, we sold a 60% controlling interest of our Investment Services business, subsequently renamed as Tegra118, LLC (“Tegra118”), which is reported within Corporate and Other. We received pre-tax proceeds of $578 million, net of related expenses, resulting in a pre-tax gain on the sale of $428 million, with a related tax expense of $112 million. The revenues, expenses and cash flows of the Investment Services business were consolidated into our financial results through the date of the sale transaction, and is reported within Corporate and Other. On February 2, 2021, Tegra118 completed a merger with a third party, resulting in a dilution of our ownership interest in the combined new entity, Wealthtech Holdings, LLC, which was subsequently renamed as InvestCloud Holdings, LLC (“InvestCloud”). In connection with the transaction, we made an additional capital contribution of $200 million into the combined entity and recognized a pre-tax gain of $28 million, with a related tax expense of $6 million. On June 30, 2021, we sold our entire ownership interest in InvestCloud for $466 million, resulting in a pre-tax gain of $33 million, with a related tax expense of $8 million. We will continue to provide various technical and data center related services for defined periods under the terms of a pre-existing transition services agreement.
Enterprise Priorities
We aspire to move money and information in a way that moves the world by delivering superior value for our clients through leading technology, targeted innovation and excellence in everything we do. We achieve this through active portfolio management of our business, enhancing the overall value of our existing client relationships, improving operational effectiveness, being disciplined in our allocation of capital, and differentiating our products and services through innovation. Our long-term priorities are to (i) continue to build high-quality revenue while meeting our earnings goals; (ii) enhance client relationships with an emphasis on digital and payment solutions; (iii) deliver innovation and integration which enables differentiated value for our clients; and (iv) deliver integration value from acquisitions.
Industry Trends
The global payments landscape continues to evolve, with rapidly advancing technologies and a steady expansion of digital payments, e-commerce and innovation in real-time payments infrastructure. Because of this growth, competition also continues to evolve. Business and consumer expectations continue to rise, with a focus on convenience and security. To meet these expectations, payments companies are focused on modernizing their technology, expanding the use of data and enhancing the customer experience.
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Merchants
The rapid growth in and globalization of mobile and e-commerce, driven by consumers’ desire for convenient and efficient shopping experiences, has created an opportunity for merchants to reach consumers in high-growth online and mobile settings, which often requires a merchant acquiring provider to enable and optimize the acceptance of payments. Merchants are demanding simple, integrated and modern POS systems to help manage their everyday business operations. When combined with the ever-increasing ways a consumer can pay for goods and services, merchants have sought modern POS systems to streamline this complexity. Furthermore, merchants can now search, discover, compare, purchase and even install a new POS system through direct, digital-only experiences. This direct, digital-only channel is quickly becoming a source of new merchant acquisition opportunities, especially with respect to smaller merchants.
In addition, there are numerous software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) solutions in the industry, many of which have chosen to integrate merchant acquiring within their software as a way to further monetize their client relationships. SaaS solutions that integrate payments are often referred to as ISVs, and we believe there are thousands of these potential distribution partnership opportunities available to us.
We believe that our merchant acquiring products and solutions create compelling value propositions for merchant clients of all sizes, from small and mid-sized businesses (or “SMBs”) to medium-sized regional businesses to global enterprise merchants, and across all verticals. Furthermore, we believe that our sizable and diverse client base, combined with valued partnerships with merchant acquiring businesses of small, medium and large financial institutions, and non-financial institutions, gives us a solid foundation for growth.
Financial Institutions
Financial service providers regularly introduce and implement new payment, deposit, risk management, lending and investment products, and the distinctions among the products and services traditionally offered by different types of financial institutions continue to narrow as they seek to serve the same customers. At the same time, the evolving global regulatory and cybersecurity landscape has continued to create a challenging operating environment for financial institutions. These conditions are driving heightened interest in solutions that help financial institutions win and retain customers, generate incremental revenue, comply with regulations and enhance operating efficiency. Examples of these solutions include electronic payments and delivery methods such as internet, mobile and tablet banking, sometimes referred to as “digital channels,” which enable financial institutions to offer their customers an industry-leading digital banking experience.
The focus on digital channels by both financial institutions and their customers, as well as the growing volume and types of payment transactions in the marketplace, continues to elevate the data and transaction processing needs of financial institutions. We expect that financial institutions will continue to invest significant capital and human resources to process transactions, manage information, maintain regulatory compliance and offer innovative new services to their customers in this rapidly evolving and competitive environment. We anticipate that we will benefit over the long term from the trend of financial institutions moving from in-house technology to outsourced solutions as they seek to remain current on technology changes in an evolving marketplace. We believe that economies of scale in developing and maintaining the infrastructure, technology, products, services and networks necessary to be competitive in such an environment are essential to justify these investments, and we anticipate that demand for products that facilitate customer interaction with financial institutions, including a unified, seamless customer experience across mobile and online channels, will continue to increase, which we expect to create revenue opportunities for us.
In addition to the trends described above, during the past 25 years, the number of financial institutions in the United States has declined at a relatively steady rate of approximately 3% per year, primarily as a result of voluntary mergers and acquisitions. Rather than reducing the overall market, these consolidations have transferred accounts among financial institutions. If a client loss occurs due to merger or acquisition, we typically receive a contract termination fee based on the size of the client and how early in the contract term the contract is terminated. These fees can vary from period to period with the variance depending on the quantum of financial institution merger activity in a given period and whether or not our clients are involved in the activity. Our focus on long-term client relationships and recurring, transaction-oriented products and services has also reduced the impact that consolidation in the financial services industry has had on us. We believe that the integration of our products and services creates a compelling value proposition for our clients by providing, among other things, new sources of revenue and opportunities to reduce their costs. Furthermore, we believe that our sizable and diverse client base, combined with our position as a leading provider of non-discretionary, recurring revenue-based products and services, gives us a solid foundation for growth.
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Recent Market Conditions
Since early 2020, the world has been, and continues to be, impacted by the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic, and various measures imposed by the governments of many countries, states, cities and other geographic regions to prevent its spread, have, among other matters, negatively impacted consumer and business spending and, as a result, our operating performance, primarily within our merchant acquiring and payment-related businesses, which earn transaction-based fees.
We experienced a significant decrease in payments volume and transactions beginning in late March 2020 that negatively impacted our merchant acquiring and payment-related businesses as well as modest declines in other businesses. Merchant acquiring transaction and payment volumes began to partially recover throughout the remainder of 2020 and have continued to grow throughout 2021. Accordingly, our merchant acquiring and payment-related businesses were less impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic during 2021 than they were throughout most of fiscal 2020. While this current business trend is positive, the extent of the adverse impact of the pandemic on our business, results of operations, liquidity and financial condition will depend on, among other matters, the duration and intensity of the pandemic; the level of success of global vaccination efforts; governmental and private sector responses to the pandemic and the impact of such responses on us; and the impact of the pandemic on our employees, clients, vendors, supply chain, operations and sales, all of which are uncertain, difficult to predict and may remain prevalent for a significant period of time even after the pandemic subsides, including due to a continued or prolonged recession in the U.S. or other major economies.
In 2021, we began observing increasing shortages and delays in the global supply chain for components and inputs necessary to our businesses, such as semiconductors, paper and plastic, and may experience difficulty procuring those components and inputs in the future on a timely basis or at historical prices.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also caused us to modify our business practices, including restricting travel, limiting non-essential visitors to our facilities, disinfecting facilities, providing onsite testing and personal protective equipment to employees, establishing a variety of safety protocols at facilities, and requiring U.S. employees to be fully vaccinated unless they have an approved medical, religious, or state exemption.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, which require management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses. We continually evaluate the accounting policies and estimates that we use to prepare our consolidated financial statements, including for recently adopted accounting pronouncements, and base our estimates on historical experience and assumptions that we believe are reasonable in light of current circumstances. Actual amounts and results could differ materially from these estimates.
Acquisitions
From time to time, we make strategic acquisitions that may have a material impact on our consolidated results of operations or financial position. We allocate the purchase price of acquired businesses to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the transaction at their estimated fair values. The estimates used to determine the fair value of long-lived assets, such as intangible assets, can be complex and require significant judgments. We use information available to us to make fair value determinations and engage independent valuation specialists, when necessary, to assist in the fair value determination of significant acquired long-lived assets. The determination of fair value requires estimates about discount rates, growth and retention rates, royalty rates, expected future cash flows and other future events that are judgmental in nature. While we use our best estimates and assumptions as a part of the purchase price allocation process, our estimates are inherently uncertain and subject to refinement. As a result, during the measurement period, which may be up to one year from the acquisition date, we record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with the corresponding offset to goodwill. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period or final determination of the values of assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever comes first, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to our consolidated statements of income. We are also required to estimate the useful lives of intangible assets to determine the amount of acquisition-related intangible asset amortization expense to record in future periods. We periodically review the estimated useful lives assigned to our intangible assets to determine whether such estimated useful lives continue to be appropriate. Additional information regarding our acquisitions is included in Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements.
Goodwill and Intangible Assets
We review the carrying value of goodwill for impairment annually, or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill is tested for impairment at a reporting unit level, which is one level below our
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reportable segments. When reviewing goodwill for impairment, we consider the prior test’s amount of excess fair value over the carrying value of each reporting unit, the period of time since a reporting unit’s last quantitative test, the extent a reorganization or disposition changes the composition of one or more of our reporting units, and other factors to determine whether or not to first perform a qualitative test. When performing a qualitative test, we assess numerous factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of our reporting units are less than their respective carrying values. Examples of qualitative factors that we assess include our share price, our financial performance, market and competitive factors in our industry and other events specific to our reporting units. If we conclude that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, we perform a quantitative impairment test.
The quantitative impairment test compares the estimated fair value of the reporting unit to its carrying value, and recognizes an impairment loss for the amount by which a reporting unit’s carrying amount exceeds its fair value, without exceeding the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. We determine the fair value of a reporting unit using both a discounted cash flow analysis and a market approach. Determining the fair value of a reporting unit involves judgment and the use of significant estimates and assumptions, which include assumptions regarding the revenue growth rates and operating margins used to calculate estimated future cash flows, risk-adjusted discount rates and future economic and market conditions.
Our most recent annual impairment assessment of our reporting units in the fourth quarter of 2021 determined that our goodwill of $36.4 billion was not impaired as the estimated fair values of the respective reporting units exceeded the carrying values. However, for three of our reporting units that were acquired as part of the First Data acquisition, with aggregate goodwill of $11.1 billion, the excess of the respective reporting unit’s fair value over carrying value ranged from 8 to 21 percent. If future operating performance is below our expectations or there are changes to forecasted revenue growth rates, risk-adjusted discount rates, effective income tax rates, merchant alliance agreements or some combination thereof, a decline in the fair value of the reporting units could result in, and we may be required to record, a goodwill impairment charge. It is also reasonably possible that future developments related to the interest rate environment or the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on certain of our recently acquired (recorded at fair value) First Data businesses, such as an increased duration and intensity of the pandemic and/or government-imposed restrictions, could have a future material impact on one or more of the estimates and assumptions used to evaluate goodwill impairment. We have no accumulated goodwill impairment through December 31, 2021. Additional information regarding our goodwill is included in Note 8 to the consolidated financial statements.
We review intangible assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable. We review capitalized software development costs for impairment at each reporting date. Recoverability of intangible assets is assessed by comparing the carrying amount of the asset to either the undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset or the net realizable value of the asset, depending on the type of asset. Determining future cash flows and net realizable values involves judgment and the use of significant estimates and assumptions regarding future economic and market conditions. Measurement of any impairment loss is based on estimated fair value. Given the significance of our goodwill and intangible asset balances, an adverse change in fair value could result in an impairment charge, which could be material to our consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
Revenue is measured based on consideration specified in a contract with a customer, and excludes any amounts collected on behalf of third parties. As a practical expedient, we do not adjust the transaction price for the effects of a significant financing component if, at contract inception, the period between customer payment and the transfer of goods or services is expected to be one year or less. Contracts with customers are evaluated on a contract-by-contract basis as contracts may include multiple types of goods and services as described below.
Processing and Services
Processing and services revenue is generated from account- and transaction-based fees for data processing, merchant transaction processing and acquiring, electronic billing and payment services, electronic funds transfer and debit/credit processing services; consulting and professional services; and software maintenance for ongoing client support.
We recognize processing and services revenues in the period in which the specific service is performed unless they are not deemed distinct from other goods or services, in which case revenue would then be recognized as control is transferred of the combined goods and services. Our arrangements for processing and services typically consist of an obligation to provide specific services to our customers on a when- and if-needed basis (a stand-ready obligation) and revenue is recognized from the satisfaction of the performance obligations in the amount billable to the customer. These services are typically provided under a fixed or declining (tier-based) price per unit based on volume of service; however, pricing for services may also be based on minimum monthly usage fees. Fees for our processing and services arrangements are typically billed and paid on a monthly basis.
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Product
Product revenue is generated from print and card production sales, as well as software license and hardware (POS devices) sales. For software license agreements that are distinct, we recognize software license revenue upon delivery, assuming a contract is deemed to exist. Revenue for arrangements with customers that include significant customization, modification or production of software such that the software is not distinct is typically recognized over time based upon efforts expended, such as labor hours, to measure progress towards completion. For arrangements involving hosted licensed software for the customer, a software element is considered present to the extent the customer has the contractual right to take possession of the software at any time during the hosting period without significant penalty and it is feasible for the customer to either operate the software on their own hardware or contract with another vendor to host the software. We sell or lease hardware (POS devices) and other peripherals as part of our contracts with customers. Hardware typically consists of terminals or Clover devices. We do not manufacture hardware, rather we purchase hardware from third-party vendors and hold such hardware in inventory until purchased by a customer. We account for sales of hardware as a separate performance obligation and recognize the revenue at its standalone selling price when the customer obtains control of the hardware.
Significant Judgments
We use the following methods, inputs and assumptions in determining amounts of revenue to recognize. For multi-element arrangements, we account for individual goods or services as a separate performance obligation if they are distinct, the good or service is separately identifiable from other items in the arrangement, and if a customer can benefit from the good or service on its own or with other resources that are readily available to the customer. If these criteria are not met, the promised goods or services are accounted for as a combined performance obligation. Determining whether goods or services are distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately may require significant judgment.
Technology or service components from third parties are frequently embedded in or combined with our applications or service offerings. Whether we recognize revenue based on the gross amount billed to a customer or the net amount retained involves judgment that depends on the relevant facts and circumstances including the level of contractual responsibilities and obligations for delivering solutions to end customers to determine whether we obtain control of goods and services prior to their transfer to a customer.
The transaction price is determined based on the consideration to which we will be entitled in exchange for transferring products or services to the customer. We include any fixed charges within our contracts as part of the total transaction price. To the extent that variable consideration is not constrained, we include an estimate of the variable amount, as appropriate, within the total transaction price and update our assumptions over the duration of the contract. We may constrain the estimated transaction price in the event of a high degree of uncertainty as to the final consideration amount owed because of an extended length of time over which the fees may be adjusted. The transaction price (including any discounts or rebates) is allocated between distinct goods and services in a multi-element arrangement based on their relative standalone selling prices. For items that are not sold separately, we estimate the standalone selling prices using available information such as market conditions and internally approved pricing guidelines. Significant judgment may be required to determine standalone selling prices for each performance obligation and whether it depicts the amount we expect to receive in exchange for the related good or service.
Contract modifications occur when we and our customers agree to modify existing customer contracts to change the scope or price (or both) of the contract or when a customer terminates some, or all, of the existing services provided by us. When a contract modification occurs, it requires us to exercise judgment to determine if the modification should be accounted for as (i) a separate contract, (ii) the termination of the original contract and creation of a new contract, or (iii) a cumulative catch up adjustment to the original contract. Further, contract modifications require the identification and evaluation of the performance obligations of the modified contract, including the allocation of revenue to the remaining performance obligations and the period of recognition for each identified performance obligation.
Additional information regarding our revenue recognition policies is included in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements.
Income Taxes
The determination of our provision for income taxes requires management’s judgment in the use of estimates and the interpretation and application of complex tax laws, sometimes made more complex by our global footprint. Judgment is also required in assessing the timing and amounts of deductible and taxable items. We establish a liability for known tax exposures relating to deductions, transactions and other matters involving some uncertainty as to the proper tax treatment of the item. In establishing a liability for known tax exposures, assumptions are made in determining whether, and the extent to which, a tax position will be sustained. A tax benefit with respect to a tax position is recognized only when it is more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by the relevant taxing authority, based on its technical merits, considering the facts and circumstances available as of the reporting date. The amount of tax benefit recognized reflects the largest benefit that we
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believe is more likely than not to be realized on settlement with the relevant taxing authority. As new information becomes available, we evaluate our tax positions and adjust our liability for known tax exposures as appropriate.
We maintain net operating loss carryforwards in various taxing jurisdictions, resulting in the establishment of deferred tax assets. We establish a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets when, based upon the weight of all available evidence, we believe it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. In making this determination, we have considered the relative impact of all of the available positive and negative evidence regarding future sources of taxable income and available tax planning strategies. However, there could be a material impact to our effective tax rate if there is a significant change in our judgment. To the extent our judgment changes, the valuation allowances are then adjusted, generally through the provision for income taxes, in the period in which the change in facts and circumstances occurs. Additional information regarding our income taxes is included in Note 18 to the consolidated financial statements.
Results of Operations
Components of Revenue and Expenses
The following summary describes the components of revenue and expenses as presented in our consolidated statements of income.
Processing and Services
Processing and services revenue, which in 2021 represented 82% of our total revenue, is primarily generated from account- and transaction-based fees under multi-year contracts. Processing and services revenue is most reflective of our business performance as a significant amount of our total operating profit is generated by these services. Cost of processing and services includes costs directly associated with providing services to clients and includes the following: personnel; equipment and data communication; infrastructure costs, including costs to maintain software applications; client support; certain depreciation and amortization; and other operating expenses.
Product
Product revenue, which in 2021 represented 18% of our total revenue, is primarily derived from print and card production sales, as well as software license and hardware (primarily POS devices) sales. Cost of product includes costs directly associated with the products sold and includes the following: costs of materials, postage and software development; hardware costs (primarily POS devices); personnel; infrastructure costs; certain depreciation and amortization; and other costs directly associated with product revenue.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses primarily consist of: salaries, wages, commissions and related expenses paid to sales personnel, administrative employees and management; third-party commissions; advertising and promotional costs; certain depreciation and amortization; and other selling and administrative expenses.
Synergies from the First Data Acquisition
Following the acquisition of First Data, we have continued to implement our post-merger integration plans to achieve synergies and future expected economic benefits, including enhanced revenue growth from expanded capabilities and geographic presence as well as substantial cost savings from the elimination of duplicative overhead and enhanced operational efficiency. As of December 31, 2021, we have achieved 80% of our $600 million revenue synergy target and expect to attain the remaining revenue synergies by the end of 2022. In addition, we have completed the integration activities associated with the achievement of cost synergies, having actioned $1.2 billion in cost synergies as of December 31, 2021, and we expect to incur lower acquisition and integration related costs in 2022.
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Financial Results
The following table presents certain amounts included in our consolidated statements of income, the relative percentage that those amounts represent to revenue and the change in those amounts from year to year. This section discusses fiscal year 2021 compared to 2020. Discussions of fiscal year 2020 compared to 2019 can be found in Part II, “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Form 10-K for fiscal year 2020, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 2021. This information should be read together with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. The financial results presented below have been affected by acquisitions, dispositions, and foreign currency fluctuations.
| (In millions) | Percentage of Revenue (1) | Increase (Decrease) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | 2021 vs. 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Processing and services | $ | 13,307 | $ | 12,215 | 82.0 | % | 82.2 | % | $ | 1,092 | 9 | % | ||||||||||||
| Product | 2,919 | 2,637 | 18.0 | % | 17.8 | % | 282 | 11 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | 16,226 | 14,852 | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 1,374 | 9 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Expenses: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of processing and services | 6,084 | 5,841 | 45.7 | % | 47.8 | % | 243 | 4 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Cost of product | 2,044 | 1,971 | 70.0 | % | 74.7 | % | 73 | 4 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Sub-total | 8,128 | 7,812 | 50.1 | % | 52.6 | % | 316 | 4 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 5,810 | 5,652 | 35.8 | % | 38.1 | % | 158 | 3 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Gain on sale of businesses | — | (464) | — | % | (3.1) | % | (464) | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Total expenses | 13,938 | 13,000 | 85.9 | % | 87.5 | % | 938 | 7 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 2,288 | 1,852 | 14.1 | % | 12.5 | % | 436 | 24 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | (693) | (709) | (4.3) | % | (4.8) | % | (16) | (2) | % | |||||||||||||||
| Other income | 71 | 28 | 0.4 | % | 0.2 | % | 43 | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Income before income taxes and income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 1,666 | 1,171 | 10.3 | % | 7.9 | % | 495 | 42 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income tax provision | (363) | (196) | (2.2) | % | (1.3) | % | 167 | 85 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | 100 | — | 0.6 | % | — | % | 100 | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Net income | 1,403 | 975 | 8.6 | % | 6.6 | % | 428 | 44 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Less: net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests | 69 | 17 | 0.4 | % | 0.1 | % | 52 | n/m | ||||||||||||||||
| Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. | $ | 1,334 | $ | 958 | 8.2 | % | 6.5 | % | $ | 376 | 39 | % |
(1)Percentage of revenue is calculated as the relevant revenue, expense, income amount divided by total revenue, except for cost of processing and services and cost of product amounts, which are divided by the related component of revenue.
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| (In millions) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | Acceptance | Fintech | Payments | Corporate and Other | Total | |||||||||||||||||
| Total revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | $ | 6,479 | $ | 3,022 | $ | 5,833 | $ | 892 | $ | 16,226 | ||||||||||||
| 2020 | 5,522 | 2,901 | 5,504 | 925 | 14,852 | |||||||||||||||||
| Revenue growth: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | $ | 957 | $ | 121 | $ | 329 | $ | (33) | $ | 1,374 | ||||||||||||
| 2021 percentage | 17 | % | 4 | % | 6 | % | 9 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Operating income: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | $ | 1,996 | $ | 1,081 | $ | 2,557 | $ | (3,346) | $ | 2,288 | ||||||||||||
| 2020 | 1,427 | 992 | 2,361 | (2,928) | 1,852 | |||||||||||||||||
| Operating income growth: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | $ | 569 | $ | 89 | $ | 196 | $ | (418) | $ | 436 | ||||||||||||
| 2021 percentage | 40 | % | 9 | % | 8 | % | 24 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Operating margin: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 30.8 | % | 35.8 | % | 43.8 | % | 14.1 | % | ||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 25.9 | % | 34.2 | % | 42.9 | % | 12.5 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Operating margin growth: (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 490 | bps | 160 | bps | 90 | bps | 160 | bps |
(1)Represents the basis point growth or decline in operating margin.
Operating margin percentages are calculated using actual, unrounded amounts.
Total Revenue
Total revenue increased $1,374 million, or 9%, in 2021 compared to 2020. The revenue increase was primarily due to improved payment and transaction volumes across all of our business segments, partially offset by the loss of revenue attributable to dispositions that had revenue of $155 million in 2020. In addition, the revenue in our merchant acquiring and payment-related businesses were more adversely affected by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020 than during 2021.
Revenue in our Acceptance segment increased $957 million, or 17%, in 2021 compared to 2020. The revenue increase was primarily due to growth from improved merchant acquiring payment and transaction volumes, partially offset by a reduction in revenue of 2% from the July 2020 dissolution of the BAMS joint venture.
Revenue in our Fintech segment increased $121 million, or 4%, in 2021 compared to 2020, driven by recurring revenue growth from higher processing revenue across our Fintech businesses.
Revenue in our Payments segment increased $329 million, or 6%, in 2021 compared to 2020. Payments segment revenue growth was driven by revenue contributions of 3% from our debit processing business primarily attributable to increased transaction volumes and favorable pricing. Increased volumes also drove favorable revenue growth across our remaining Payments segment businesses, other than in our bill payment business which partially offset revenue growth by 1% in 2021.
Revenue at Corporate and Other decreased $33 million, or 4%, in 2021 compared to 2020, primarily due to the disposition of a 60% controlling interest of our Investment Services business.
Total Expenses
Total expenses increased $938 million, or 7%, in 2021 compared to 2020. Total expenses in 2020 included a 3% benefit from gains on sale of businesses. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue decreased by 160 basis points to 85.9% in 2021 compared to 2020. Total expenses as a percentage of total revenue in 2021 decreased primarily as a result of operating efficiencies and cost savings from First Data acquisition-related cost synergies.
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Cost of processing and services as a percentage of processing and services revenue decreased to 45.7% in 2021 compared to 47.8% in 2020. Cost of processing and services as a percentage of processing and services revenue was favorably impacted in 2021 due primarily to strong operating leverage, including cost synergies, across our businesses, partially offset by increased acquisition and integration related expenses of approximately 80 basis points in 2021 as compared to 2020.
Cost of product as a percentage of product revenue decreased to 70.0% in 2021 compared to 74.7% in 2020. The cost of product as a percentage of product revenue improved in 2021 as a result of revenue mix.
Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue decreased to 35.8% in 2021 compared to 38.1% in 2020. The decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue in 2021 was primarily due to strong operating leverage and operating efficiencies across our businesses, along with approximately 90 basis points from decreased acquisition and integration related expenses and approximately 20 basis points from lower employee termination costs in 2021.
The gains on sale of businesses in 2020 resulted from a gain of $428 million on the sale of a 60% interest of our Investment Services business in February 2020 and a gain of $36 million on the dissolution of BAMS in July 2020.
Operating Income and Operating Margin
Total operating income increased $436 million, or 24%, in 2021 compared to 2020. Total operating margin increased 160 basis points to 14.1% in 2021 compared to 2020. Total operating income and total operating margin benefited from improved operating leverage accompanying scalable revenue growth in 2021, as well as from operating efficiencies as noted above. Total operating income and total operating margin were also impacted by a $428 million gain on the sale of a 60% interest of our Investment Services business in February 2020 and a $36 million gain on the dissolution of BAMS in July 2020.
Operating income in our Acceptance segment increased $569 million, or 40%, in 2021 compared to 2020. Operating margin increased 490 basis points to 30.8% in 2021 compared to 2020. Operating margin growth in 2021 was primarily due to revenue growth as noted above.
Operating income in our Fintech segment increased $89 million, or 9%, in 2021 compared to 2020. Operating margin increased 160 basis points to 35.8% in 2021 compared to 2020. Operating margin improvement in 2021 was driven by scalable revenue growth discussed above, along with expense management initiatives across the segment, including lower personnel costs of approximately 60 basis points.
Operating income in our Payments segment increased $196 million, or 8%, in 2021 compared to 2020. Operating margin increased 90 basis points to 43.8% in 2021 compared to 2020. Operating margin growth in 2021 was primarily attributable to operating efficiencies and cost synergies.
The operating loss in Corporate and Other increased $418 million in 2021 compared to 2020. Corporate and Other was favorably impacted in the prior year by a $428 million gain on the sale of a 60% interest of our Investment Services business in February 2020 and a $36 million gain on the dissolution of BAMS in July 2020.
Interest Expense, Net
Interest expense, net decreased $16 million, or 2%, in 2021 compared to 2020 due to lower effective interest rates on outstanding borrowings.
Other Income
Other income increased $43 million in 2021 compared to 2020. Other income includes net foreign currency transaction gains and losses, gains or losses from a change in fair value of investments in certain equity securities, and amounts related to debt guarantee arrangements of certain joint ventures. Net foreign currency transaction gains (losses) were $12 million and ($20) million in 2021 and 2020, respectively. Other income in 2021 includes $12 million related to a pre-tax gain on the remeasurement of a previously held investment in Ondot to fair value upon acquiring the remaining ownership interest in the entity and $20 million related to a gain on sale of investments in certain equity securities. Other income in 2020 includes $19 million related to a pre-tax gain on the sale of certain lease receivables.
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Income Tax Provision
Income tax provision as a percentage of income before income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates was 21.8% and 16.7% in 2021 and 2020, respectively. The increase in the effective income tax rate in 2021 compared to 2020 was primarily the result of $134 million of income tax expense attributed to the revaluation of certain net deferred tax liabilities in connection with corporate income tax rate changes enacted in 2021 in the United Kingdom (tax rate increased from 19% to 25% starting in 2023) and Argentina (tax rate increased from 25% to 35%).
Income from Investments in Unconsolidated Affiliates
Our share of net income from affiliates accounted for using the equity method of accounting is reported as income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates and the related tax expense is reported within the income tax provision in the consolidated statements of income. Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates, including acquired intangible asset amortization from valuations in purchase accounting, was $100 million and $0 million in 2021 and 2020, respectively. Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates was favorably impacted by improved operating results within the unconsolidated affiliates in 2021. Additionally, income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates in 2021 included a $33 million pre-tax gain resulting from the sale of our remaining ownership interest in InvestCloud and a $28 million pre-tax gain resulting from the dilution of our ownership interest in connection with the Tegra118 merger with a third party.
Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests relates to the minority partners’ share of the net income in our consolidated subsidiaries. Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests, including acquired intangible asset amortization from valuations in purchase accounting, was $69 million and $17 million in 2021 and 2020, respectively. Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests increased in 2021 compared to 2020 due to improved operating results within the consolidated subsidiaries.
Net Income Per Share - Diluted
Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. per share-diluted was $1.99 and $1.40 in 2021 and 2020, respectively. Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. per share-diluted increased in 2021 primarily as a result of the improved operating results discussed above. Net income attributable to Fiserv, Inc. per share-diluted in 2020 included a gain from the sale of a 60% interest of our Investment Services business and a gain on the dissolution of BAMS.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
Our primary liquidity needs in the ordinary course of business are to: (i) fund normal operating expenses; (ii) meet the interest and principal requirements of our outstanding indebtedness, including finance leases; and (iii) fund capital expenditures and operating lease payments. We believe these needs will be satisfied in both the short term and the long term using cash flow generated by our operations, along with our cash and cash equivalents of $835 million, proceeds from the issuance of U.S. and Euro commercial paper notes, and available capacity under our revolving credit facility of $1.6 billion (net of outstanding balance and $1.8 billion of capacity designated for outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper notes programs) at December 31, 2021. The following table summarizes our operating cash flow and capital expenditure amounts for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
| Year Ended December 31, | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | 2021 | 2020 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 1,403 | $ | 975 | $ | 428 | ||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 3,248 | 3,257 | (9) | |||||||||||
| Share-based compensation | 239 | 369 | (130) | |||||||||||
| Deferred income taxes | (262) | 71 | (333) | |||||||||||
| Gain on sale of businesses | — | (464) | 464 | |||||||||||
| Income from investments in unconsolidated affiliates | (100) | — | (100) | |||||||||||
| Distributions from unconsolidated affiliates | 34 | 42 | (8) | |||||||||||
| Non-cash impairment charges | 15 | 124 | (109) | |||||||||||
| Net changes in working capital and other | (543) | (227) | (316) | |||||||||||
| Operating cash flow | $ | 4,034 | $ | 4,147 | $ | (113) | (3) | % | ||||||
| Capital expenditures, including capitalized software and other intangibles | $ | 1,160 | $ | 900 | $ | 260 | 29 | % |
Our net cash provided by operating activities, or operating cash flow, was $4.0 billion in 2021, a decrease of 3% compared with $4.1 billion in 2020. This decrease was primarily attributable to higher working capital use compared to the prior year, including increased accounts receivable corresponding to revenue growth, and higher income tax payments following consumption of certain federal net operating loss carryforwards, partially offset by improved operating results.
Our current policy is to use our operating cash flow to primarily fund capital expenditures, share repurchases, acquisitions and to repay debt rather than to pay dividends. Our capital expenditures were approximately 7% and 6% of our total revenue in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Cash Requirements
The following table details our future cash requirements under certain contractual obligations at December 31, 2021:
| (In millions) | Total | Less than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-term debt including interest (1) (2) | $ | 25,822 | $ | 983 | $ | 8,045 | $ | 4,411 | $ | 12,383 | |||||||||
| Minimum finance lease payments (1) | 470 | 138 | 273 | 59 | — | ||||||||||||||
| Minimum operating lease payments (1) (3) | 845 | 125 | 213 | 156 | 351 | ||||||||||||||
| Purchase obligations (1) | 1,727 | 753 | 697 | 152 | 125 | ||||||||||||||
| Income tax obligations | 124 | 23 | 26 | 37 | 38 | ||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 28,988 | $ | 2,022 | $ | 9,254 | $ | 4,815 | $ | 12,897 |
(1)Interest, finance lease, operating lease and purchase obligations are reported on a pre-tax basis.
(2)The calculations assume that only mandatory debt repayments are made, no additional refinancing or lending occurs, except for our receivable securitized loan due in July 2022, 3.50% notes due in October 2022, and U.S. and Euro commercial paper notes programs as we have the intent to refinance this debt on a long-term basis and the ability to do so under our revolving credit facility maturing in September 2023, and the variable rate on the revolving credit facility and term loans are priced at the rate in effect at December 31, 2021.
Share Repurchases
We purchased a total of $2.6 billion and $1.6 billion of our common stock in 2021 and 2020, respectively. At December 31, 2021, we had approximately 42.3 million shares remaining under our current repurchase authorizations. Shares repurchased are generally held for issuance in connection with our equity plans.
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Acquisitions and Dispositions
Acquisitions
In November 2021 we acquired BentoBox, in October 2021 we acquired AIP, in June 2021 we acquired SpendLabs, in May 2021 we acquired Pineapple Payments, and in March 2021 we acquired Radius8. Additionally, in November 2021, we acquired a remaining ownership interest in NetPay, and in January 2021, we acquired a remaining ownership interest in Ondot, in which we previously held noncontrolling equity interests. We acquired these businesses for an aggregate purchase price of $882 million, net of $43 million of acquired cash and the fair value of our previously held equity interests of $36 million, and including earn-out provisions estimated at an aggregate fair value of $34 million. We funded these acquisitions by utilizing a combination of available cash, commercial paper notes and existing availability under our revolving credit facility. The results of operations for these acquired businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition.
In May 2020, we acquired Inlet and, in March 2020, we acquired MerchantPro and Bypass. We acquired these businesses for an aggregate purchase price of $167 million, net of $2 million of acquired cash, and including earn-out provisions estimated at a fair value of $45 million. We funded these acquisitions by utilizing a combination of available cash and existing availability under our revolving credit facility. The results of operations for these acquired businesses are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of acquisition.
On July 29, 2019, we acquired First Data for a total purchase price of $46.5 billion by acquiring 100% of the First Data stock that was issued and outstanding as of the date of acquisition. As a result of the acquisition, First Data stockholders received 286 million shares of common stock of Fiserv, Inc., at an exchange ratio of 0.303 shares of Fiserv, Inc. for each share of First Data common stock, with cash paid in lieu of fractional shares. We also converted 15 million outstanding First Data equity awards into corresponding equity awards relating to common stock of Fiserv, Inc. in accordance with the exchange ratio. In addition, concurrent with the closing of the acquisition, we made a cash payment of $16.4 billion to repay existing First Data debt. We funded the transaction-related expenses and the repayment of First Data debt through a combination of available cash on-hand, proceeds from the issuance of senior notes, and term loan and revolving credit facility borrowings.
In February 2022, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining ownership interest in Finxact for approximately $650 million, which we expect to close later in 2022, subject to customary approvals and closing conditions. We plan to fund this acquisition by utilizing a combination of available cash and available borrowing capacity.
Dispositions
Effective July 1, 2020, we and BANA dissolved the BAMS joint venture, of which we maintained a 51% controlling ownership interest. Upon dissolution of the joint venture’s operations, the joint venture transferred a proportionate share of value, primarily the client contracts, to each party via an agreed upon contractual separation. The remaining activities of the joint venture consist primarily of an orderly wind down of remaining BAMS assets and liabilities. The revenues and expenses of the BAMS joint venture were consolidated into our financial results through the date of dissolution. The business transferred to us is included within our Acceptance segment. We continue to provide merchant processing and related services to former BAMS clients allocated to BANA, at BAMS pricing, through June 2023. We will also provide processing and other support services to new BANA merchant clients pursuant to a five-year non-exclusive agreement which, after June 2023, will also apply to the former BAMS clients allocated to BANA. In addition, both companies are entitled to certain transition services, at fair value, from each other through June 2023.
In February 2020, we sold a 60% controlling interest of our Investment Services business, subsequently renamed as Tegra118. We received pre-tax proceeds of $578 million, net of related expenses, resulting in a pre-tax gain on the sale of $428 million, with the related tax expense of $112 million. The revenues, expenses and cash flows of the Investment Services business were consolidated into our financial results through the date of the sale transaction. The net proceeds from the sale were primarily used to repurchase shares of our common stock. In February 2021, Tegra118 completed a merger with a third party, resulting in a dilution of our ownership interest in the combined new entity, Wealthtech Holdings, LLC, which was subsequently renamed as InvestCloud. In connection with the transaction, we made an additional capital contribution, funded under our revolving credit facility, of $200 million into the combined entity and recognized a pre-tax gain of $28 million, with a related tax expense of $6 million. In June 2021, we sold our entire ownership interest in InvestCloud for $466 million, resulting in a pre-tax gain of $33 million, with a related tax expense of $8 million. The net proceeds from the sale were primarily used to pay down outstanding borrowings on our term loan facility.
We maintain a 45% ownership interest in Sagent M&C, LLC and a 31% ownership interest in defi SOLUTIONS Group, LLC (collectively, the “Lending Joint Ventures”). The Lending Joint Ventures maintain variable-rate term loan facilities with aggregate outstanding borrowings of $365 million in senior unsecured debt and variable-rate revolving credit facilities with an aggregate borrowing capacity of $45 million with a syndicate of banks, which mature in March 2023. Outstanding borrowings
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on the revolving credit facilities at December 31, 2021 were $16 million. We have guaranteed this debt of the Lending Joint Ventures and do not anticipate that the Lending Joint Ventures will fail to fulfill their debt obligations. We maintain a liability for the estimated fair value of our non-contingent obligations to stand ready to perform over the term of the guarantee arrangements. Such guarantees will be amortized in future periods over the contractual term, based upon amounts to be received by us for the respective guarantees. In addition, we maintain a contingent liability representing the current expected credit losses to which we are exposed. This contingent liability is estimated based on certain financial metrics of the Lending Joint Ventures and historical industry data, which is used to develop assumptions of the likelihood the guaranteed parties will default and the level of credit losses in the event a default occurs. We have not made any payments under the guarantees, nor have we been called upon to do so.
Indebtedness
Our debt consisted of the following at December 31:
| (In millions) | 2021 | 2020 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short-term and current maturities of long-term debt: | |||||||
| Foreign lines of credit | $ | 240 | $ | 144 | |||
| Finance lease and other financing obligations | 268 | 240 | |||||
| Total short-term and current maturities of long-term debt | $ | 508 | $ | 384 | |||
| Long-term debt: | |||||||
| 4.750% senior notes due June 2021 | $ | — | $ | 400 | |||
| 3.500% senior notes due October 2022 | 700 | 700 | |||||
| 0.375% senior notes due July 2023 (Euro-denominated) | 566 | 612 | |||||
| 3.800% senior notes due October 2023 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 2.750% senior notes due July 2024 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| 3.850% senior notes due June 2025 | 900 | 900 | |||||
| 2.250% senior notes due July 2025 (British Pound-denominated) | 705 | 709 | |||||
| 3.200% senior notes due July 2026 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| 2.250% senior notes due June 2027 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 1.125% senior notes due July 2027 (Euro-denominated) | 566 | 612 | |||||
| 4.200% senior notes due October 2028 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 3.500% senior notes due July 2029 | 3,000 | 3,000 | |||||
| 2.650% senior notes due June 2030 | 1,000 | 1,000 | |||||
| 1.625% senior notes due July 2030 (Euro-denominated) | 566 | 612 | |||||
| 3.000% senior notes due July 2031 (British Pound-denominated) | 705 | 709 | |||||
| 4.400% senior notes due July 2049 | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||
| U.S. commercial paper notes | 916 | — | |||||
| Euro commercial paper notes | 905 | — | |||||
| Revolving credit facility | 97 | 22 | |||||
| Receivable securitized loan | 500 | 425 | |||||
| Term loan facility | 200 | 1,250 | |||||
| Unamortized discount and deferred financing costs | (125) | (155) | |||||
| Finance lease and other financing obligations | 528 | 504 | |||||
| Total long-term debt | $ | 20,729 | $ | 20,300 |
At December 31, 2021, our debt consisted primarily of $17.7 billion of fixed rate senior notes, $1.8 billion of outstanding borrowings under our U.S. and Euro commercial paper notes programs and $500 million under our receivables securitized loan. Interest on our U.S. dollar-denominated senior notes is paid semi-annually, while interest on our Euro- and British Pound-denominated senior notes is paid annually. Interest on our revolving credit facility and commercial paper notes is paid weekly, or more frequently on occasion, and interest on our term loans is paid monthly. Outstanding borrowings under our 3.50% senior notes due in October 2022, the receivable securitized loan which matures in July 2022, and U.S and Euro commercial paper notes programs are classified in the consolidated balance sheet as long-term, as we have the intent to refinance these notes on a
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long-term basis through the continued issuance of new commercial paper notes upon maturity, and we also have the ability to refinance such notes under our revolving credit facility, which expires in September 2023. Our 4.75% senior notes due in June 2021 were classified in the consolidated balance sheet as long-term at December 31, 2020, as we had the intent and ability to refinance this debt on a long-term basis. These notes were subsequently refinanced in June 2021 through the issuance of U.S. commercial paper notes and proceeds obtained from the sale of our remaining ownership interest in InvestCloud.
We were in compliance with all financial debt covenants during 2021. Our ability to meet future debt covenant requirements will depend on our continued ability to generate earnings and cash flows. We expect to remain in compliance with all terms and conditions associated with our outstanding debt, including financial debt covenants.
Senior Notes
We have outstanding $17.7 billion of various fixed-rate senior notes, as described above. The indentures governing our senior notes contain covenants that, among other matters, limit (i) our ability to consolidate or merge with or into, or convey, transfer or lease all or substantially all of our properties and assets to, another person, (ii) our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to create or assume liens, and (iii) our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to engage in sale and leaseback transactions. We may, at our option, redeem the senior notes, in whole or from time to time in part, at any time prior to the applicable maturity date. The interest rate applicable to certain of the senior notes is subject to an increase of up to two percent in the event that the credit rating assigned to such notes is downgraded below investment grade.
Commercial Paper
We initiated an unsecured U.S. dollar commercial paper program in May 2021 and an unsecured Euro commercial paper program in November 2021. From time to time, we may issue under these programs U.S. dollar commercial paper with maturities of up to 397 days from the date of issuance and Euro commercial paper with maturities of up to 183 days from the date of issuance. We use the proceeds of commercial paper issued under these programs to pay down other outstanding indebtedness and for general corporate purposes. Outstanding borrowings under the commercial paper programs bear interest at a fixed rate based on the prevailing rates at the time of issuance of the relevant commercial paper. Outstanding borrowings under the U.S. dollar program were $916 million at December 31, 2021, with a weighted average interest rate of 0.295%. Outstanding borrowings under the Euro program were $905 million at December 31, 2021, with a weighted average interest rate of (0.420)%, with maturities generally ranging from one day to four months. We intend to maintain available capacity under our revolving credit facility in an amount at least equal to the outstanding borrowings under our commercial paper programs.
Revolving Credit Facility
We maintain an amended and restated revolving credit facility, which matures in September 2023, with aggregate commitments available for $3.5 billion of total capacity. U.S. dollar borrowings under the amended and restated revolving credit facility bear interest at a variable rate based on LIBOR, typically at the overnight or 1-month rates, or a base rate, plus, in each case, a specified margin based on our long-term debt rating in effect from time to time. Foreign currency borrowings under the amended and restated revolving credit facility bear interest at a variable rate based on a benchmark applicable to the relevant currency, plus, in each case, a specified margin based on our long-term debt rating in effect from time to time. The variable interest rate on the revolving credit facility borrowings was 1.16% at December 31, 2021. There are no significant commitment fees and no compensating balance requirements. The amended and restated revolving credit facility contains various restrictions and covenants that require us, among other things, to (i) limit our consolidated indebtedness as of the end of each fiscal quarter to no more than three and one-half times our consolidated net earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, non-cash charges and expenses and certain other adjustments (“EBITDA”) during the period of four fiscal quarters then ended, subject to certain exceptions, and (ii) maintain EBITDA of at least three times our consolidated interest expense as of the end of each fiscal quarter for the period of four fiscal quarters then ended.
Foreign Lines of Credit and Other Arrangements
We maintain certain short-term lines of credit with foreign banks and alliance partners primarily to fund settlement activity. These arrangements are primarily associated with international operations and are in various functional currencies, the most significant of which is the Argentine peso. We had amounts outstanding on these lines of credit totaling $240 million and $144 million at a weighted-average interest rate of 21.01% and 21.98% at December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Receivable Securitized Loan
We maintain a consolidated wholly-owned subsidiary, First Data Receivables, LLC (“FDR”). FDR is a party to certain receivables financing arrangements, including an agreement (“Receivables Financing Agreement”) with certain financial
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institutions and other persons from time to time party thereto as lenders and group agents, pursuant to which certain of our wholly-owned subsidiaries have agreed to transfer and contribute receivables to FDR, and FDR in turn may obtain borrowings from the financial institutions and other lender parties to the Receivables Financing Agreement secured by liens on those receivables. FDR’s assets are not available to satisfy the obligations of any other of our entities or affiliates, and FDR’s creditors would be entitled, upon its liquidation, to be satisfied out of FDR’s assets prior to any assets or value in FDR becoming available to us. FDR held $1.0 billion and $811 million in receivables as part of the securitization program at December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. FDR utilized the receivables as collateral in borrowings of $500 million and $425 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, at an average interest rate of 0.95% and 1.00%, respectively. Outstanding borrowings bear interest at a variable rate based on one-month LIBOR plus a specified margin. At December 31, 2021, the collateral capacity under the Receivables Financing Agreement was $747 million, and the maximum borrowing capacity was $500 million. The term of the Receivables Financing Agreement is through July 2022.
Term Loan Facility
We maintain a term loan credit agreement with a syndicate of financial institutions that was funded in conjunction with the acquisition of First Data in an original principal amount of $5.0 billion. Following various amortization payments and prepayments, the aggregate principal amount outstanding under such agreement was $200 million at December 31, 2021. Borrowings under the term loan facility bear interest at variable rates based on one-month LIBOR or on a base rate, plus, in each case, a specified margin based on our long-term debt rating in effect from time to time, and will mature in July 2024. The variable interest rate on the term loan facility borrowings was 1.35% at December 31, 2021. A portion of the net proceeds from our 2021 issuances of commercial paper, as described above, was used to pay down outstanding borrowings under the term loan facility. The term loan credit facility contains affirmative, negative and financial covenants, and events of default, that are substantially the same as those set forth in our existing amended and restated revolving credit facility, as described above.
Other
Access to capital markets impacts our cost of capital, our ability to refinance maturing debt and our ability to fund future acquisitions. Our ability to access capital on favorable terms depends on a number of factors, including general market conditions, interest rates, credit ratings on our debt securities, perception of our potential future earnings and the market price of our common stock. As of December 31, 2021, we had a corporate credit rating of Baa2 with a stable outlook from Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) and BBB with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“S&P”) on our senior unsecured debt securities. As of December 31, 2021, we had a commercial paper credit rating of P-2 from Moody’s and A-2 from S&P.
The interest rates payable on certain of our senior notes, our term loan, commercial paper notes programs and our revolving credit facility are subject to adjustment from time to time if Moody’s or S&P changes the debt rating applicable to the notes. If the ratings from Moody’s or S&P decrease below investment grade, the per annum interest rates on the senior notes are subject to increase by up to two percent. In no event will the total increase in the per annum interest rates exceed two percent above the original interest rates, nor will the per annum interest rate be reduced below the original interest rate applicable to the senior notes.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Investments, exclusive of settlement assets, with original maturities of three months or less that are readily convertible to cash are considered to be cash equivalents as reflected within our consolidated balance sheets. At December 31, 2021 and 2020, we held $835 million and $906 million in cash and cash equivalents, respectively.
The table below details the cash and cash equivalents at December 31:
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In millions) | Domestic | International | Total | Domestic | International | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Available | $ | 180 | $ | 221 | $ | 401 | $ | 337 | $ | 177 | $ | 514 | ||||||||||
| Unavailable (1) | 138 | 296 | 434 | 57 | 335 | 392 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 318 | $ | 517 | $ | 835 | $ | 394 | $ | 512 | $ | 906 |
(1)Represents cash held by our joint ventures that is not available to fund operations outside of those entities unless the board of directors for such entities declares a dividend, as well as cash held by certain other entities that are subject to foreign exchange controls in certain countries or regulatory capital requirements.
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Employee Termination Costs
In connection with the acquisition of First Data, we implemented integration plans focused on reducing our overall cost structure, including eliminating duplicate costs. We recorded $95 million and $131 million of employee termination costs related to severance and other separation costs for terminated employees, including those in connection with the acquisition of First Data, during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Accrued employee severance and other separation costs of $36 million at December 31, 2021 are expected to be paid within the next twelve months.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant uncertainty as to general global economic and market conditions. We believe we have adequate capital resources and sufficient access to external financing sources to satisfy our current and reasonably anticipated requirements for funds to conduct our operations and meet other needs in the ordinary course of our business. However, as the impact of the pandemic on the economy and our operations further evolves, we will continue to assess our liquidity needs. The ability to continue to service debt and meet lease and other obligations as they come due depends on our continued ability to generate earnings and cash flows. A lack of continued recovery or further deterioration in economic and market conditions could materially affect our future access to our sources of liquidity, particularly our cash flows from operations.
We engage in regular communication with the banks that participate in our revolving credit facility. During these communications, none of the banks have indicated that they may be unable to perform on their commitments. We periodically review our banking and financing relationships, considering the stability of the institutions, pricing we receive on services and other aspects of the relationships. Based on these communications and our monitoring activities, we believe the likelihood of one of our banks not performing on its commitment is remote. We maintain U.S. and Euro commercial paper notes programs to access funding for general corporate purposes at favorable rates and to provide a source of liquidity. As of December 31, 2021, we had a commercial paper credit rating of P-2 from Moody’s and A-2 from S&P. Any downgrade to our commercial paper credit ratings or instability in the commercial paper markets may adversely impact our ability to access funding through our commercial paper notes programs and require us to rely more heavily on more expensive financing arrangements, including our revolving credit facility. In addition, the long-term debt markets have historically provided us with a source of liquidity.
Although we do not currently anticipate an inability to obtain financing from long-term debt markets in the future, effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could make financing more difficult and/or expensive to obtain. Our ability to access the long-term debt markets on favorable interest rate and other terms also depends on the ratings assigned by the credit rating agencies to our indebtedness. As of December 31, 2021, we had a corporate credit rating of Baa2 with a stable outlook from Moody’s and BBB with a stable outlook from S&P. In the event that the ratings of our outstanding long-term debt securities were substantially lowered or withdrawn for any reason, or if the ratings assigned to any new issue of long-term debt securities were significantly lower than those noted above, particularly if we no longer had investment grade ratings, our ability to access the debt markets could be adversely affected and our interest expense could increase under the terms of certain of our long-term debt securities.