Fiserv’s CEO said the company could sell one of its two debit networks to the right bidder.

Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required.

The financial services technology company is migrating clients to one of the two networks over the next few quarters “because we do not need to have two,” Takis Georgakopoulos told an audience at Citi’s annual FinTech conference this week.

“They’re almost interchangeable in terms of their capabilities,” the chief executive said, adding that for the “empty network, we are going to look at if there is an alternative network structure that makes sense.”

Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that several of the country’s biggest banks—JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and PNC—had held preliminary discussions about buying one of Fiserv’s debit networks.

“The strategic logic is clear,” PYMNTS wrote at the time. “Capital One’s $50.6 billion purchase of Discover gave it ownership of a card network, allowing it to operate closer to the transaction flow and reduce reliance on outside networks. That deal appears to have sharpened interest among other banks in whether network ownership could change the economics of debit.”

Georgakopoulos joined Fiserv in June, when former chief executive Mike Lyons departed to become CEO of Truist Financial.

During his tenure, Georgakopoulos has begun a review of the company’s assets. He told the audience at the Citi conference that this review also found more than a dozen small businesses providing “either no growth and/or no profitability” that Fiserv will shut down.

Source link