Item 1. BUSINESS

Introduction

FLEETCOR is a leading global provider of digital payment solutions that enables businesses to control purchases and make payments more effectively and efficiently. Since its incorporation in 2000, FLEETCOR has continued to deliver on its mission: to provide businesses with “a better way to pay”. FLEETCOR has been a member of the S&P 500 since 2018 and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FLT.

Businesses spend an estimated $125 trillion each year with other businesses. In many instances, they lack the proper tools to monitor what is being purchased, and employ manual, paper-based, disparate processes and methods to both approve and make payments for their purchases. This often results in wasted time and money due to unnecessary or unauthorized spending, fraud, receipt collection, data input and consolidation, report generation, reimbursement processing, account reconciliations, employee disciplinary actions, and more.

Digital payments are faster and more secure than paper-based methods such as checks, and provide timely and detailed data which can be utilized to effectively reduce unauthorized purchases and fraud, automate data entry and reporting, and eliminate reimbursement processes. Combining this payment data with analytical tools delivers powerful insights, which managers can use to better run their businesses.

FLEETCOR’s vision is that every payment is digital, every purchase is controlled, and every related decision is informed. Our wide range of modern, digitized solutions generally provides control, reporting, and automation benefits superior to many of the payment methods businesses often used such as cash, paper checks, general purpose credit cards, as well as employee pay and reclaim processes. In addition to delivering meaningful value to our customers, our solutions also share several important and attractive business model characteristics such as:

• the majority of revenue is derived primarily from businesses that are customers, which tend to have relatively predictable, consistent volumes;

• recurring revenue models driven by recurring volume, resulting in predictable revenue;

• similar business-to-business (B2B) selling systems with common sales approaches, management and reporting;

• specialized technology platforms and proprietary payment acceptance networks, which create competitive advantages and barriers to entry; and

• high EBITDA margins and cash flow translation given limited infrastructure investment requirements.

We are executing on a strategy of optimizing assets, leveraging similar selling methods, and bundling and cross-selling value-added solutions. We continue to enhance our solutions to displace disjointed payment methods, improve customers’ mobile and digital experiences, and extend utility. We actively market and sell to current and prospective customers leveraging a multi-channel, go-to-market approach, which includes comprehensive digital channels, direct sales forces and strategic partner relationships. We supplement our organic growth strategy and sales efforts by pursuing attractive acquisition opportunities, which serve to strengthen and extend our market positions and create value even faster. With a long, proven operating history, FLEETCOR now serves hundreds of thousands of business customers with millions of cardholders making payments to millions of vendors around the world.

FLEETCOR has three reportable segments, North America, International, and Brazil. We report these three segments as they reflect how we organize and manage our global employee base, manage operating performance, contemplate the differing regulatory environments across geographies, and help us isolate the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations on our financial results. However, to help facilitate an understanding of our expansive range of solutions around the world, we describe them in two categories: Expense Management solutions, which help control and monitor employee spending, and Corporate Payments solutions, which simplify and automate vendor payments.

Expense Management

Our Expense Management solutions are purpose-built to provide customers with greater control and visibility of employee spending when compared with less specialized payment methods, such as cash or general-purpose credit cards. Our proprietary processing and card management solutions provide customers with significant capabilities including: customizable user-level controls, detailed transaction reporting, programmable alerts, configurable networks, contract price validation and audit, and tax management and reporting. Our customers can use these data, controls and tools to combat fraud and employee misuse, streamline expense administration and potentially lower their operating costs.

We utilize both proprietary and third-party payment acceptance networks to deliver our Expense Management solutions. In our proprietary networks, which tend to be geographically distinct, transactions are processed on applications and operating systems owned and operated by us, and only at select participating merchants with whom we have contracted directly for acceptance. These proprietary networks generally provide us with better economics, as we control more of the transaction, and richer data

because of how the networks and point of sale software are configured. Third-party networks are operated by independent parties, and tend to be more broadly accepted, which is the primary benefit compared with our proprietary networks. Mastercard and VISA are our primary third-party network partners in North America and Europe, respectively.

Fuel

We offer Fuel solutions to businesses and government entities who operate vehicle fleets. At the most basic level, we provide the measurement of fuel used and facilitate the payment for that fuel to the merchant, whether that fuel be diesel, gasoline, compressed natural gas, or electricity.

The measurement and payment needs of our customers operating electric vehicles (EV) are similar to those operating traditional, internal combustion vehicles, just centered around electricity usage instead of gas or diesel usage. As we help our customers manage through the transition to EVs, we expect many of them to operate mixed fleets, and will need access to networks of fuel stations, electric charging stations both on the road and at the office, in addition to at-home charging options. Considering the increased complexity of managing a mixed fleet or an all EV fleet, we believe the value of our solutions will endure, regardless of the propulsion method.

We utilize both proprietary and third-party networks to deliver our Fuel solutions. Our proprietary fuel networks are geographically distinct, and may also be unique to specific markets we serve, such as highway-based truck stops with high speed diesel pumps that can quickly refuel long-haul diesel trucks. We are actively expanding our proprietary networks in EV, including investing in EV partner companies, to accommodate EV charging in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. Many of our Fuel solutions also have additional purchasing capabilities as part of our "beyond fuel" program. We can enable the fuel card to allow customers to purchase non-fuel items such as oil, vehicle maintenance supplies and services, and building supplies, but with more control than a general-purpose credit card.

We also provide program management services to major oil companies, leasing companies and fuel marketers, which allow these partners to outsource the sales, marketing, credit, service, and system operations of their branded fuel card portfolios. Our fuel partners include British Petroleum (BP), Arco, Speedway, and Casey's and over 650 fuel marketers of all sizes.

Lodging

We offer Lodging solutions to businesses in North America that have employees who travel overnight for work purposes, to airlines and cruise lines globally to accommodate both their traveling crews and stranded passengers and to policyholders displaced from their homes due to damage or catastrophe on behalf of property insurance carriers. We provide access to deeply discounted hotel networks and may include customer-specific rate negotiation, the ability to customize the network to fit the customers’ specific travel needs and policies, enhanced controls and reporting, and audit and tax management services. The size, scale, and nature of our Lodging customer base enables us to negotiate lodging nightly rates lower than the rates most companies could negotiate directly and far below the rates available to the general public. Our Lodging solutions operate on our proprietary lodging networks, which includes a worldwide network of hotels across 136 countries. We also can secure hotel rooms outside our proprietary networks in our workforce and airline verticals, or private homes, in our insurance vertical, if required by our customers.

We use proprietary data management and payment processing systems to manage customer billings and reports, which combined with our discounted hotel network, provide customers with potential savings and increased visibility into their lodging costs. The integration of our processing systems with airline logistics and crew management systems enables us to deliver enhanced services to the travel industry vertical.

Tolls

Operated only in Brazil, we are the leading electronic toll payments provider to businesses and consumers in the form of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags affixed to vehicles’ windshields. Our Toll solution operates on our proprietary Sem PararTM network, which processes transactions for more than 6 million tagholders on 100% of the toll roads that accept RFID across Brazil. We provide convenience and faster travel for customers, while also reducing manual labor and cash handling at merchants’ toll booths. Our Toll solution also provides commercial customers with driver routing controls and fare auditing, mostly in the form of vehicle type and axle count configuration.

Our tags may also be used at over 4,100 participating merchant locations to purchase goods and services, other than tolls, such as parking, fuel, car washes, and meals at drive-through restaurants, while in a vehicle. At merchant locations, payment via electronic tags is faster, safer and more secure for customers, which in turn increases loyalty and throughput for merchants and eliminates the handling of cash.

Corporate Payments

Our Corporate Payments solutions are designed to help businesses streamline the back-office operations associated with making outgoing payments. Companies can save time, cut costs, and manage B2B payment processing more efficiently with our suite of Corporate Payment solutions, including accounts payable (AP) automation, virtual cards, cross-border, and purchasing and T&E cards.

AP Automation – We offer AP automation solutions with options that are purpose-built for the simplest, small business, to the most complex, large enterprise. We initiate, manage and guarantee payment of all company-approved bills to all domestic and international vendors through whichever payment modalities the vendors allow, such as automated clearing house (ACH), wire, check or payment card. For small/medium sized businesses (SMB), our offering is simple, modern bill pay with invoice scanning and automated workflows, which also integrates with popular accounting systems like QuickBooksTM. Our mid-market/enterprise option meets the needs of the most complex global enterprises with multiple organizational hierarchies, approval workflows, locations, bank accounts, robust on-demand reporting and seamless integration with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. We also provide rich data on the remittance to the vendor, regardless of payment modality, which facilitates invoice reconciliations and payment posting. By automating the process of paying vendors, businesses of all sizes can reduce the time, costs and fraud risks associated with their payment processes, and focus more on operating their businesses.

Virtual Card – Our Virtual Card solution provides a single-use card number for a specific amount, usable within a defined timeframe. Virtual Cards provide enhanced security relative to checks while reducing total payment costs for our customers. Full remittance data accompanies each Virtual Card payment, providing significant reconciliation advantages to ACH payments. We have integrated our Virtual Card offering into most leading ERP systems, providing a seamless experience for AP personnel.

We have built a proprietary merchant acceptance network, which we believe is largest in the industry, that accepts our Virtual Card payments. Our merchant acceptance network is unique from all others, due to the nature of commercial Virtual Card acceptance. Each issuer negotiates directly with the merchant for acceptance, so other issuers’ virtual cards are not interchangeable. This network is managed with proprietary technology that allows us to continuously expand Virtual Card acceptance and optimize the amount of spend we can capture. The scale of this network, coupled with an in-house vendor enrollment service, is a competitive advantage. Our ERP integrations, application programming interface (API) capabilities, strategic vendor enrollment, and transaction management tools enable us to optimize our customers’ electronic payables programs.

Our Virtual Card operates solely on the Mastercard network. Our customers’ ERP systems are directly integrated with our issuing system, and merchants must be enrolled in our proprietary vendor network to accept our Virtual Card solution. This two-sided transaction, where both payor and receiver are both in our network, provides substantial payment security relative to paper checks or ACH.

Cross-Border – Our Cross-Border solution is used by our customers to pay international vendors, foreign office and personnel expenses, capital expenditures, and profit repatriation and dividends. We also offer hedging and risk management services to customers, which helps them manage the impact of volatile exchange rates in the course of doing business internationally.

Trade settlement and payment delivery is facilitated through a global network of correspondent banks, in-country payment gateways and technology providers, enabling us to send payments to recipients in over 200 countries and 145 currencies. Our customers rely on us to deliver personalized service and customer solutions, with a heavy focus on technology. We offer a proprietary trading and payments platform that we can "white label" for financial institutions looking to expand their cross-border payment capability, as well as a suite of API products that enables us to embed our full capability directly within the technology of both customers and partners. By utilizing transaction monitoring and watch list screening systems, we ensure payments are safe, secure, and meet all applicable regulatory requirements.

Purchasing and T&E Cards – We also offer purchasing cards and travel & entertainment (T&E) solutions to our customers. These solutions are generally sold in conjunction with our Virtual Card or AP Automation offerings. Additionally, we provide technology, which combines and leverages transaction data captured from our virtual, purchasing, and T&E card products, to help our customers analyze and manage their corporate spending.

Additional Products

FLEETCOR provides several other payments solutions that, due to their nature or size, are not considered with our Expense Management and Corporate Payments solutions.

Gift

We provide fully integrated gift card program management and processing services to retailers in 60 countries, in both plastic and digital form. The gift cards are issued specifically for each customer under their specific brands and are generally accepted exclusively within their retail network, digitally or in-person.

Our Gift solutions include card design, production and packaging, delivery and fulfillment, card and account management, transaction processing, promotion development and management, website design and hosting, program analytics, and card distribution channel management. Our turnkey solution benefits our customers in the form of brand promotion, cardholder loyalty, increased sales, interest on prepaid balances, and breakage on abandoned card balances.

Other

Payroll Card – We offer a payroll card solution in North America in the form of a reloadable stored value card, that can be used instead of a paper payroll check. Our solution operates on the Mastercard payment network and the Allpoint ATM network, and the payroll cards are issued to our customers’ employees, and funded by the employees’ earned wages. As cardholders, the employees may present the payroll card as a form of payment for personal purchases, transfer funds to their bank account or withdraw funds from participating ATMs.

Fleet Maintenance – We provide a vehicle maintenance service solution that helps fleet customers to manage their vehicle maintenance, service, and repair needs in the U.K. This solution is provided through our proprietary maintenance and repair network, which processes transactions for fleet customers at over 8,900 service centers across the U.K. We also offer compliance service to the U.K.’s heavy goods (truck) operators, workshops and drivers.

Long-Haul Transportation Services – In addition to, and often in conjunction with, our Fuel solutions, we provide trucking companies in North America with various solutions and services specifically relevant to their industry including: road tax compliance analysis and reporting, permit procurement and cash movement and disbursement.

Benefits – In Mexico and Brazil, we offer prepaid food vouchers or cards that may be used as a form of payment in restaurants and grocery stores. Additionally, in Brazil, we offer prepaid transportation cards and vouchers that may be used by commuting employees as a form of payment on public transportation.

Sales and Distribution

We actively market and sell our solutions to current and prospective customers leveraging a multi-channel approach. This go-to-market strategy includes comprehensive digital channels, direct sales forces and strategic partner relationships. We have a robust, digital sales platform that enables our sales people to be more efficient by improving their prospecting efforts through web sourced leads. With the shift of customer behavior to the web for much of their consumer purchases, we have built and continue to expand online, end-to-end capability where the customers can buy, onboard and manage their accounts on their own. In our direct sales force channel, we acquire and manage the customer relationship, which has historically been either in-person or via telesales. Our capabilities are also offered through indirect sales channels (e.g., major oil companies and fuel marketers for Fuel, and retail establishments for Tolls) and on a branded or “white label” basis, indirectly through a broad range of resellers and partners across Fuel, Lodging, and Corporate Payments. In doing so, we leverage their sales networks to expand our reach into new customer segments, new industry verticals, and new geographies faster and at a significantly lower cost.

With respect to our Tolls solution, we also place proprietary manned kiosks and unmanned vending machines in areas with high consumer foot traffic, such as shopping malls, to reach consumers. With respect to our Gift solutions, third-party distribution is generally provided by other companies, who are reliant on access to our systems to meet their distribution obligations.

We capitalize on our products’ specialization by deploying product-dedicated sales forces to target specific customer segments. As our solution set has expanded, we are also facilitating cross-selling and bundled product offerings to fully leverage our distribution capabilities, capture more spend and revenue from our existing customer base, and deliver more value to customers which should improve customer loyalty and retention.

Credit Underwriting and Collections

We follow detailed application credit review, account management, and collections procedures for all customers of our payment solutions. The credit review includes a combination of quantitative, third-party credit scoring models, and judgmental underwriting based on customer financials. We employ a variety of tools to manage risk in our portfolio, including: billing frequency, payment terms, spending limits, payment methods, delinquency suspension, and security. We use fraud detection programs, including proprietary and third-party solutions, to monitor transactions and prevent misuse. We monitor the credit quality of our portfolio periodically utilizing external credit scores and internal behavior data to identify high risk or deteriorating credit quality accounts. We conduct targeted strategies to minimize exposure to high-risk accounts, including reducing spending limits and payment terms or requiring additional security.

Competition

Our primary competition is from financial institutions offering general payment methods, like cash, checks, and general-purpose credit cards. We also compete with specialized competitive offerings from other companies that vary by product category.

• Our Corporate Payments solutions compete with similar offerings from financial institutions, American Express, Coupa, AvidXchange, Bill.com and Western Union Business Solutions.

• Our Fuel solutions compete with similar offerings from WEX, U.S. Bank Voyager Fleet Systems, Edenred, Sodexo, Alelo, Radius Payment Solutions and DKV.

• Our Lodging solutions compete with similar offerings from Egencia (American Express GBT), Hotel Engine, and in-house travel departments of large corporations and airlines.

• Our Toll solutions compete with similar offerings from ConectCar (Banco Itaú and Ipiranga), Veloe (Alelo), and Repom (Edenred).

• Our Gift and Payroll Card solutions compete with similar offerings from First Data (Fiserv), other special-purpose card issuers, and payroll companies.

Competitive Advantage

In executing on our strategy, we are advantaged by leveraging our competitive strengths:

• Global Scale – We have strong market positions across four continents. This enables us to provide new offerings with better cost economics; sell complementary products; acquire attractive assets that can leverage existing infrastructure and cost synergies; and introduce successful products and practices from other markets.

• Focused Growth Strategy – As a result of strong revenue retention, we can focus on driving organic growth from new customer acquisitions in addition to selling more value-added products to current customers. Also, we effectively identify and acquire new attractive assets.

• Proprietary Networks – Our specialized proprietary networks allow for unique data capture at the point of sale, providing an incremental value proposition to our customers. These proprietary networks also provide us with advantageous economics.

• Scalable Technology – Our easy-to-use platforms provide control and functionality for our customers and we can on-board incremental customer volume with very limited need for additional infrastructure.

• Diversification – Our solutions and geographic diversification are designed to provide stability through the “portfolio effect” when one geography or business is underperforming relative to the others. This allows FLEETCOR to deliver strong financial performance relative to competitors; continue to invest throughout business cycles; and reallocate resources to higher performing businesses.

Technology

Our technology provides continuous authorization of transactions, processing of critical account and customer information, and settlement between merchants, issuing companies, and individual commercial entities. We recognize the importance of state-of-the-art, secure, efficient, and reliable technology in our business and have made significant investments in our applications and infrastructure. In 2021, we spent approximately $250 million in capital and operating expenses to operate, protect, and enhance our technology.

We operate several proprietary processing systems that provide features and functionality to run our card programs and solutions, including our card issuing, processing, and information services. Our processing systems also integrate with our proprietary networks, which provide brand awareness and connectivity to our acceptance locations that enables the “end-to-end” card acceptance, data capture, and transaction authorization capabilities of our card programs. Our proprietary processing systems and aggregation software are tailored to meet the unique needs of the individual markets they serve and enable us to create and deliver solutions that serve each of our industry verticals and geographies. Our technology platforms are comprised of four key components, which were primarily developed and are maintained in-house: (1) a core processing platform; (2) specialized software; (3) integrated network capabilities; and (4) a cloud-based architecture with proprietary APIs.

Our technology function is based in the U.S., Europe, and Brazil and has expertise in the management of applications, transaction networks, and infrastructure. We operate application development centers in the U.S., U.K., Netherlands, Russia, Czech Republic, Brazil, and New Zealand. Our distributed application architecture allows us to maintain, administer, and innovate our solutions in a cost-effective and flexible manner. Our purpose-built solutions contain significant intellectual property that differentiates us from our competition.

We continually seek to modernize and evolve our technology solutions through our core IT transformation initiatives. Our IT transformation initiatives are focused on three main pillars: (1) digital strategy; (2) core systems modernization; and (3) data. Our digital strategy is focused on streamlining a digital customer experience across all of our solutions, providing a seamless experience. Additionally, we are investing in modernizing our core transactional systems to make them more resilient, secure, and scalable. Our technology infrastructure is supported by highly-secure data centers, with redundant locations. We operate our primary data centers, located in Atlanta, Georgia; Prague, Czech Republic; Las Vegas, Nevada; Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky; São Paulo, Brazil; Toronto, Canada; and Moscow, Russia.

Additionally, as we develop new solutions and modernize legacy assets, we increasingly leverage cloud services. Through the use of cloud technology and microservices, we are able to modernize our platforms with no disruption to our customers. Finally, data is becoming an ever-increasing part of how the Company and its customers do business. We are focused on investing in our data assets to deliver value for our customers through improved insights to them to better control expenses and mitigate fraud. The use of cloud services provides us with increased flexibility and agility. We use only proven technology and expect no foreseeable capacity limitations.

We maintain disaster recovery and business continuity plans, which benefited and continue to benefit us during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our telecommunications and internet systems have multiple levels of redundancy to ensure the reliability of network service. In 2021, we achieved over 99.9% up-time for authorizations globally.

Safeguarding Our Business

To provide our services, we collect, use and store sensitive business information and personal information, which may include credit and debit card numbers, bank account numbers, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, names and addresses, and other types of personal information or sensitive business information. Some of this information is also processed and stored by financial institutions, merchants, and other entities, as well as third-party service providers to whom we outsource certain functions and other agents, which we refer to collectively as, our associated third parties. We may have responsibility to the card networks, financial institutions, and in some instances, our customers, and/or individuals, for our failure or the failure of our associated third parties (as applicable) to protect this information.

We are subject to cybersecurity and information theft risks in our operations, which we seek to manage through cyber and information security programs, training, and insurance coverage. To strengthen our security and cyber defenses, we maintain a defensive in-depth approach to cyber and information security to defend our systems against misuse, intrusions, and cyberattacks and to protect the data we collect. Further, we work with information security and forensics firms and employ advanced technologies to help prevent, investigate and address issues relating to processing system security and availability. We also collaborate with third parties, regulators, and law enforcement, when appropriate, to resolve security incidents and assist in efforts to prevent unauthorized access to our processing systems.

Our systems align with industry standards for security, with multiple industry certifications. Our network is configured with multiple layers of security to isolate our databases from unauthorized access. We use security protocols for communication among applications, and our employees access critical components on a need-only basis. We may not be able to adequately protect our systems or the data we collect from continually evolving cybersecurity risks or other technological risks, which could subject us to liability and damage our reputation. See also, "Risks related to information technology and security" under Item 1A for further discussion of the risks we face in connection with our technology systems and potential data breach and cybersecurity risks facing the Company.

Regulatory

A substantial number of laws and regulations, both in the U.S. and in other jurisdictions, apply to businesses offering payment products to customers, processing payments and servicing related accounts, or operating payment networks. These laws and regulations are often evolving and sometimes ambiguous or inconsistent, and the extent to which they apply to us is at times unclear. Failure to comply with regulations may result in the suspension or revocation of licenses or registrations, the limitation, suspension, or termination of services or relationships with our bank partners and sponsors and business and sales partners, and/or the imposition of civil and criminal penalties, including fines. Certain of our solutions are also subject to rules set by various payment networks, such as Mastercard, as more fully described below.

The following, while not exhaustive, is a description of several federal and state laws and regulations in the U.S., as well as foreign laws and regulations, that are applicable to our business, and therefore can materially affect our capital expenditures, earnings, and competitive position. In addition, the legal and regulatory framework governing our business is subject to ongoing revision, and changes in that framework could have a significant effect on us.

Money Transmission and Payment Instrument Licensing Regulations

We are subject to various U.S. laws and regulations governing money transmission and the issuance and sale of payment instruments relating to certain aspects of our business. In the U.S., most states license money transmitters and issuers of payment instruments. Through our subsidiaries, we are licensed in all states where required for business. Many states exercise authority over the operations related to money transmission and payment instruments and, as part of this authority, subject us to periodic examinations, which may include a review of our compliance practices, policies and procedures, financial position and related records, privacy and data security policies and procedures, and other matters related to our business. As a result of these periodic examinations, state agencies sometimes issue us findings and recommendations, prompting us to make changes to our operations, and procedures.

As a licensee, we are subject to certain restrictions and requirements, including net worth and surety bond requirements, record keeping and reporting requirements, requirements for regulatory approval of controlling stockholders or direct and indirect changes of control of the licensee and certain other corporate events, and requirements to maintain certain levels of permissible investments in an amount equal to our outstanding payment obligations. Many states also require money transmitters and issuers of payment instruments to comply with federal and state anti-money laundering laws (AML) and regulations. See “Anti-Money Laundering. Counter Terrorist, and Sanctions Regulations.”

Government agencies may impose new or additional requirements on money transmission and sales of payment instruments, and we expect that compliance costs will increase in the future for our regulated subsidiaries.

Privacy and Information Security Regulations

We provide services that may be subject to various state, federal, and foreign privacy and information security laws and regulations, including, among others, the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its Network and Information Security directive, Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, Brazil’s General Data Protection Law, California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which will become operative on January 1, 2023, China's Personal Information Protection Law and pending laws in certain U.S. states including in Colorado and Virginia.

These and similar laws and their implementing regulations restrict certain collection, processing, storage, use, and disclosure of personal information, require notice to individuals of privacy practices, and provide individuals with certain rights to prevent use and disclosure of protected information. Some also impose requirements for the safeguarding and proper destruction of personal information through the issuance of data security standards or guidelines. In many cases they impose obligations to notify affected individuals, state officers or other governmental authorities, the media, and consumer reporting agencies, as well as businesses and governmental agencies, of security breaches affecting personal information. In addition, some restrict the ability to collect and utilize certain types of information such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers.

Certain of our products that access payment networks require compliance with Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standards. See “Payment Card Industry Rules.”

Email and Text Marketing Laws

We use direct email marketing and text-messaging to reach out to current or potential customers and therefore are subject to various statutes, regulations, and rulings, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM Act) and related Federal Communication Commission (FCC) orders. Several states have enacted additional, more restrictive and punitive laws regulating commercial email. Foreign legislation exists as well, including Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation and the European laws that have been enacted pursuant to European Union Directive 2002/58/EC and its amendments. Although we believe that our email practices comply with the relevant regulatory requirements, violations could result in enforcement actions, statutory fines and penalties, and class action litigation.

Unfair or Deceptive Business Practices

All persons engaged in commerce, including, but not limited to, us and our bank sponsors and customers, are subject to regulatory enforcement by the FTC, under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, and state attorneys general, under various consumer-protection statutes, prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices, and certain products also are subject to the jurisdiction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding the prohibition of unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices. As a service provider to certain of our bank sponsors, we may further be subject to direct supervision and examination by federal banking regulators in connection with certain of our products and services, which may increase our compliance costs. If we are accused of violating any of these laws, rules and regulations, we may be subject to enforcement actions and as a result, may incur losses and liabilities that may impact our business.

Lending Regulations

We are subject to several laws and related regulations governing the provision and administration of credit. The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) was enacted as a consumer protection measure to increase consumer awareness of the cost of credit and to protect consumers from unauthorized charges or billing errors, and is implemented by the CFPB’s Regulation Z. Most provisions of TILA and Regulation Z apply only to the extension of consumer credit, but a limited number of provisions apply to commercial cards as well. One example where TILA and Regulation Z are generally applicable is a limitation on liability for unauthorized use, although a business that acquires 10 or more credit cards for its personnel can agree to more expansive liability. Our cardholder agreements generally provide that these business customers waive, to the fullest extent possible, all limitations on liability for unauthorized card use. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) together with Regulation B prohibit creditors from discriminating on certain prohibited bases, such as an applicant’s sex, race, nationality, age and marital status, and further requires that creditors disclose the reasons for taking any adverse action against an applicant or a customer seeking credit. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulates consumer reporting agencies and the disclosure and use of consumer reports. We obtain consumer reports with respect to an individual who guarantees or otherwise is obligated on a commercial card. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 amended FCRA and requires creditors to adopt identity theft prevention programs to detect, prevent and mitigate identity theft in connection with covered accounts, which can include business accounts for which there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of identity theft.

Anti-Money Laundering, Counter Terrorist, and Sanctions Regulations

The Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, which is also known as the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and which has been amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, contains a variety of provisions aimed at fighting terrorism and money laundering. Among other things, the BSA and implementing regulations issued by the U.S. Treasury Department require financial-services providers to establish AML programs, to not engage in terrorist financing, to report suspicious activity, and to maintain a number of related records. We are also subject to certain economic and trade sanctions programs that are

administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that prohibit or restrict transactions to or from or dealings with specified countries, their governments and, in certain circumstances, their nationals, narcotics traffickers, and terrorists or terrorist organizations. In addition to economic sanctions programs, we are also subject to a number of international laws and regulations focused on fighting terrorism and money laundering, including primarily:

• in Canada, Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA);

• in Australia, as a registered remittance dealer with AUSTRAC, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act);

• in the U.K., as a registered Electronic Money Institution with the Financial Conduct Authority, the Proceeds of Crime Act, 2002, and the Terrorism Act 2000;

• in Ireland, the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, as amended by Part 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 2013 and by the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2018; and

• in the EU, AML requirements promulgated under the 4th, 5th and 6th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives.

Numerous other countries have also enacted or proposed new or enhanced AML legislation and regulations applicable to us.

Non-banks that provide certain financial services are required to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (FinCEN) as “money services businesses” (MSB). Through certain subsidiaries, we are registered as MSBs.

In addition, provisions of the BSA known as the Prepaid Access Rule issued by FinCEN impose certain obligations, such as registration and collection of consumer information, on “providers” of certain prepaid access programs, including the stored value products issued by our sponsor banks for which we serve as program manager. FinCEN has taken the position that, where the issuing bank has principal oversight and control of such prepaid access programs, no other participant in the distribution chain would be required to register as a provider under the Prepaid Access Rule. Despite this position, we have opted to register as a provider of prepaid access through our subsidiary, Comdata Inc.

Interchange Fees

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act) effected comprehensive revisions to a wide array of federal laws governing financial institutions, financial services, and financial markets. The Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act provided that interchange fees that a card issuer or payment network receives or charges for debit transactions must be “reasonable and proportional” to the cost incurred by the card issuer in authorizing, clearing and settling the transaction. Payment network fees may not be used directly or indirectly to compensate card issuers in circumvention of the interchange transaction fee restrictions. The Federal Reserve has capped debit interchange fees, however the cap has not had a material direct impact on our results of operations because we operate under an exemption to the cap for the majority of our debit transactions.

Anti-Bribery Regulations

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) prohibits the payment of bribes to foreign government officials and political figures and includes anti-bribery provisions enforced by the Department of Justice and accounting provisions enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The statute has a broad reach, covering all U.S. companies and citizens doing business abroad, among others, and defining a foreign official to include not only those holding public office but also local citizens affiliated with foreign government-run or -owned organizations. The statute also requires maintenance of appropriate books and records and maintenance of adequate internal controls to prevent and detect possible FCPA violations. We are subject to similar statutes in certain foreign jurisdictions in which we operate, such as the U.K. Bribery Act.

Payment Card Industry Rules

In connection with certain services we provide for payment cards bearing the Mastercard brand, and to those acting as merchants accepting those cards, we must comply with the bylaws, regulations and requirements that are promulgated by Mastercard and other applicable payment-card organizations, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the Mastercard Site Data Protection Program (SDP) and other applicable data-security program requirements. A breach of such payment card network rules could subject us to a variety of fines or penalties that may be levied by the payment networks for certain acts or omissions. The payment networks routinely update and modify their requirements. Our failure to comply with the networks’ requirements or to pay the fines they impose could cause the termination of our registration and require us to stop processing transactions on their networks. Our subsidiary, Comdata Inc., is PCI DSS 3.2 compliant.

We are also subject to network operating rules promulgated by the National ACH Association relating to payment transactions processed by us using the ACH Network.

Escheat Regulations

We may be subject to unclaimed or abandoned property (escheat) laws in the U.S. that require us to turn over to certain government authorities the property of others that we hold that has been unclaimed for a specified period of time, such as payment instruments that have not been presented for payment and account balances that are due to a customer following discontinuation of our relationship. We may be subject to audit by individual U.S. states with regard to our escheatment practices.

Prepaid Card Regulations

Prepaid card programs that we manage may be subject to various federal and state laws and regulations, such as the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act) and the CFPB’s Regulation E, which impose requirements on general-use prepaid cards, store gift cards and electronic gift certificates.

State Usury Laws

Extensions of credit under many of our card products may be treated as commercial loans. In some states, usury laws limit the interest rates that can be charged not only on consumer loans but on commercial loans as well. To the extent that these usury laws apply, we are limited in the amount of interest that we can charge and collect from our customers. Because we have substantial operations in multiple jurisdictions, we utilize choice of law provisions in our cardholder agreements as to the laws of which jurisdiction to apply. With respect to card products where we work with a partner or issuing bank, the partner bank may utilize the law of the jurisdiction applicable to the bank and “export” the usury limit of that state in connection with cards issued to residents of other states or we may use our choice of law provisions.

Derivatives Regulations

Rules adopted under the Dodd-Frank Act by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), provisions of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation and its technical standards, as well as derivative reporting in Canada and the U.S., have subjected certain of the foreign exchange derivative contracts we offer to our customers as part of our cross-border payments business to reporting, recordkeeping, and other requirements. Additionally, certain foreign exchange derivatives transactions we may enter into in the future may be subject to centralized clearing requirements, or may be subject to margin requirements in the U.S., U.K., and European Union. Other jurisdictions outside the U.S., U.K., and the European Union are considering, have implemented, or are implementing regulations similar to those described above.

Other

We must contractually comply with certain regulations to which our sponsor banks are subject, as applicable. We may be examined by our sponsor banks’ regulators and be subject to audits by certain sponsor banks relative to such regulations.

The Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008 requires information returns to be made for each calendar year by merchants, acquiring entities, and third-party settlement organizations with respect to payments made in settlement of electronic payment transactions and third-party payment network transactions occurring in that calendar year. Reportable transactions are also subject to backup withholding requirements. We are required to comply with these requirements for the merchants in our Comdata network. We could be liable for penalties if our information return is not in compliance with these regulations.

Human Capital

As of December 31, 2021, FLEETCOR employed approximately 9,700 associates located in more than 15 countries around the world, with approximately 3,900 of those associates based in the U.S. At FLEETCOR, we strongly believe that talent is a strong determinant of the Company’s performance and success. Our values-driven people programs, practices and policies have been developed to ensure we are able to attract, retain and develop the quality of talent necessary to advance our key initiatives and achieve our strategic objectives. We are firmly committed to delivering a strong employee value proposition and unique employment experience to our associates which, in turn, should lead to better customer experiences and business outcomes.

Culture

Our culture has evolved through time, as the Company has grown considerably both organically and through acquisitions. Despite FLEETCOR’s expansive size and geographic scope, we seek to retain a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and share a common vision, mission and set of values, which together serve as cornerstones to our “One FLEETCOR” culture. Our values, listed below, are infused in all aspects of FLEETCOR, and guide our employee selection, behavior and interactions with both internal and external stakeholders:

• Innovation – figure out a better way

• Execution – get it done quickly

• Integrity – do the right thing

• People – we make the difference

• Collaboration – accomplish more together

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging

Our focus on diversity, inclusion and belonging (DIB) is part of our successful “One FLEETCOR” culture. As of December 31, 2021, females represented approximately 53% of our global workforce and approximately 22% of our senior leadership team, while minorities comprised approximately 42% of our domestic workforce and approximately 14% of our senior leadership team.

Fostering a culturally diverse and inclusive environment and creating a true sense of belonging are among our top priorities. Our global diversity council, three regional councils and nine employee resource groups (ERGs) are dedicated to building diversity, inclusion and belonging into all aspects of our global operations. Sponsored by the Chairman of the Board and CEO, the councils and ERGs are vital to creating an environment where all employees are able to prosper. Our ERGs allow a safe space for traditionally underrepresented employees to connect and discuss experiences. The ERGs also provide FLEETCOR with perspectives on the unique needs and lived experiences of those who are traditionally underrepresented.

Employee Wellness

FLEETCOR’s benefits programs are designed to meet the evolving needs of a diverse workforce across the globe. Because we want our employees and their families to thrive, in additional to our regular benefit offerings, we focused on physical and mental well-being in 2021. During the year, we offered free, online fitness classes, sponsored the FLEETCOR Wellbeing Challenge, provided access to employee assistance programs in all regions, and celebrated Mental Health Awareness programs globally.

Talent Development

FLEETCOR offers a variety of high-quality learning opportunities, designed to support employee development and organizational effectiveness. Learning opportunities are available in all geographies at all levels, and incorporate personal, business and leadership skills development with the goal of empowering our organization, creating avenues for closing skill gaps, and enhancing the capabilities of our workforce. Leadership, teamwork, communication, and many other soft skills are vital to our success. We offer a wide variety of career opportunities and paths to advancement through on-the-job coaching, training, and education. We are proud to be a company where an associate can start as an intern and turn it into a successful career.

The Voice of the Employee

We continue to develop and refine our people programs based on feedback we receive directly from our workforce, which we gather through an annual survey of all employees globally. The participation rate for our 2021 annual survey was approximately 75%. Our employee engagement score in 2021 remained consistent (1 point lower) than our 2020 results. We are proud of these results during the continued COVID-19 pandemic and amid the great resignation. We believe our employee proposition remains strong and we continue to attract and retain top talent. We continue to share the detailed engagement scores across the organization, and analyze the results to understand differences by geography, demographics, job level, and leader, and to identify opportunities for further improvement. Throughout 2021, we conducted several additional pulse surveys to assess the ongoing engagement of our workforce.

In October 2020, FLEETCOR published its inaugural Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Report (CRS Report), in which we provided detailed information about the Company’s views and approaches regarding environmental, social and governance issues. We published a 2021 CRS Report in January 2022, which contains information incremental to our inaugural report and is therefore intended to be read in conjunction with that report. Our 2021 CRS Report includes further details related to our global talent strategy, DIB metrics, employee wellness and talent development. We are currently preparing our third annual CRS Report for publication later this year. Our CRS Reports may be accessed electronically at https://investor.fleetcor.com, in the governance section.

Additional Information

The Company maintains a website at www.fleetcor.com. The information on the Company’s website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We make available on or through our website certain reports and amendments to those reports that we file with or furnish the SEC in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act). These include our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. We make this information available on our website free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file the information with, or furnish it to, the SEC.

In addition, the SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically at https://www.sec.gov.

ITEM X. EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE REGISTRANT

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our executive officers, with their respective ages as of December 31, 2021. Our officers serve at the discretion of our board of directors. There are no family relationships between any of our directors or executive officers.

Name						Age						Position(s)
Ronald F. Clarke						66						Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors
Charles R. Freund						49						Chief Financial Officer
Alexey Gavrilenya						45						Group President—North America Fuel
Alan King						45						Group President—Europe, Australia and New Zealand Fuel
Armando L. Netto						53						Group President—Brazil
Alissa B. Vickery						44						Chief Accounting Officer

Ronald F. Clarke has been our Chief Executive Officer since August 2000 and was appointed Chairman of our Board of Directors in March 2003. From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Clarke served as President and Chief Operating Officer of AHL Services, Inc., a staffing firm. From 1990 to 1998, Mr. Clarke served as Chief Marketing Officer and later as a Division President with Automatic Data Processing, Inc., a computer services company. From 1987 to 1990, Mr. Clarke was a Principal with Booz Allen Hamilton, a global management consulting firm. Earlier in his career, Mr. Clarke was a marketing manager for General Electric Company, a diversified technology, media, and financial services corporation.

Charles R. Freund was appointed our Chief Financial Officer in September 2020, and has been with us since 2000. During his tenure with FLEETCOR, Mr. Freund has held numerous roles, including Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Executive Vice President of Global Sales, President of Emerging Markets, Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Vice President of U.K. Card Issuing, and Vice President of Business Development. Prior to joining us, Mr. Freund was a Consultant at Sibson Consulting.

Alexey Gavrilenya has been our Group President – North America Fuel since September 2019. Mr. Gavrilenya joined FLEETCOR in March 2009 and served as our Executive Vice President Strategy and Finance, Eastern Europe until April 2011. From May 2011 to January 2016, Mr. Gavrilenya was President – Eastern Europe. He then added to his responsibilities as President – Continental Europe in February 2016. Prior to joining us, Mr. Gavrilenya was CFO of Matarex, Ltd.

Alan King has served as our Group President of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand Fuel since July 2019. Mr. King joined FLEETCOR in August 2016 as President - U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, based in London. Prior to joining us, Mr. King worked at Mastercard where he was most recently Managing Director, MasterCard Prepaid Management Services. During his 11 year career at MasterCard, Mr. King held the roles of Group Head, Global Prepaid Solutions, Group General Manager for Market and Business Development in the U.K. & Ireland, and General Manager, Global Accounts. Prior to MasterCard, Mr. King held leadership positions at VISA in the CEMEA region from 2003 to 2005 and at Citibank from 1998 to 2003, largely across commercial payments in international markets. Mr. King spent the early part of his career in the telecom and automotive industries, in various sales and marketing roles covering Europe.

Armando L. Netto has served as Group President – Brazil since June 2014. Prior to joining us, Mr. Netto led IT Services for TIVIT, an IT and BPO services company, from 2006 to 2014, where he led the integration of functional areas into the business unit, focused on onboarding new clients and ensuring service quality. Prior to TIVIT, Mr. Netto held various leadership roles with Unisys and McKinsey, where he gained international experience in Europe supporting clients in the U.K., France, Austria, Portugal, and the Netherlands.

Alissa B. Vickery is a Certified Public Accountant and was appointed our Chief Accounting Officer in September 2020. Mrs. Vickery joined FLEETCOR in 2011 and also serves as Senior Vice President of Accounting and Controls, with oversight of external reporting, technical accounting and internal audit. Prior to joining us, Mrs. Vickery held a Senior Director position at Worldpay and spent more than nine years in public accounting at Deloitte LLP and Arthur Andersen LLP, as a senior manager in the audit and assurance practice.