Item 1. Business

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Item 1. Business

Overview

Fiserv, Inc. is a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions. We are publicly traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and part of the S&P 500 Index. We serve clients around the globe, including merchants, banks, credit unions, other financial institutions and corporate 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 and Canada; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Latin America; and Asia Pacific.

In 2022, we had $17.7 billion in total revenue, $3.7 billion in operating income and $4.6 billion of net cash provided by operating activities. Processing and services revenue, which in 2022 represented 82% of our total revenue, is primarily generated from account- and transaction-based fees under multi-year contracts that generally have high renewal rates. We have operations and offices located both within the United States (the “U.S.” or “domestic”) and outside of the U.S. (“international”) with revenues from domestic and international products and services as a percentage of total revenue as follows for the years ended December 31:

(In millions)202220212020
Total revenue$17,737$16,226$14,852
Domestic86%86%87%
International14%14%13%

We have grown our business organically and through acquisitions, by signing new clients, expanding the products and services we provide to existing clients, offering new and enhanced products and services developed through innovation and acquisition, and extending our capabilities geographically, all of which have enabled us to deliver a wide range of integrated products and services and created new opportunities for growth. Our operations are comprised of the Merchant Acceptance (“Acceptance”) segment, the Financial Technology (“Fintech”) segment and the Payments and Network (“Payments”) segment.

Our headquarters are located at 255 Fiserv Drive, Brookfield, Wisconsin 53045, and our telephone number is (262) 879-5000. On October 27, 2022, we announced that we plan to relocate our global headquarters location to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2023.

Acceptance

The businesses in our Acceptance segment provide a wide range of commerce-enabling solutions and serve merchants of all sizes around the world. Acceptance solutions enable businesses to securely accept payment transactions online or in-person. Payment transactions include credit, debit, stored-value and loyalty payments online or through a physical POS or mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet.

The services in this segment 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 Carat℠, 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 (“RSAs”), and referral agreements. Merchants, financial institutions and distribution partners in the Acceptance segment are frequently clients of our other segments.

Clover

Clover is our cloud-based POS and integrated operating system for SMBs and ISVs designed to enable businesses to maximize operating effectiveness. The Clover platform includes hardware and software technology necessary to enable SMB merchants

to accept payments, process transactions, provide online ordering, maintain an e-commerce presence, and generate consumer loyalty through Clover’s customer engagement tools. By integrating next-generation hardware and software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) applications, Clover has become a leader in enabling omnichannel commerce solutions for SMBs and ISVs, with touchless commerce through QR code-based payments, online ordering solutions, and virtual terminals. We also offer small business owners advance access to capital through our Clover Capital cash advance program.

Carat

Carat is our integrated operating system for large businesses, designed to enable clients to accept more payments, engage more customers, and optimize commerce. Carat helps clients maximize approval rates, reduce declines, lower fraud and chargebacks, reduce costs and improve the customer experience by enabling new capabilities, such as buying online, picking up in store or ordering ahead. Through this integrated operating system, a variety of payment and commerce solutions can be accessed, including payment acceptance, payments optimization, network routing, fraud detection, online electronic benefits transfers and digital payouts. This wide variety of services enables Carat to help clients create more revenue, reduce their cost of payments, reach more consumers, and enable innovative omnichannel transactions such as voice-enabled commerce and payments.

Distribution Channels and Partnerships

Acceptance segment businesses distribute solutions and services through direct sales teams, as well as indirect sales channels, such as agent sales forces, ISVs, value-added resellers (“VARs”), and payment service providers (“PSPs”). We provide agent sales forces, ISVs, VARs and PSPs with specialized sales capabilities and integrated merchant technology solutions to help them grow their businesses and manage their portfolios. Partner technology tools enable real-time access to portfolio activity and pricing management. We also provide marketing services, data analytics and other tools that enable partners to further expand their businesses through local communities, e-commerce channels and specific industry verticals.

In addition, the businesses in our Acceptance segment leverage powerful sales capabilities for financial institution and non-financial institution partners to distribute their products and solutions through strategic arrangements including joint venture alliances, RSAs and referral agreements. These strategic alliances combine our commerce-enabling technology, processing capabilities and management expertise with the distribution capabilities, footprint and customer relationships of our partners.

Fintech

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, 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.

Account Processing

We provide account servicing and management technology products and services to our depository institution clients, as well as a range of integrated, value-added banking products and services. Account processing solutions enable a financial institution to operate systems that process customer deposit and loan accounts, an institution’s general ledger, central information files and other financial information. These solutions also include security, report generation and other features that financial institutions need to process transactions for their customers, as well as to facilitate compliance with applicable regulations. Although many of our clients obtain a majority of their processing requirements from us, our software design allows clients to start with one application and, as needed, add applications and features developed by us or by third parties. We support a broad range of client-owned peripheral devices manufactured by a variety of vendors, which reduce a new client’s initial conversion expenses, enhance existing clients’ ability to change technology and broaden our market opportunity.

The principal account processing solutions used by our depository institution clients are Cleartouch®, DNA®, Precision®, Premier®, Signature® and Portico®. All of these systems are available in the U.S., and the DNA and Signature platforms are also available globally. In 2022, we acquired Finxact, Inc. (“Finxact”) to enhance our digital banking offerings. Account processing solutions are offered primarily as an outsourced service or can be installed on client-owned computer systems or those hosted by third parties.

Our account processing business also provides consulting services, business operations services and related software products that enable the transition of check capture from branch and teller channels to digital self-service deposit channels, including

mobile, merchant and ATM. Through the Fiserv® Clearing Network, we provide check clearing and image exchange services. Other products and services include image archive with online retrieval, in-clearings, exceptions and returns, statements, and fraud detection.

Financial Risk Management Solutions

Our Financial Risk Management Solutions products and services deliver operating efficiencies and management insight that enable our clients to protect, manage and grow their businesses. Our Deposit Liquidity solutions enable our clients to retain, monetize and grow their deposit account base while analyzing customer demand and providing for customer short-term liquidity. Our commercial payments solutions provide financial institutions with the infrastructure they need to process, route and settle non-card-based electronic payments, including Automated Clearing House (“ACH”), wire and instant payments, and to efficiently manage associated information flows. Our Digital Efficiency solutions include Nautilus® (a content management product), Frontier™ (a reconciliation product) and Prologue™ Financials, which combines enterprise performance management and financial control offerings to deliver budgeting, planning, financial accounting and automated reconciliation and account certification tools to our clients. These solutions are further complemented by fraud detection and mitigation through our fraud and financial crime risk management solutions. Clients may use our payment platform applications on a licensed or hosted basis, and as an add-on to existing technology or as a stand-alone comprehensive modern payments platform.

Digital Solutions

Our Digital Solutions business includes Experience Digital (“XD”), our principal consumer and business digital banking platform, which includes our Abiliti℠, Architect™, Corillian Online® and Mobiliti™ products. XD is a cloud-based platform that enables customers to perform balance inquiries, view their transaction history and access electronic bill payments, person-to-person digital payments, card services, account and loan originations, funds transfer and personal financial management tools. XD can be highly customized and integrated to multiple products and services, allowing clients to deploy new services quickly and efficiently to increase customer acquisition, engagement and insights.

Our Originate℠ suite of products includes SecureNow™, Credit Sense℠ and LinkLive and enables digital account opening and loan origination services that support multi-channel strategies for financial institutions. Originate is designed to be a single point of origination that qualifies users across a wide range of digital opening and lending opportunities. SecureNow delivers real-time cybersecurity defense capability, integrating industry-leading controls into a single product. Credit Sense helps customers instantly access and monitor credit scores and enables digital marketing offers. LinkLive is a cloud-based multimedia communications solution that includes video communication, online chat and secure messaging, enabling customer engagement and servicing automation. These applications are pre-integrated with our XD platform for rapid deployment to improve digital experiences.

Payments

The businesses in our 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, real-time payments, electronic billing, and security and fraud protection products. Clients of the Payments segment businesses represent a wide range of industries around the world, including merchants, financial institutions and distribution partners in our other segments.

Network and Debit Processing

Our network and debit processing business is a leader in electronic funds transfer services and provides a comprehensive payments solution through a variety of products and services. We provide financial institution clients with a full range of debit processing services, including tokenization, loyalty and reward programs; customized authorization processing; gateway processing to payment networks; ATM managed services and cash and logistics management; and risk management products. We own and operate the Accel®, MoneyPass® and STAR® networks, which provide access to funds at the point-of-sale and ATMs using CardFree Cash℠ and chip and traditional magnetic stripe cards. Our debit processing also provides a range of security, risk and fraud management solutions, which incorporate machine-learning-based predictive technology, that help financial institutions securely operate and grow their business by preventing fraud. Our networks’ POS support delivers comprehensive coverage of PIN and PIN-less authentication support at physical and e-commerce merchants domestically. CardHub provides our clients’ customers with mobile, customizable card management and alert tools that drive engagement and revenue for card issuers. In 2021, we introduced Credit Choice, a fully managed credit card issuing-as-a-service solution which allows community financial institutions to offer their customers a branded credit card that is fully integrated into their debit solutions without the operational burden of managing their own credit card portfolio.

Credit Processing

Our credit processing business provides solutions to financial institutions and other issuers of credit, such as group service providers, retailers and consumer finance companies, to enable them to process credit card transactions on behalf of their customers. Depending on the needs of our client, we deliver these solutions through our proprietary processing platforms, software application licenses, or software-as-a-service hosted in the cloud. Our solutions in North America primarily use our Optis℠ platform to provide transaction authorization and posting, account maintenance and settlement. Our VisionPLUS® software is used globally as both a processing solution and a licensed software solution that enables some clients to process transactions on their own. We also provide financial institutions with solutions that support the lifecycle of a cardholder, including acquisition, fraud detection, credit risk management, servicing, collections and professional services.

Output Solutions

Our Output Solutions business provides business statement and card products and services to clients across a wide variety of industries, including financial services, healthcare, retail, utilities, telecommunications, insurance and travel and entertainment. Our products and services include electronic document management through our electronic document delivery products and services; card manufacturing, personalization and mailing; statement production and mailing; and design and fulfillment of direct mail services.

Digital and Bill Payments

Our digital and bill payments business is comprised of electronic bill payment and presentment services, as well as other digital payment solutions for businesses and consumers, including person-to-person payments, account-to-account transfers and account opening and funding. Our principal electronic bill payment and presentment product for financial and other institutions, CheckFree® RXP®, allows our clients’ customers to manage household bills via an easy-to-use, online tool; view billing and payment information; pay and manage all of their bills in one place; and complete same-day or next-day bill payments to a wide range of billers and others.

Our person-to-person payments and account-to-account transfer services allow consumers a convenient way to send and receive money while offering financial institutions the opportunity to generate new transaction-based revenue, attract new accounts and increase loyalty among existing customers. We partner with Early Warning Services, LLC to offer a turnkey implementation of its Zelle® real-time person-to-person payments service. Our turnkey solution simplifies the implementation of Zelle by providing interface, risk management, alerting, settlement and other services to clients.

Biller Solutions

Our biller solutions business provides electronic billing and payment services to companies that deliver bills to their customers, such as utilities, telephone and cable companies, lending institutions and insurance providers. These services enable our clients to reduce costs, collect payments faster through multiple channels and increase customer satisfaction, and provide customers flexible, easy-to-use ways to view and pay their bills. Our clients’ customers access our electronic billing and payment systems by viewing or paying a bill through a financial institution’s bill payment application, using a biller’s website, mobile application, automated phone system or customer service representative, or by paying in-person at one of the many nationwide walk-in payment locations. Because our biller clients are able to receive all of these services from us, we can eliminate the operational complexity and expense of supporting multiple vendor systems or in-house-developed systems.

Prepaid Solutions

Our prepaid solutions include stored value cards offered by our Gift Solutions and Money Network® businesses. The Gift Solutions business provides end-to-end, omnichannel solutions to securely implement and manage gift card programs that help clients drive revenue, engagement and loyalty. These solutions include physical and digital gift card fulfillment, program management, e-commerce gift card storefronts, security and fraud protection, transaction processing services, incentive and rebate cards as well as reloadable and non-reloadable prepaid cards that may be used with a variety of mobile applications. The Money Network service simplifies payment distribution for organizations while reducing or eliminating expenses associated with issuing traditional paper checks. This service also provides consumers without bank accounts with fast, digital access to their money, including wages. Money Network solutions include Electronic Payroll Delivery, government disbursements, digital disbursements and corporate incentives as well as single-load and reloadable prepaid account options. Account holders of the Money Network Electronic Payroll Delivery Service have access to a Money Network Card, Money Network Checks and a robust mobile app to manage their account anytime, anywhere.

Our Strategy

Our aspiration is 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 operating businesses where we have: deep industry expertise that enables us to serve the market with high effectiveness; a strong competitive position, currently or via a clear path in the foreseeable future; long-term, trusted client relationships that are based on recurring services and transactions; differentiated solutions that deliver value to our clients through integration and innovation; and strong management to execute strategies in a disciplined manner. Consistent with this focus, we continue to operate our business in accordance with the following strategic framework:

*•*Client Relationship Value. We plan to increase the number and breadth of our client relationships by, among other actions: continuing to integrate our products and services; introducing new products and services that are aligned with market needs; combining products and services to deliver enhanced, integrated value propositions; and delivering quality service and support for our clients.

  • Innovation. We seek to be an innovation leader, utilizing our assets and capabilities to be at the forefront of our industry and enable our clients to deliver best-in-class results.

  • Operational Effectiveness. We believe we can further improve the quality of our client delivery while reducing our costs by using the opportunities created by our size and scale.

*•*Portfolio Management. 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.

  • Capital Discipline. We intend to make capital allocation decisions that offer the best prospects for our long-term growth and profitability, which may include, among other matters: internal investment; repayment of debt; repurchases of our own shares; or acquisitions.

Servicing the Market

The financial technology industry is highly dynamic, with new innovations entering the market and driving the expectations of our clients globally. The markets for our solutions have specific needs and requirements, with strong emphasis placed by clients on quality, security, service reliability, timely introduction of new capabilities and features, flexibility and value. This requires us to continue our focus on product and service delivery, integration and innovation to meet and exceed the specific needs of our clients. We believe that our financial strength and specialized market knowledge enable us to support our clients to meet their changing preferences. In addition, we believe that our focus on quality, innovation, client service and our commitment of substantial resources to training and technical support helps us to identify and fulfill the needs of our clients.

Product Development

To meet the changing technology needs of our clients, we continually develop, maintain and enhance our products and systems. Our development and technology operations apply the expertise of multiple teams to design, develop and maintain specialized products and processing systems. Our products and solutions are designed to meet the preferences and diverse requirements of the international, national, regional or local market-specific merchant and financial services environments of our clients. In developing our products, we use current software development principles, such as service-oriented architecture, to create efficiencies, and we stress interaction with and responsiveness to the needs of our clients.

Resources

Our business depends on a variety of resources to operate including products and services provided to us by third parties. For example, we rely on our human capital resources for product development (including product design and coding), sales, operations (including customer service, technology support, security and compliance) and management; access to financial and telecommunication networks; computers, servers, mainframes, microchips and other computer equipment; and Clover and other POS devices. We periodically review our resource requirements and sources, as well as our relationships with key vendors, to best meet the needs of our business including global sourcing efforts and alternate supplier resourcing. We believe we have access to the resources necessary for our current business needs. More information regarding supply chain risks can be found under the heading “Competitive and Business Risks*”* in the Risk Factors section of this report and our human capital resources can be found below under the heading “Human Capital.”

Intellectual Property

We regard our software, transaction processing services and related products as proprietary, and we use a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, internal security practices, employee confidentiality and assignment agreements, and third-party non-disclosure agreements to protect our intellectual property assets. Our patents cover innovations relating to numerous financial software and hardware products and services, and we continue, where appropriate, to seek and secure patents with respect to our ongoing innovations. We believe that we possess all proprietary rights necessary to conduct our business.

Competition

The market for technology products and services in the industries we serve is fragmented, highly competitive, and served by a multitude of large and small businesses. Our principal competitors include other large, integrated providers of financial services technology and payment systems, data processing affiliates of large companies, processing centers owned or operated as user cooperatives, financial institutions, merchant acquirers, ISOs, ISVs, payments companies and payment network operators. Our competitors also include global and local IT product and services companies and payment service providers and processors. We expect competition to continue to increase as new companies enter our markets and existing competitors expand or consolidate their product lines and services. Some of these competitors possess substantial financial, sales and marketing resources and can compete with us in various ways, including through the use of integrated product offerings and through pricing and long-standing relationships. Depending on the product or service, competitive factors may include quality, security, innovation, breadth or novelty of features and functionality, client satisfaction, market opportunity, integration, reliability, agility, global reach, multiple distribution channels, service reliability and performance standards, timely introduction of new products and features, platform scalability and flexibility, and value. We believe that we compete favorably in each of these categories. Additional information about competition in our segments is provided below.

Acceptance

Our Acceptance segment competes with merchant acquirers and financial institutions that provide acquiring and processing services to businesses on their own. In many cases, our alliance and commercial partners, such as ISOs and ISVs, compete against each other. We also compete with merchant services providers and, in a number of countries outside of the U.S., our Acceptance segment competes with a growing number of local and regional providers. In addition, payment networks and large technology, media and other integrated payments software providers are increasingly offering products and services that compete with our suite of merchant acquiring solutions.

Fintech

Our products and services in the Fintech segment compete with large, diversified software and service companies and independent suppliers of software products. Existing and potential financial institution clients may also develop and use their own in-house systems. In addition, we compete with vendors that offer similar transaction processing products and services to financial institutions.

Payments

The businesses in our Payments segment primarily compete with businesses that offer consumer payment solutions and a number of payment and card issuer processors. In addition to traditional payments competitors, large technology, media and other emerging financial technology providers are increasingly seeking to provide alternative payment and financing solutions. Existing and potential financial institution and other corporate clients could also develop and use their own in-house systems or custom-designed solutions instead of our products and services.

Government Regulation

Our operations, and the products and services that we offer, are subject to various U.S. federal, state and local regulation, as well as regulation outside the U.S. We are also subject to non-government-issued rules and requirements, such as those promulgated by various payment networks. Failure to comply with these rules and regulations may result in the suspension or revocation of licenses or registrations, the limitation, suspension or termination of service and the imposition of civil and criminal penalties, including fines. We may also be required, among other things, to make significant additional investments to comply with rules and regulations, to modify our products or services or the manner in which they are provided, or to limit or change the amount or types of revenue we are able to generate.

Financial Institution Regulations. Because a number of our businesses provide services to regulated financial institutions, we are subject to examination by the U.S. Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (“FFIEC”). The FFIEC is a formal interagency body empowered to examine significant service providers to financial institutions. The member agencies of the

FFIEC include the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), which is empowered to conduct rule-making and supervision related to, and enforcement of, “federal consumer financial laws,” some of which apply to products and services offered by our clients. We are also subject to examination by the first three of these agencies which refer to themselves as the Federal Banking Agencies when acting together. We also have a subsidiary that engages in trust activities and is subject to regulation, examination and oversight by the Division of Banking of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.

In the U.S., we are also subject to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which, among other things, caps debit interchange rates for certain card issuers; prohibits debit payment card networks from restricting card issuers from contracting with other payment card networks; prohibits card issuers and payment networks from restricting the ability of merchants to direct the routing of debit card transactions; requires all debit card issuers in the U.S. to participate in at least two unaffiliated debit payment card networks; and generally prohibits network exclusivity arrangements for prepaid card and healthcare debit card issuers. These regulations impact our card processing businesses and our clients’ ability to generate revenue.

Certain of our subsidiaries hold payment institution or electronic money licenses. These subsidiaries are subject to regulation and oversight in the jurisdictions in which they operate, and may be required to meet minimum capital maintenance requirements or other obligations. In addition, several of our subsidiaries outside of the U.S. provide services such as merchant terminal leasing, debit processing, acquiring, issuing, factoring and settlement that make them subject to regulation by financial services supervisory agencies, including the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) in the United Kingdom (“U.K.”), the Federal Financial Supervision Agency in Germany, the National Bank of Poland, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Central Bank of Brazil and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Association and Network Rules. We are subject to rules of Mastercard, Visa, INTERAC, PULSE and other payment networks. In order to provide processing services, a number of our subsidiaries are registered with Visa and/or Mastercard as service providers for member institutions. A number of our subsidiaries outside the U.S. are direct members or associate members of Visa and Mastercard for purposes of conducting merchant acquiring. Various subsidiaries are also processor level members of numerous debit and electronic benefits transaction networks or are otherwise subject to various network rules in connection with processing services and other services we provide. As such, we are subject to applicable card association, network and national scheme rules that could subject us to fines or penalties. We are subject to network operating rules promulgated by Nacha relating to payment transactions processed by us using the ACH network and to various federal and state laws regarding such operations, including laws pertaining to electronic benefits transactions.

Privacy and Information Security Regulations. We provide services that are subject to various federal, state and foreign privacy laws and regulations, as well as association and network privacy rules, which govern, among other things, the collection, processing, storage, deletion, use and disclosure of personal information. These laws and rules contain a variety of obligations including the safeguarding of personal information, the provision of notices and use and disclosure rights. The regulations and rules are complex and evolving and can provide for significant penalties or the suspension or termination of our registrations or certifications for non-compliance.

In the U.S., we are subject to various federal and state privacy and security laws. The U.S. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) requires financial institutions to explain their information sharing practices to their customers and to safeguard sensitive data. We are subject to the GLBA and have privacy and security obligations to our clients who are regulated by the GLBA. The U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) governs the use and disclosure of protected health information in healthcare treatment, payment and operations by covered entities. We are also subject to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Act, which empowers the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to prohibit unfair and deceptive privacy practices. In addition to the FTC Act, the FTC is also responsible for overseeing and enforcing the privacy provisions over certain aspects of the GLBA and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), each of which is applicable to our businesses in certain circumstances.

We have obligations under state laws, such as the California Privacy Rights Act, which gives California consumers more control over the personal information businesses hold about them, as both a “business” and as a “service provider.” In addition, Virginia, Colorado, Utah and Connecticut have passed comprehensive privacy acts that govern the personal data of their residents. We are also subject to the separate security breach notification laws of each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In the European Union (“E.U.”) and the U.K., we are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which impose a comprehensive approach to personal data protection and include penalties for non-compliance of up to the greater of 20 million Euro or four percent of a company’s consolidated global revenue. There are numerous additional privacy laws and

regulations that apply to our businesses around the world which also provide for significant penalties. Some of these data protection laws, including in the E.U., India, United Arab Emirates and China, impose requirements regarding data rights and security and either prohibit the international transfer of personal data or restrict such transfers absent lawfully recognized transfer mechanisms.

Money Transmission and Payment Instrument Licensing and Regulations. We are subject to various U.S. federal, state and foreign laws and regulations governing money transmission and the issuance and sale of payment instruments, including some of our prepaid products. In the U.S., most states license money transmitters and issuers of payment instruments. Many states exercise authority over the operations of our services related to money transmission and payment instruments and, as part of this authority, subject us to periodic examinations. Many states require money transmitters, issuers of payment instruments and their agents to comply with federal and state anti-money laundering laws and regulations and often require the licensee to maintain certain levels of net worth.

Credit Reporting and Debt Collections Regulations. TeleCheck, our check acceptance business, is subject to FCRA and various similar state laws. The collection business within our subsidiary TRS Recovery Services, Inc. (“TRS”) is subject to the U.S. federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and various similar state laws. TRS maintains licenses in a number of states in order to engage in collection in those states. TeleCheck and TRS are also subject to regulation, supervision and examination from the CFPB. In addition, several of our subsidiaries are subject to comparable local laws regarding collection activities and obtaining credit reports and our U.K. branch described above also holds FCA permissions for debt collection activities.

Unfair Trade Practice Regulations. We and our clients are subject to various federal, state and foreign laws prohibiting unfair or deceptive trade practices. Various regulatory enforcement agencies, including the FTC and state attorneys general, have authority to take action against parties that engage in unfair or deceptive trade practices or violate other laws, rules and regulations. If we process payments for a merchant or other client in violation of laws, rules and regulations, we could be subject to enforcement actions and incur losses and liabilities that may impact our business.

Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Bribery, and Sanctions Regulations. We are subject to anti-money laundering laws and regulations, including the Bank Secrecy Act (the “BSA”). Among other things, the BSA requires money services businesses (such as money transmitters, issuers of money orders and official checks, and providers of prepaid access) to develop and implement anti-money laundering programs. Our acquiring businesses outside the U.S. are subject to anti-money laundering laws and regulations in the countries where they operate. Our Money Network Financial, LLC subsidiary provides prepaid access for various open loop prepaid programs for which it is the program manager and therefore must meet the requirements of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

We are subject to anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and similar laws outside of the U.S. such as the U.K. Bribery Act, that prohibit the making or offering of improper payments to foreign government officials and political figures. The FCPA has a broad reach and requires maintenance of appropriate records and adequate internal controls to prevent and detect possible FCPA violations.

We are also subject to certain economic and trade sanctions programs that are administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), which prohibit or restrict transactions to or from, or dealings with, specified countries, governments, individuals and entities that are specially designated nationals of those countries, including narcotics traffickers and terrorists or terrorist organizations. Other group entities may be subject to additional local sanctions requirements in other relevant jurisdictions.

Similar anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing and proceeds of crime laws apply to movements of currency and payments through electronic transactions and to dealings with persons specified in lists maintained by the country equivalents to OFAC lists in several other countries and require specific data retention obligations to be observed by intermediaries in the payment process. Our businesses in those jurisdictions are subject to those data retention obligations.

Communications Laws. We are subject to various federal and state laws that govern telephone calls and the issuance of text messages to clients and consumers in the U.S. as well as to regulations that impose requirements on marketing emails sent to U.S residents. Our international subsidiaries are subject to equivalent laws in applicable jurisdictions.

Indirect Regulatory Requirements. A number of our clients are subject to various regulations and compliance obligations that do not apply directly to us but impact the services that we provide to our clients. To remain competitive, we have expended, and expect to expend in the future, significant resources to develop and update our products and services to assist our clients to meet various compliance obligations. In addition, independent auditors annually review many of our operations to provide internal control evaluations for our clients and their auditors.

Human Capital

The Talent and Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors assists the Board of Directors in establishing our compensation philosophy and strategy and overseeing our human capital management strategy which includes maintaining a culture committed to attracting, developing and retaining top talent, supporting diversity and inclusion, fostering innovation, and promoting employee engagement, safety and well-being.

Development and Retention

We are committed to creating a high-performance culture that consistently delivers excellence for our clients and long-term value for our shareholders while providing a workplace experience for our employees that values collaboration, innovation and diversity. Career development and internal mobility are important aspects of our value proposition for employees. We provide employees with numerous training and development opportunities, including through an e-learning platform specifically geared toward global technology associates; our Leading Women program, designed to accelerate the professional growth of female top talent across each of our global regions; our Leading Fiserv program, designed to develop critical leadership skills for frontline managers; our Vision to Results leadership program, focused on driving enterprise goals; and an online learning platform that provides global access to over 25,000 courses. Internal mobility is our primary approach for filling open positions and fostering career advancement for our employees. In an effort to further encourage internal mobility, we launched a global awareness campaign intended to create a sustainable internal talent pipeline while increasing associate retention, job satisfaction and personal and professional growth opportunities.

We have adopted a pay-for-performance philosophy that is designed to recognize performance and reward achievement of our strategic business objectives and financial results. Total compensation consists of a competitive base pay and annual incentive opportunity delivered in a mix of cash and equity that is designed to promote retention and reward the attainment of defined performance goals. We are committed to providing fair pay to our employees regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or any other protected characteristic, and we conduct periodic pay audits to track, measure and evaluate employee compensation. In addition, throughout the year, we celebrate employee contributions and achievements through a peer-based global recognition program that enables recognition and financial rewards.

Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to cultivating a diverse, respectful and inclusive workplace by:

  • Advancing diversity at all levels in the organization, including increasing the representation of women and minorities in leadership positions, requiring consideration of diverse candidates for our Board of Directors and senior leadership positions, dedicating talent acquisition resources focused on hiring diverse individuals, providing career opportunities to the military community, and deepening relationships with historically black colleges and universities, industry networks, and military and veterans’ organizations that provide access to underrepresented populations; and

  • Promoting employee awareness through education and participation in diversity and inclusion programs, such as our inclusive leader assessment and coaching program, to develop the competencies necessary to create an inclusive workplace; eight Employee Resource Groups (“ERGs”) with over 6,500 associate members who support each other and mutually elevate professional development; and a host of diversity and inclusion training courses available to all employees.

As of December 31, 2022, we had over 41,000 employees worldwide, approximately 41% of whom were female. In the U.S., approximately 37% of our employees self-identified as racially/ethnically diverse.

We continue to focus on our efforts on supporting our community with several initiatives, including:

  • Investing in small, minority-owned businesses by providing financial support, business expertise, and leading technology solutions, as well as through strategic partnerships and community engagement; and

  • Strengthening partnerships with organizations focused on human rights, racial equity and social justice, including through work by our ERGs with over 100 community organizations and groups.

Employee Engagement

We value employee engagement and feedback. Throughout the year, we engage with our employees through events such as lunch-and-learns, quarterly all-hands meetings, town halls, leadership meetings and other forums. We encourage managers to meet regularly with their teams and encourage skip-level discussions.

To assess employee engagement, we periodically collect employee feedback through employee engagement surveys, including annual enterprise-wide surveys and issue-specific surveys. These surveys cover a variety of topics, such as engagement, well-being, client experience, communication, teamwork, manager effectiveness, trust and diversity and inclusion. In addition to assessing engagement, the survey results enable us to gain insight into employee perspectives and issues which we use to enhance processes, set priorities and respond to associate concerns.

Safety and Well-Being

We are committed to the safety of our workforce and maintain a global safety program that is designed to protect the safety and well-being of our employees in the workplace, minimize injury and accident frequency and severity, minimize loss to property, equipment and operational disruption, and enable greater associate satisfaction and productivity.

We are also committed to providing comprehensive and competitive benefits to our associates that are responsive to their physical, financial, social and emotional needs. Our benefit offerings include a variety of medical and dental plan choices, mental health and counseling programs, caregiver support programs, enhanced family forming and planning resources, and paid time off. Significantly, we have not increased the cost of health care benefits for our employees in the past two years despite the increased cost of such benefits to the company. Investing in our associates in this way helps us retain top talent and demonstrates our commitment to our employees, our most important asset.

Available Information

Our website address is www.fiserv.com. We are not including the information provided on our website as a part of, or incorporating it by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We make available free of charge (other than an investor’s own internet access charges) through our website our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to these reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish such material to, the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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