Management Changes at Fiserv

Fiserv, Inc. (FISV - Analyst Report) recently appointed Shawn Donovan as Senior Vice President and Chief Sales Officer. Donovan was earlier employed in Acxiom Corporation (ACXM">ACXM) since 2008. He has nearly 25 years of experience in sales and account management.

At Acxiom, Shawn led the Global Sales Organization, U.S. Business Unit, and Global Consulting Group  being primarily responsible for the company’s growth strategy and its execution, leading the worldwide sales and consulting organizations, and the U.S. client management team. He also worked with Electronic Data Systems Corporation for 20 years in a wide range of businesses and sales leadership positions.

Fiserv also appointed Steve Tait as Group President of international operations, leading sales, service and delivery functions outside the U.S. where Fiserv currently serves more than 1,000 clients. Tait joined Fiserv in 2009 and had been Group President, Depository Institution Services, which includes Fiserv bank and credit union account processing operations.

In addition, Tom Warsop has been appointed as Group President, Distribution and Sales. Warsop was earlier the Group President, Financial Institutions Group. Warsop will now be directly responsible for the Depository Institution Services Group and will continue to have oversight of the Global Sales Organization.

It remains to be seen how the new management propels the company’s growth strategies. Fiserv is currently shifting business focus towards higher growth, higher margin payments, related products (including online bill payment and debit processing) and away from lower margin products such as check processing and lending solutions.

It is now focusing on core high-profit sectors like electronic transactions and online banking solutions after its Carefree acquisition. This move will help the company to not only expand its existing market share but also help battle the current macro environment.

However, slow organic revenue growth along with the current economic slowdown continues to be a cause of concern. Hence, we maintain our Neutral recommendation. Howver, the company has a Zacks #2 Rank, which translates into a short-term rating of Buy.

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