JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace says Jacksonville’s status as a leading financial technology hub is because of “three letters: FIS.”
Wallace leads JAX Chamber’s economic development division.
He told the Southside Business Men’s Club on Oct. 5 that Fidelity National Information Services Inc.’s headquarters expansion Downtown is an example of how the financial technology sector is bucking the overall post-pandemic commercial office market decline.
“FIS is the largest financial tech company in the world,” he said.
“Seventy-five percent of payment processing runs through their particular platforms. So that’s huge for us and this respective region.”
Wallace listed fintech as one of Northeast Florida’s top growth areas along with e-commerce distribution, including Amazon; transportation and logistics; advanced manufacturing; and biotech sciences.
JAXUSA Partnership assists in negotiating deals to attract, retain and grow companies in the seven-county region and fintech is a targeted sector for public financial incentives.
JAXUSA works with Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.
With FIS, the Jacksonville City Council approved $29.9 million in state and local incentives in September 2019 for the $156 million FIS world headquarters, then code-named Project Sharp.
The legislation awarded FIS a $3 million Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund — $600,000 from the city and $2.4 million from the state — for the estimated 500 jobs the FIS headquarters would create and 1,216 jobs it would retain.
For the building’s construction, negotiations led to a city Recapture Enhanced Value Grant p roperty tax refund up to $23.4 million and a $3.5 million construction completion grant.
The city also transferred ownership of a 2.3-acre Brooklyn parcel, valued at $3.17 million, to Florida Blue to build a parking garage so the insurance company could free its riverfront surface parking lot for the FIS HQ site.
Since 2019, the city and JAXUSA have negotiated deals for fintech companies to relocate to Jacksonville, including VyStar Credit Union’s software partner Nymbus Inc., personal finance company SoFi and business data and analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet.
Florida State College at Jacksonville, St. Johns River State College and JAX Chamber are partnering to develop a comprehensive financial technology education, employment and business recruitment program.
Jacksonville University announced in August it is expanding its financial technology degree program.
Wallace said recruitment is more than offering public dollars - it’s about the talent of the local workforce.
“If I can’t get through workforce, buildings, speed and certainty of local regulations and the business environment, we never get to have a conversation with the company about incentives.”
