by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Information Services, known as FIS, has grown to more than $5 billion in global revenues, 14,000 clients and more than 30,000 employees in 10 countries.
In doing so, FIS President and CEO Frank Martire said the company followed some simple guidelines.
“You have to make the right investments and you have to make the right commitment and stick to it,” Martire told the 63 participants last week at the Association for Corporate Growth North Florida meeting.
“You can’t be everything to everybody. You have to be clear and focused about where you want to be, and why,” he said.
FIS provides technology and services to the financial services industry worldwide. Customers include community, mid-tier and large banks, credit unions, international banks and other customers, such as government, health care and educational systems.
FIS has five guiding principles, Martire told the group of financial, legal and consulting professionals.
Those are client focus, employee engagement, market leadership, operational performance and community involvement.
With the speed of technology, Martire said operational performance “is as important as it’s ever been.”
“Your system has to be up everyday,” he said at the Thursday event at Morton’s The Steakhouse.
FIS Senior Vice President of Research Paul McAdam said the banking evolution of 1990 to what he calls the “20-teens” moved the industry from reliance on branches, paper and mail to the Internet and electronic access.
The “macro” trends are social networking and mobility, as in Internet-connected mobile phones, as well as eco-friendly business practices and increased consumer savings rates, he said.
He said the number of financial institutions fell from 30,000 in 1990 to 20,000 in 2000 to 16,000 today and will drop to 13,000 by 2015.
That comes as mergers pick up, especially concerning community and regional banks.
McAdam said banks also need to look at consumer behavior. For example, maintaining branches is costly and statistics show that the percentage of consumers using branches is declining.
McAdam also expects financial institutions to focus more on customer segments. He provided a breakdown of population segments that consisted of the mass-market loyalty accounts, 40 percent; the young, tech-savvy account, 25 percent; the tech-savvy emerging affluent account, 15 percent; the retirement income account, 10 percent; and the prepaid debit account, 10 percent.
“This is going to be a major trend,” he said.
McAdam said that “strategically tailored pricing will be critical to winning and retaining customers.”
Fees, he said, must be “upfront and clearly understood.”
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