Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), the world’s
largest banking technology supplier measured by contract value, is
expanding its mobile banking solutions as it looks to prevent
economic headwinds from affecting its strong market position.
In a crowded – and volatile – fintech sector, FIS says it will
stick to its strategy of serving a diverse range of banks, ranging
from strong global brands to smaller institutions such as credit
unions. Indeed, community institutions were the single largest
source of revenue for FIS in 2007, contributing $1.2 billion out of
a total of $2.9 billion
This is particularly pertinent when it comes to m-banking
propositions at FIS. 
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“There is no one-type-fits-all for m-banking,” Dottie Yates,
head of e-Payments and e-Processing at FIS, told RBI.
“[But] we have learned it is important to explain to small banks
that they can have the same [m-banking] solution as a big bank.
They can go out there and compete with the Bank of America across
the street in this regard.”
‘Comprehensive’ the watchword
For m-banking, ‘comprehensive’ is again the watchword. FIS has
launched a ‘Triple Play’ service, spanning text, mobile web and
downloadable application offerings.
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By GlobalData“In order to meet the needs of all tiers of clients, and the
needs of their users, we needed all three modes” said Yates.
In June, RBI revealed that Citi had suffered from poor
m-banking take-up levels as a result of its decision to only offer
customers a downloadable application. For Yates, these applications
are more useful to more affluent customers.
“I see downloadable applications as being more of a high income,
high value client need,” she said.
Notwithstanding the m-banking success seen at institutions
offering browser-based services – institutions such as Bank of
America and Wells Fargo – such services carry with them their own
risk of alienating certain customers.
“It is very slow to go through your browser on your BlackBerry,
for instance,” Yates commented.
Despite the sense that both the technology and the banking
industry are now able to provide satisfactory m-banking services,
which was not the case at the time of the failed ventures of the
late 1990s, economic conditions mean that further delays to
full-scale services are now likely.
As Yates put it: “We see 2009 as a big year for mobile banking,
but for now banks have bigger struggles.”
FIS also sees Latin America, specifically countries such as
Venezuela and Brazil, as another key market. The region accounted
for 35 percent of FIS total revenue for 2007, with EMEA
contributing 47 percent and Asia-Pacific and elsewhere the
remaining 18 percent.
“We are working with another reseller down there to create a
three-way agreement in order to deliver the same mobile tech in
Latin America that we are delivering everywhere else,” clarified
Yates.
Speed to market
Existing FIS partnerships in the region include a
card-processing agreement with Bradesco and Banco Real. The joint
venture Fidelity Processadora e Servicos now processes more than 22
million cards in the country. Speaking to analysts following the
announcement of Q2 earnings earlier this month, FIS chairman
William Foley said that growth in Brazil was “far over what we
expected”.
Yates concluded: “Part of our plan is speed to market. We hold a
big chunk of the market that we can initially target. The way we do
that is to have as many interfaces as possible built beforehand, so
that when we go to our clients, all we have to do is implement it
for them. We hope this will be a differentiator in the
future.”
Dan Jones
