Fiserv’s Latest Venture to Create Growth and Opportunity

DS News sat down with Bret Leech, President of Fiserv Lending Solutions and Charles Sutherland, VP Product Management & Strategy, Lending Solutions at Fiserv during the National Mortgage Servicing Conference and Expo 2018 on Wednesday to discuss how the company is currently creating better growth opportunities for both clients and borrowers.

Fiserv, Inc. is a global provider of financial services technology solutions, and the company announced on Wednesday a newly formed joint venture with Warburg Pincus, LLC, a global private equity firm focused on growth investing.

Driven by Leech and Sutherland, the new venture is expected to create value for current and future clients by partnering closely with Fiserv for seamless delivery of account processing, integrated billing and payments and LoanComplete solutions, and through Warburg Pincus' demonstrated expertise and track record in growing financial technology businesses of scale.

According to the company’s announcement, the definitive agreement with Warburg Pincus is pursuant to which funds affiliated with Warburg Pincus will acquire a 55 percent share of the Lending Solutions business of Fiserv. Fiserv will receive approximately $395 million in net after-tax proceeds and retain a 45 percent equity interest in the business.

The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is targeted to close in the Q1 2018.

DS // What impact is Fiserv's new venture going to have on the market? 

Leech // We think about it from our borrowers and clients perspective. For us, we’re pretty excited about the growth and opportunity that it means. We’re really taking the best of Fiserv and adding a great partner, Warburg Pincus, who has a terrific track record of really growing the markets they are involved with. Ultimately, we see that as an opportunity to do better by our clients and help them do best for their borrowers.

DS // How did Fiserv and Warburg Pincus begin this partnership? 

Leech // Warburg Pincus is a global private equity firm, and we’ve known them for many years. About a year ago we started thinking, “Hey how can we accelerate what we’re doing in the marketplace?” We’re really honored to work with the clients we have, we have a great list of clients, but we wanted to make sure we were doing even more for them.

So as we started to go out into the market and chat with different folks, we found Warburg Pincus as someone who aligned with the vision that we had and the growth opportunities that we saw in the market and decided to partner with them. Warburg Pincus has done this time and time again and has a history not only in the market broadly but also in the space that we operate in.

DS // What else is on the horizon for Fiserv? 

Leech // As a firm, we are committed to the path we’ve laid out for our clients and excited to talk with them about new ways that we can grow that even faster. So for us, time with the clients is always number one, we are definitely client focus in how we approach the market, we believe that understanding their needs and ultimately the borrowers will set us all up well for success. The job for us is similar as it was the other day, just at a faster pace. Let’s get with our clients, continue to communicate with them and make sure we have great alignment when it comes to our roadmap, both with existing clients and some with the potential that we are chatting with.