Finance · Profile from Finance Research Companion
FIS (Fidelity National Information Services)
One of the three companies, with Fiserv and Jack Henry, that run the back offices of most American banks. FIS processes deposits and loans, card authorisations, ATM networks, wires and treasury systems for thousands of banks, credit unions and capital-markets firms. It was built by acquisition: Systematics, the Little Rock core-banking pioneer of 1968; Certegy and eFunds; Metavante (2009); SunGard (2015); and Worldpay (2019, ~$43bn including debt). Worldpay was the defining bet and the defining failure. It was meant to merge bank technology with merchant acquiring at the moment payments were going digital. Instead FIS wrote down ~$24.4bn of Worldpay goodwill in 2022–23, sold 55% of it to GTCR at an $18.5bn enterprise value (closed January 31, 2024), and in January 2026 swapped its remaining 45% stake, plus new debt, for Global Payments' Issuer Solutions business (the old TSYS) at a $13.5bn enterprise value. Under Stephanie Ferris, CEO since 2023, FIS has returned to being a bank-technology company, now with the largest US card-issuer processing business added on. It is the knowledge base's main case of bank plumbing as a business, and of how a scale thesis can destroy tens of billions of dollars of value.
At a glance
- Founded
- Systematics, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1968 (Walter Smiley; Stephens Inc. backing). Bought by Alltel in 1990; Alltel Information Services sold to Fidelity National Financial in 2003. Present company formed by the reverse merger of Fidelity National Information Services into Certegy, February 1, 2006
- Builders
- Walter Smiley (Systematics); William P. "Bill" Foley II (Fidelity National Financial chairman; FIS chairman to 2011, verify); Lee Kennedy (CEO 2006–10); Frank Martire (Metavante CEO; FIS CEO 2010–15); Gary Norcross (CEO 2015–22; SunGard and Worldpay); Stephanie Ferris (CEO from January 1, 2023, after leading Worldpay integration as Vantiv/Worldpay CFO)
- Headquarters
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Ownership / structure
- Public; NYSE ticker FIS; S&P 500 member. Not a bank; supervised as a technology service provider to banks under the Bank Service Company Act through the FFIEC's significant-service-provider programme
- Leadership (2026)
- Stephanie Ferris, chair (verify), president and CEO; James Kehoe, CFO (verify)
- Segments (2026)
- Banking Solutions (core processing, digital banking, payments, cards and, from January 2026, Total Issuing Solutions, the former Global Payments Issuer Solutions/TSYS business); Capital Market Solutions (the ex-SunGard trading, treasury, risk and fund-administration software); Corporate and Other
- Scale
- Serves ~20,000 clients in more than 100 countries (company, verify); one of the largest US core and card processors; ~50,000+ employees after the Issuer Solutions deal (verify)
- Revenue and profit
- 2025: revenue ~$10.7bn (+5% GAAP, ~6% adjusted), adjusted EPS $5.75 (+10%), GAAP diluted EPS $0.73 (company). Q2 2026: revenue ~$3.4bn (+29% GAAP, mainly the acquisition), Banking Solutions $2.48bn, Capital Market Solutions $810m, adjusted EPS $1.48 (company). Q3 2026 results due November 4, 2026
- Government support
- None
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Certegy merger and spin-off from Fidelity National Financial (2006); Metavante (2009); the 2011 prepaid-card breach and ATM cash-out (failure); SunGard (2015); the Modern Banking Platform and core modernisation (2017–26); Worldpay (2019); the $24.4bn of Worldpay write-downs and leadership change (2022–23, failure); the majority sale of Worldpay to GTCR (2024); the Issuer Solutions–Worldpay swap with Global Payments (2025–26)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2006
Certegy Merger and Spin from Fidelity National
Merger / spin-off
2009
Metavante Acquisition
Acquisition
2011
Prepaid Breach and ATM Cash Out
Failure / regulatory
2015
SunGard Acquisition
Acquisition
2017
Modern Banking Platform and Core Modernisation
Launch
2019
Worldpay Acquisition
Acquisition
2022
Worldpay Write Downs and Leadership Change
Failure / restructuring
2024
Worldpay Majority Sale to GTCR
Divestiture
2026
Issuer Solutions Worldpay Swap with Global Payments
Acquisition / divestiture