India-based Federal Bank (NSE: FEDERALBNK), an established private sector bank, has selected Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a multinational provider of payments and financial services tech solutions, to support the digitization of the bank’s end-to‑end card issuance and processing cycle.
Fiserv will also assist with the launch of Federal Bank issued credit cards. The bank will be outsourcing related operational processes to Fiserv as well.
As mentioned in a release shared with Crowdfund Insider:
“With a strong retail and remittance business in India, Federal Bank was looking for a flexible and scalable technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) solution to support the launch and subsequent growth of its credit card business.”
Federal Bank confirmed that it would use Fiserv’s FirstVisionTM, an end‑to‑end managed services solution that facilitates card issuing and processing with “global economies of scale and integrated capabilities that span the card lifecycle.”
Ivo Distelbrink, EVP and head of Asia Pacific at Fiserv. noted:
“Financial institutions in India are undergoing rapid digital transformation, and have further accelerated their digital agenda during the current pandemic. Fiserv [aims to offer] digital capability, infrastructure, personnel and security to help our clients adapt, differentiate and operate more efficiently.”
The integrated technology stack and BPO solution aim to lower the cost of ownership while offering a seamless extension to the Federal Bank’s existing operations.
Shalini Warrier, Executive Director and Business Head – Retail at Federal Bank, stated:
“Fiserv supports our digital priorities and expansion plans. Their .. technology platform and extensive local experience position us to offer an enhanced digital experience to our customers.”
FirstVision’s service-focused architecture and open APIs support fast application development, allowing new capabilities or functionalities to be marketed quickly, efficiently, and at significantly lower costs, the release noted.
Nilufer Mullanfiroze, Country Head – Deposits, Cards & Personal Loans, Retail Banking at Federal Bank, remarked:
“The feature-rich card processing platform and operational tools provided by Fiserv help reduce the need for extensive up-front investments. This allows us to stay agile and focus our resources on delivering relevant solutions and excellent services to our customers as we continue to grow the business.”
As reported in May 2020, Fiserv increased PINless transactions limits at Accel, a platform owned by the Fintech firm. The limit had been bumped up to $100, following the COVID-19 outbreak.
In March 2020, Fiserv acquired Bypass Mobile, an enterprise point of sale systems services provider. Also in March, Fiserv announced its acquisition of MerchantPro Express.