Total System Services Inc. said Wednesday that AT&T Universal Card Services has extended its credit card processing agreement through the end of the decade.
Total is expecting $300 million in cumulative revenue from the contract, which replaces one that was to expire in 1995.
The Columbus, Ga., processor, which is 81% owned by Synovus Financial Corp., did not disclose contract details but said there will be no material change in its earnings.
In three years, AT&T Universal has grown into the second-biggest bank card program. With 16 million cards, it trails only Citicorp and accounts for half of the 32 million cards processed by Total.
The AT&T cards are issued by AT&T Universal Bank, another Synovus subsidiary.
Unrelated to Production
AT&T and Total System officials said the contract change was unrelated to a recent change in the way AT&T has been producing its MasterCard cards, which make up 11.2 million of AT&T's total.
Since March, the cards have been embossed and encoded at AT&T's service center in Jacksonville, Fla. AT&T officials attributed the change to MasterCard anti-fraud specifications.
Kenneth E. Evans, vice chairman of Total System, said the company is capable of meeting the MasterCard requirements.
The Georgia company is the second-largest nonbank card processor, behind First Data Resources Inc. of Omaha.
Warrants granted to AT&T in 1990 to purchase Total System stock have expired and are not part of the new processing agreement. Total's price on the New York stock exchange was up at midday Wednesday 62.5 cents to $27.
