Fidelity National Information Services Inc. says its credit card processing deal with BB&T Corp. validates its merger with Certegy Corp., which was aimed in part at boosting cross sales.
Last week the Jacksonville, Fla., banking technology vendor announced that it had signed a contract to process transactions for BB&T for five years.
Gary Norcross, the president of Fidelity National's integrated financial solutions division, said in an interview that BB&T already uses his company's mortgage processing and consumer lending services. This deal "is a direct result of our cross-selling ability."
Fidelity National offers core processing, item processing, and a variety of other outsourcing services to banks. When it merger with Certegy in February, Fidelity National said that offering processing services would set it apart from other vendors, and that it expected the merger to boost cross-selling.
BB&T agreed to move both its commercial and credit card portfolios to Fidelity National. Mr. Norcross said the conversion should be complete next summer. The Winston-Salem, N.C., banking company, which will be Fidelity National's largest U.S. processing customer, has about 600,000 card accounts.
BB&T currently uses Total System Services Inc. as its processor, but Mr. Norcross said that contract is expiring.
The ongoing relationship with Fidelity National was an important factor in BB&T's decision to switch card processors, he said.
"We have had a very large relationship with BB&T over the years," Mr. Norcross said. "This is a competitive win."
Bud Tremblay, BB&T's president and chief executive, said in a Fidelity National press release that his company will "realize significant savings from a process improvement standpoint" as a result of the agreement.
