Fiserv Income Rises 18%, Revenue Rises 5.7%

Fiserv (FISV), of Brookfield, Wis., reported first-quarter gains in profit and revenue.

The bank technology vendor's revenue for the quarter rose 5.7 %, to $1.1 billion, compared to the same quarter a year earlier. Its net income rose 18%, to $132 million.

Its free cash flow for the quarter fell 25%, to $183 million, compared with $244 million for the same period a year earlier. Its total expenses increased about 5%, to $867 million, from a year earlier.

"We are off to a great start in 2012 with above-plan performance for revenue and earnings per share in the quarter," said Jeffery Yabuki, president and chief executive of Fiserv, in a press release. "There is continuing evidence that our broad range of technology solutions will support the needs of the evolving financial services market."

Fiserv reported it signed 78 electronic bill payment clients, 59 debit clients and 93 person-to-person clients in the quarter.

Fiserv said it will combine its Popmoney and ZashPay payment networks, rebranding the service Popmoney (Popmoney was developed separately by CashEdge, which Fiserv bought last year). The combined payment network includes about 1,500 financial institutions serving more than 35 million consumers through online and mobile banking relationships, Fiserv said in the release.