Fiserv is now competing with Fair Isaac, source of the ubiquitous Fico credit scores.
Fiserv is a good example of a richly priced tech outsourcing firm with questionable earnings quality.
Now Zschappel has loaded up on such things as Fiserv, technical-services provider to banks and insurers.
More recently, TD Ameritrade agreed last month to buy the retirement plan services business of Fiserv.
Over the past two years he's done deals to make Fiserv almost exclusively dependent on the financial industry for its revenues.
Fiserv is another richly priced tech outsourcing firm with questionable earnings quality.
Another weakness at Fiserv: It pays its employees in part with stock options, a cost that does not have to be expensed (for now).
Over the last year and a half Yabuki's engineers have been mapping out where potentially useful bits of information reside across Fiserv's disparate software systems.
Every year Fiserv produces software, but rather than expense that cost against earnings, the company declares the software as an asset and amortizes it over time.
More recently, TD Ameritrade agreed last month to buy the retirement plan services business of Fiserv (nasdaq: FISV - news - people ).
Fiserv already uses some of its bank customers' data to spot fraud, even if it can't yet serve as an early warning signal of potentially sleazy activity.
This while bankers complain that their major tech suppliers, including First Data, Fidelity, Fiserv and Jack Henry, are just not moving fast enough to meet their needs.
Unlike credit scoring systems (like Fico) that can't see the layer of activity below credit card and loan payments, Fiserv tracks consumer accounts, debit card payments and online bill-pay habits.
According to a study commissioned by Fiserv, which develops online billpay systems, using the internet to pay bills, send electronic checks, etc. can reduce customer turnover by up to 95%.
Other liquidated positions included Nestle, Fiserv, and Loews.
FORBES: Buffett's Berkshire Dissolved Its Positions In Bank of America And Comcast
One example: Consumers who one month pay only a portion of an online bill (a practice known as "paying short") might knock their Fiserv ranking but would not impact their credit score.
Fiserv Inc. a leading financial technology services provider, pools the information assets from a base of more than 2, 000 banks to enable its small and medium sized bank clients to build more effective retention, growth and cross-sell strategies.
FORBES: When Banks Use CRM Technology, Customer Service Improves
The Fiserv Case-Shiller Index, which measures price changes in single-family homes in over 375 U.S. metropolitan markets, estimates that home prices have already leveled out in one out of four metro U.S. areas, despite price declines of 1.5% in the third quarter of 2010.
FORBES: Price Stability In 75% of U.S. Metro Areas By Year-End, Double-Dip Looms
应用推荐