Fiserv Inc. account reps were out Tuesday selling their new flagship core account processing platform for credit unions and community banks: DNA.
The Wisconsin-based financial services technology giant bought Open Solutions Inc. on Monday and plans to integrate features of its Acumen platform into the DNA solution over the next 24 months or so, said Jeffery Yabuki, Fiserv’s president/CEO.
- ALSO READ Fiserv Buys Open Solutions
- ALSO READ Fiserv Takeover Good or Bad For Credit Unions?
After years of putting together a client roster of several thousand credit unions through internal growth and acquisition of competing core processors, Fiserv rolled out Acumen in 2009 as an all-new platform with 360-degree member-facing features and an emphasis on Web services and other integrating technologies.
Yabuki said that in the long run, he does not see those two platforms co-existing in the Fiserv lineup.
“We believe that the innovation exists within the DNA platform today is fantastic, whether it has to do with relational database capabilities or collaborative architecture,” Yabuki told Credit Union Times in an interview Tuesday morning. “Over the next 24 months we want to take some of the unique capabilities we have constructed within the Acumen environment – such as customizable workflows and member management capabilities – and export that over to DNA.”
“We think that will make it ultimately the most innovative and existing account processing platform available.”
Open Solutions had about 800 credit unions, community banks and thrifts on its core platforms. About 30 of Fiserv’s credit union clients run Acumen. Thousands more are on legacy platforms such as XP2, CUSA, DataSafe and Portico, to name a few.
Yabuki said support for those platforms will not change. “This does not represent any fundamental change,” Yabuki said of the Open Solutions purchase, comparing it with the $4.4 billion acquisition of payments provider CheckFree in 2007.
“CheckFree really brought transformational change to Fiserv in terms of providing us with market- leading payment capabilities,” the Fiserv CEO said. “Open Solutions brings a number of innovative products to bear on the market but at the same time does not bring transformational change.
“Fiserv has been doing core account processing since we began 28-29 years ago by putting together a couple data centers. Because we know the business so well, we have a high degree of confidence in our ability to deliver substantially more value to the credit unions and banks and thrifts that worked with Open Solutions and now will be working with us.”
Yabuki also touted the addition of Raddon Financial Group. "Raddon has a great reputation in the credit union space," he said. "We have several different areas in Fiserv that provide information and analytics that help financial institutions run their business. Raddon will bring more value to that."
