NEW YORK — Fiserv CEO Jeff Yabuki understands that Fiserv was built on an acquisition strategy–140 purchases since inception–but Yabuki also sees great opportunities for internal growth. Fiserv is a household name in the credit union space with its seven credit union data processing subsidiaries. For years people have suggested that Fiserv can't possibly maintain the seven companies, and that it would eventually have to merge some of them. But Yabuki, in an in-person interview with Credit Union Times recently in New York, said the formula is still working and noted that shuttering any of the seven processors would force credit unions to convert systems, which is something he's not ready to do. He noted the expense and complexity of conversions as other reasons for moving carefully in regard to any future mergers. Yabuki, who took over the CEO reigns in November, comes from two well-known consumer brands, American Express and H&R Block. Fiserv's brand isn't nearly as recognized and because of all of its acquisitions the brand can appear segmented by marketplace. Yabuki said one of his top objectives is evaluating the brand and determining how it should be positioned for the future.

The Fiserv CEO also noted that Fiserv is committed to internal growth. One way to do that is to spread products across the various subsidiaries. That's already happening on the credit union side with the dual-factor authentication solution being offered by the seven core processing subsidiaries.