NetSpend 2012 Annual Report Download - page 4

Philip W. Tomlinson
Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer
ABOVE: The IBM  was installed to modernize and automate
the payment system, which later allowed for the remote
transmission of information and made the concept of
“outsourcing” transaction processing possible. ()
RIGHT: An ATM known as “Constant Banker” supported one of
the first forms of debit. ()
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Our single-minded determination and drive to be the best have
made TSYS one of the most respected and admired brands in our
industry. The few of us who were there on that August morning in
1983 when we went public never imagined that TSYS would grow
into a market leader in our industry. And I am excited for our team
members today because they have been called to shape the next
30 years in TSYS’ story.
The past 18 months have been a period of transition for TSYS, as we
kept our feet firmly rooted in our core issuer- and acquirer-processing
businesses, while purposefully making acquisitions to further expand
our role in payments and grow our direct merchant-acquiring business,
adding new sales channels and innovative products.
An example of this was in February of this year, when we announced
our intent to acquire NetSpend
®
Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of
general purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid debit cards and related
financial services to underbanked consumers in the United States.
This acquisition will truly be a transformational event for TSYS, enabling
us to meet our strategic goals of diversifying our business, becoming
a more innovative payment solutions provider and expanding our
role within an area of payments with expected high growth. By adding
NetSpend, we become a top-two provider of prepaid GPR and
paycards in the U.S., and gain a leadership team with deep prepaid
experience, an extensive distribution network, and a differentiated
product offering customized for the consumers, partners and
channels they serve.
NetSpend’s mission is to empower consumers with the convenience,
security and freedom to be self-banked. This promise aligns with TSYS’
People-Centered Payments
SM
approach that pledges to put people at
the heart of every decision we make. Through this acquisition, we hope
to leverage TSYS’ relationships with its 400 banking clients by offering
additional solutions to the 480 million cardholders, 2.5 million small
businesses, and 700,000 mid-size companies, large corporations and
government agencies these clients serve. In addition to GPR cards,
the combined assets of the two companies will allow us to offer
innovative products like paycards, corporate disbursements and
travel and entertainment cards to these entities. It also leverages
NetSpend’s strength in the retail sector to help TSYS expand its
issuer and merchant acceptance services.
In December 2012, we acquired ProPay
®
, Inc., a company that
provides simple, secure and affordable payment solutions to
merchants, ranging from small home-based entrepreneurs to
multi-billion dollar enterprises. ProPay, based in Lehi, Utah, has
a strong footprint among direct-selling-entity (DSE) enterprises,
such as Mary Kay
®
Inc. Its innovative solutions enable more than
1
Dear Shareholders and Friends,
I took great pleasure in penning this letter, as it gave me a chance to reflect on
the path and many turns TSYS has taken as a public company as well as the pride
I have in being part of its 30–year history.
In an initial-public offering, CB&T offered 20-percent ownership of TSYS to the public. (1983)
TSYS was later spun off from Synovus Financial Corp. (2007)