First Data 2008 Annual Report Download - page 4

Segment Realignment
Effective January 1, 2008, the Company's new Chief Executive Officer appointed in connection with the merger began making strategic and operating
decisions with regards to assessing performance and allocating resources based on a new segment structure. Segment results for 2007 and 2006 have been
adjusted to reflect the new structure. For more information on the segment realignment refer to Note 17 of the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements
in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Effective January 1, 2009, the Company's Chief Executive Officer began making strategic and operating decisions with regards to assessing
performance and allocating resources based on a new segment structure. For more information on the 2009 segment realignment refer to Note 17 of the
Company's Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Segments
The Company is organized in four primary segments: Merchant Services, Financial Services, International and Prepaid Services. In addition, the
Company currently operates its official check and money order business through its Integrated Payment Systems ("IPS") segment but is in the process of
winding that business down.
Merchant Services
Merchant Services provides merchant acquiring and processing services. The Company provides these services to approximately 3.1 million merchant
locations across the U.S. and acquired $1.4 trillion of payment transaction dollar volume on behalf of U.S. merchants in 2008. Merchant Services facilitates
merchants' ability to accept credit and debit cards by authorizing and settling merchants' credit, debit and loyalty card transactions. At the same time,
Merchant Services provides merchants with the reliability, security and back-office services that are critical to their business success. Most of this segment's
revenue is derived from regional and local merchants. Merchant Services approaches the market through diversified sales channels including equity alliances,
revenue sharing alliances and referral arrangements with over 370 financial institution partners, over 800 non-bank referral partners, and over 400
independent sales organization partners, as of December 31, 2008.
Financial Services
Financial Services provides financial institutions and other third parties with credit, debit and retail card processing; debit network services; output
services, such as statement and letter printing, embossing and mailing services; check verification, settlement and guarantee services; remittance processing
services; and services facilitating government payments. The credit, debit and retail card processing businesses provide services that enable financial
institutions and other organizations offering credit cards, debit cards and retail private label cards to consumers and businesses to manage customer accounts.
Financial Services also provides services to the U.S. personal identification number point-of-sale ("PIN POS") debit market through the STAR Network
which offers PIN-secured debit acceptance at 2.2 million ATM and retail locations as of December 31, 2008.
International
International provides products and services in international markets that are similar to those offered by the Merchant Services and Financial Services
segments in the U.S. International has operations in 36 countries, including the U.S., with regional management teams overseeing local operations.
Prepaid Services
Prepaid Services consists of businesses that provide open and closed loop stored-value products and processing services. The closed loop operations
provide gift card processing services to large national merchants as well as fleet services to trucking companies. The open loop operations consist primarily of
reloadable and one time use association branded stored value products and associated processing services.
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