TSYS on card-processing roll with string of new, existing customer contracts

Global credit-card and payments processor TSYS finds itself on a contract roll with both new and existing clients heading into its third-quarter earnings release.

The company, headquartered in downtown Columbus, said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with Tangerine Bank of Canada to handle card processing and risk-management chores for its portfolio of consumer cards. Tangerine was once known as ING Direct, but was renamed last year after the bank was bought out in 2012 by Scotiabank.

Financial and length-of-contract terms were not released by TSYS.

Tangerine President and Chief Executive Officer called the Columbus company a “trusted partner” whose “experience and expertise will serve us well” as the bank grows in the Canadian market.

Bill Pruett, president of TSYS’ North American Services segment of business, said Canada is important to the firm’s North American strategy and pledged that TSYS is “committed to a long-term relationship” with Tangerine, which has nearly 2 million customers and handles nearly $38 billion in assets. The bank has more than 1,000 employees in Canada.

TSYS, which employs about 10,000 people worldwide, more than 4,500 of those in Columbus, will issue its financial data for the July-September period on Oct. 27.

The company reported a profit of $77.8 million in the first quarter this year, then followed that up with an $82.8 million profit in the April-June period. A key element moving forward is the conversion earlier this year of a Bank of America card portfolio to the TSYS processing system, which should be a strong revenue generator.

But the firm also has been strengthening its customer base steadily this year with a series of new contracts. In September, it extended a commercial card agreement with ING Bank, which it has worked with since 2009. ING does business in more than 40 countries.

It also inked a deal with another European company, Metro Bank, to handle its credit and debit card portfolio along with fraud management services.

Over the summer, TSYS negotiated a contract extension with U.S. Bank to process commercial cards in the U.S, Europe and Canada. U.S. Bancorp, its parent company, operates nearly 3,200 banking offices in 25 states.

Two other agreements were the extension of a payments contract with Banco INVEX in Mexico, which includes both consumer and commercial cards, and a licensing of the TSYS Prime system to National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited. TSYS has done business with the Caribbean financial institution since 1998.

Shares of TSYS, in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, touched a 52-week high of $49.22. Its low point for the past year is $28.54 per share, which it hit on Oct. 15, 2014. That’s an increase of more than 72 percent.

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 1:19 PM with the headline "TSYS on card-processing roll with string of new, existing customer contracts ."