A Message From Frank J. Bisignano
Dear Stakeholders,
Blue-sky thinking is important to us.
Conversations with our clients, our partners and our people move rapidly from idea and “what if…” to the accomplishment of “what is.” We approach the future with a sense of optimism tempered by the realities of our world today. The global pandemic and its continued effects, ongoing social challenges and a heartbreaking conflict in Ukraine – all of this and more inform what we believe is expected from us – that we must listen and act, driving innovation, corporate citizenship and environmental stewardship to create sustainable, positive outcomes for our stakeholders and our world.
As the operating system for commerce and money movement across our global client base of businesses, banks, credit unions – large and small – and fintechs, we’re helping our clients grow by extending our platform to capture new services and new money flows; and doing so in a way that respects our environment, supports and fosters equitable communities, and uses the power of data in a responsible manner. Our global business serves clients in more than 100 countries, and enables more than 10,000 financial institutions and more than 6 million merchant locations every year. In the U.S. alone, Fiserv solutions reach nearly 100% of U.S. households. Our breadth and scale across the fintech and payments landscape – and millions of consumers – provides unparalleled data and insights, which differentiate the experience we can provide.
Our approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at Fiserv reflects our global presence, and is embedded in how we innovate, operate and deliver products and services to our clients every day. I am proud of the steps we have taken to advance our ESG program this year.
Our commitment to people
Our people platform, including diversity and inclusion, and the health and safety of our people, clients and communities, has remained at the top of our CSR and ESG agenda. Throughout 2021, we continued to enhance our award-winning people platform with programs that support our associates’ overall health and well-being, including vaccination drives around the world. We continued to use our Fiserv Cares Fund to assist associates who have experienced unexpected financial hardship during the pandemic, and we continued to prioritize professional development for our people, with programming centered on inclusive leadership and the development of diverse top talent within our organization.
Our Employee Resource Groups were instrumental in guiding decisions on where our financial support would create the greatest impact and we donated to more than 180 organizations globally. Our people donated their time and nearly $1 million through our Fiserv Gives Back program, supporting more than 2,000 causes during the year.
Our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace remained strong in 2021 and the results of our efforts speak for themselves. During the year, Forbes recognized Fiserv as one of America’s Best Employers for Diversity and, in early 2022, Fiserv was named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the sixth year in a row. For the second consecutive year, Fiserv has been designated a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index, which benchmarks corporate policies, practices and benefits pertinent to LGBTQ+ employees. We also extended our partnership with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University and were again named to the Military Times Best for Vets Employer List and recognized as a 5-Star Employer by VETS Indexes.
Early in 2021, we increased our commitment to helping small, minority-owned businesses from $10 million to $50 million. This commitment funded our Back2Business program, now in its second year, through which we have already awarded more than 1,400 grants to small, diverse businesses globally and bolstered the entrepreneurial ecosystems that sustain them. In addition, we continue to invest in and engage with community partnerships. Examples include Atlanta’s Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, Howard University’s Inclusive Innovation Labs, and a $1.5 million investment in the Girl Scouts of the USA to bring STEM curriculum and programming to girls.
We facilitated 20 billion eCommerce transactions
Our people donated their time and nearly $1 million, supporting more than 2,000 causes during the year
We increased our commitment to helping small, minority-owned businesses in their recovery
Our business enables over 6 million merchant locations and over 10,000 financial institutions every year
Our commitment to the environment
Our commitment to being good stewards of our environment continued. For the first time since the merger of Fiserv and First Data, Fiserv provided data about its environmental impact through the Carbon Disclosure Project. We consolidated our data center footprint as well as redundant office locations. We expanded our Scope 3 GHG emissions reporting to include categories beyond business travel. We established an Energy and Sustainability team to work on all future real estate initiatives. Moving forward, we plan to pursue LEED certification (or comparable certifications) for all of our newly occupied and/or renovated office locations, including our new office in New York and new Innovation Center in New Jersey.
Our commitment to strong governance
We continue to refine and improve the way we operate. We have clear lines of responsibility from our Board of Directors and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee to our Management Committee to our Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, which is responsible for day-to-day management of our CSR agenda and ESG strategy. Our supplier diversity processes have been enhanced. In addition to industry-leading data governance practices, such as our binding corporate rules, we have formalized our data governance to protect client data and safeguard our information systems.
We have also further enhanced our sustainability practices to support the growth of our ESG program. As part of this commitment to transparency, this CSR report is aligned with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting standards. In 2022, we plan to assess our climate-related risks and opportunities, and provide disclosures consistent with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) standards.
Creating impact
Looking ahead, we are well-positioned to help our clients accelerate their business strategies and drive outcomes, and we are committed to earning their trust every day. Our ESG performance is a critical component to earning and keeping that trust. From the transformative power of intelligent technology we are delivering and its impact on the way people live and work, and the way money and information move, to the people-centered programs we are driving that are helping to address today’s pressing issues, we are focused on creating impact through our actions to benefit our clients, associates and shareholders.
Frank J. Bisignano
President and Chief Executive Officer