Clover Gross Payment Volumes Up 50% Year Over Year

For Fiserv, eCommerce tailwinds continue to buoy results, with Clover increasing double-digit percentage points year over year.

In terms of the headline numbers for its fourth-quarter earnings, the company’s 11% top-line growth brought revenues to $4 billion, slightly higher than consensus. Adjusted earnings per share, at $1.57, were two pennies better than expected.

Supplemental materials released by the company on Tuesday (Feb. 8) in tandem with earnings show that within the Merchant Acceptance segment, revenues were up 18%, to $1.7 billion, and global merchant volumes and transaction growth were up a respective 22% and 18% in the quarter. The segment logged 19% eCommerce growth in the quarter, according to the company.

Clover’s growth was 50% in the fourth quarter to an annualized $201 billion run rate. ISV volume growth topped 64% in the quarter.

In the Payments and Network segment, organic revenue growth stood at 8% to $1.5 billion. Debit transactions gained 14%; Fiserv saw 71% growth in Zelle transactions in the quarter.

The Financial Technology segment’s revenue growth was 4% in the period, to $771 million.

On the conference call with analysts, CEO Frank Bisignano said that “the demand for omnichannel solutions persisted through 2021, demand for our integrated solutions, such as disbursements and payback enablement, EBT, and other digital capabilities, rose to an all-time high.”

Disbursements, he added, “have become an important part of the consumer experience in many verticals through the pandemic.”

Bisignano said on the call that specifically, the growth in Clover will happen both in the U.S. and then in its global expansion.

Within the issuer business, according to commentary on the call, the company saw “notable strength” in general-purpose active accounts, which are now running ahead of pre-pandemic levels. Bisignano said that “our card business continues to provide growth above the segment average from strength in digital risk solutions, debit network volumes, and debit transaction growth.”

Chief Financial Officer Bob Hau said on the conference call that for the quarter, card services and digital payments outperformed the segment organic revenue growth rate. Hau noted on the call that ISV volume this quarter through Clover Connect grew 64% year over year and 53% on a two-year CAGR. The company signed 45 ISVs this past quarter.

“Credit came in slightly under the segment average and bill pay continued as a headwind. Within card services, debit transactions grew 14% in the quarter,” he told analysts.

As reported this month, Fiserv has inked a deal to buy cloud-native banking solution Finxact, Inc.

Read more: Fiserv Acquiring Finxact for Digital Banking Acceleration

Bisignano said on the call that the deal “will not only augment our ability to enrich and accelerate the delivery of digital solutions we offer to our existing clients, but also broaden our solutions to include large financial institutions, FinTechs, banking as a service, and embedded finance opportunities.”