Capitol One newest card in TSYS' wallet
By PERALTE C. PAUL
Cox News Service
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
ATLANTA — Columbus, Ga.-based Total System Services, already the leading processor of credit and debit card payments in the country, said Monday it had added Capital One Financial to its client roster.
Financial terms of the five-year deal were not disclosed, but Total System, or TSYS, expects to begin processing payments for Capital One in the fourth quarter of 2006. Capital One, based in McLean, Va., previously processed transactions in-house.
Capital One, known for its quirky "What's in your wallet?" television commercials that feature unemployed Vikings and comedian David Spade, manages $46 billion in credit card debt in the United States.
It's the sixth-largest U.S. issuer of cards and 10th-largest in Canada.
It has a combined 45 million card accounts in the two countries, according to the Nilson Report, an industry newsletter.
The addition of Capital One's card accounts will give TSYS 445 million card accounts under management and a leading 49 percent share of the U.S. market.
It also will give the company, which is 81 percent owned by Columbus-based Synovus Financial, full or partial processing contracts with 13 of the top 15 U.S. card issuers.
"We're really excited about that," Phil W. Tomlinson, TSYS' chief executive, said in an interview Monday. "This is one of the big ones."
Capital One will be among TSYS' top five clients, joining a list that includes Bank of America — its largest customer — Providian Financial, JPMorgan Chase and Royal Bank of Scotland.
The agreement, which had been in negotiations for 11 months, is one of several key deals the company has made in the last year.
In March, TSYS announced that it had inked a seven-year deal with ABN AMRO Bank, Holland's largest bank and the world's 20th-largest financial institution.
In January, TSYS announced it had extended its contract with Bank of America through 2014.
And last October, the company won JPMorgan Chase's card accounts, after its merger with Bank One, which was already a TSYS client.
TSYS shares closed at $23.71, up 4 pennies.
Peralte C. Paul writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
