First Data

Although First Data has 33,000 employees, all business activities and decisions are guided by a core set of values. They serve as the foundation for everything First Data does, and it's through these values that First Data maintains a profitable and well-run business. The First Data values are: embodying the highest ethical standards, satisfying clients by always exceeding their expectations, treating people with respect and dignity, and creating value for the shareholder. First Data understands that every member of the First Data team can impact the way client service is handled. That's why First Data focuses on fostering motivated employees and strengthening client relationships. In 1995 two of the world's largest financial data processing businesses--First Financial Management Corporation and First Data Resources--merged to form First Data Corporation. This new entity operates in three primary lines of business: payment instruments, merchant processing, and card issuing. First Data is the leading provider of official checks and money orders for banks and savings institutions. Through its subsidiary Western Union, the company also offers money transfer services at 55,000 locations in 168 countries. In the realm of merchant processing, First Data annually processes and settles more than five billion credit, debit, and stored-value card transactions from over two million merchant locations. First Data's TeleCheck subsidiary authorizes more than 2.7 billion check transactions valued at $114 billion each year as well. In its third area of operation, First Data works with more than 1,400 card issuers. The company embosses and issues plastic cards, activates the cards, corresponds with cardholders, and produces and mails billing statements. In addition, First Data has entered the burgeoning field of Internet commerce through partnerships with large online merchants. First Data Resources was incorporated in 1971 and by 1976 had become the data processor for both Visa and MasterCard bank-issued credit cards. American Express, which was itself attempting to build a financial services operation, bought First Data Resources in 1980 to perform processing functions. First Data Resources flourished in this new environment and became the largest bank-processing company in the United States. However, it proved to be an awkward fit with its parent company, and in 1992 American Express spun off the profitable division. The impetus fueling First Financial's string of acquisitions was the company's agenda to become a major player in the commercial transaction industry. First Financial believed that the future of banking and commerce would be driven by electronic and computerized information, not by cumbersome paper slips and forms. The company's goal was to become the middleman for a wide variety of exchanges in which electronic data was manipulated, acting as a support system for the financial industry of the future. In making acquisitions, First Financial sought out relatively small entrepreneurial firms that were important because they would help the company increase its list of clients. Because it was cumbersome and time-consuming to win new customers in the financial services field, First Financial found it more economical simply to buy a small company than to individually recruit each of its customers. When First Financial purchased a small firm, the company did not, however, insist that the smaller company's operations be broken down and merged with those of First Financial. Instead, the company left them intact in the same location and with the same management, culture, and individual style. First Financial had a decentralized management philosophy, and although there was ample overlap in its operations, the company did not attempt to institute central marketing or sales operations. Former owners of properties that had been bought were encouraged through stock deals to stay and to work for First Financial, because their ownership in