TransFirst Joins TSYS with Future-Focused Strategies for Payments Innovations

By John Shlonsky, Senior Executive Vice President  & President, Merchant Services, TSYS

In today’s dynamic payments environment, there are two vital components needed for ongoing growth. First, bring relevant products and services to the market. Then, provide operational excellence and support to the customers who use them. A company that does both of these things effectively will be successful. Two companies working together will bring even more to the table.

On April 1, 2016, the sale of TransFirst to TSYS became final. TransFirst had a strong business relationship with TSYS for many years, and we look forward to carrying this relationship into the new company. After being CEO of TransFirst for 10 years, I have now assumed the role of Senior Executive Vice President and President of TSYS’ Merchant Services segment and will continue to lead my TransFirst colleagues, as well as the existing TSYS Merchant Services team.

This strategic acquisition creates advantages for TSYS and for its current and future clients. With the TransFirst portfolio, TSYS becomes the sixth-largest U.S. merchant acquirer, serving more than 645,000 merchants with more than $117 billion in annual sales. The combined products and services of the two companies produce an outstanding package of flexible, scalable processing choices that can be customized for every business’ processing needs. With exceptional capabilities in mobile processing, integration with VAR software, e-commerce, mPOS, prepaid and traditional brick-and-mortar options, TSYS can create growth-focused programs for businesses of all sizes and budgets.

Both TSYS and TransFirst have established themselves as industry leaders in client service. Combine TransFirst’s 24/7/365 merchant support and its partner-centric service model with TSYS’ People-Centered Payments^® practices and the result is a renewed commitment to ensuring that every aspect of clients’ payments operations run seamlessly and that any issues they have are addressed immediately. This commitment to customer service has been a foundation for everything we did as TransFirst, and fits perfectly with TSYS’ corporate values of integrity, relationships, excellence, innovation and growth.

In a message to the TransFirst team, TSYS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer M. Troy Woods said, “We stand at the threshold of possibly our greatest adventure yet as we look to expand our offerings to provide industry-changing solutions.” I am proud to join him in sharing this message with all of our clients and colleagues in the payments space. I also invite you to take a look at the new TSYS and think about how your business can benefit from working with us.