New Boss of Comdata Acquiring Unit Aims to Move into Top 10

Rod Katzfey, the new boss of Comdata Processing Systems, has worked for some of the nation's biggest merchant acquirers?U.S. Bancorp, First Data Corp., and, most recently, ABN AMRO Merchant Services, where he was general manager. He expects that some day the company he joined this month as senior vice president and general manager will break into their ranks. “We're going to build Comdata into a top-10 acquirer,” he tells Digital Transactions News. “We're kind of that sleeping giant.” That's a tall order considering that Comdata Processing Systems just a year and a half ago was a small, Rock Island, Ill.-based independent sales organization called Tranvia Inc. Brentwood, Tenn.-based Comdata Corp. bought Tranvia, which had about 30 employees, for a mere $8.2 million in March 2005 in order to have its own platform on which to build an acquiring business. Comdata subsequently renamed Tranvia and moved its offices to Louisville, Ky., where Comdata's prepaid card subsidiary, Stored Value Systems, is located. Top-10 status would imply annual charge volume of several billion dollars. Katzfey wouldn't divulge what his unit is doing right now, but acknowledges it has a long way to go. On the other hand, Comdata Processing Systems has some aces up its sleeve, notably the many business relationships of Comdata and its corporate parent, business and human-resources services provider Ceridian Corp., Bloomington, Minn. Comdata is a major provider of fleet-fueling cards and related services, and through, Stored Value Systems, prepaid cards. The company also offers payroll services and electronic benefits transfer (EBT) payment products. “The acquirers generally start out as an acquirer and add the value-add products,” says Katzfey. “What really attracted me to Comdata [is] they already had those and they're building the acquiring piece. They've already figured out what the people within the acquiring industry consider value-adds. That's Comdata's core.” Katzfey acknowledges that merchant acquiring in many ways has become a commodity business, but believes the services Comdata can bring to the table could help change that. He's already shopping for partner independent sales organizations and agent/correspondent banks, and says SVS and other corporate affiliates are pitching Comdata Processing Systems. And, referring to the top bosses at corporate headquarters, “they are making a significant investment,” he says. Comdata Processing Systems clears transactions through Wells Fargo & Co. Without giving details, Katzfey says “we're working very closely with Wells” to leverage the relationship. Katzfey got his start in banking in 1992 as a part-time teller in Springfield, Mo., for St. Louis-based Boatmen's Bank, now part of Bank of America Corp. He later became a commission-only sales rep in Boatmen's merchant-acquiring unit. He worked in the merchant units of First Data Corp. and U.S. Bancorp before joining ABN AMRO Merchant Services, where he worked for four and a half years. He serves on the advisory board of the MidWest Acquirers Association, a regional ISO trade group.