Fiserv Eyes a More Mobile Future
One generation handing the baton off to the next.
In a meeting laden with generational implications, Fiserv Automotive officials laid out their vision for the future of auto finance technology yesterday, and that vision starkly frames the generational divide.
“It is going to be a whole different experience for our kids,” said Kevin J. Collins, president of Fiserv Lending Solutions, which houses the technology company’s auto finance IT operations.
Even the participants in the meeting with Auto Finance News underscored that. Among others, there was Collins, the long-time president, Terri Gillespie, an old friend and Fiserv stalwart — and Anna Sharkansky, a marketing specialist at Fiserv who said she does all her banking by mobile device.
The main focus of Fiserv’s skunk works right now is adding mobile applications to its automotive loan origination system (LOS), which Fiserv officials said is enjoying a welcome reception in the marketplace since its development was completed in 2006. Mainly, this endeavor entails integrating the LOS with some of the on-the-cusp technologies elsewhere within Fiserv. Collins highlighted as auto finance-applicable technologies Popmoney, Fiserv’s peer-to-peer payments platform; remote deposit capture technology; and the mobile banking services Fiserv Corporate has in its toolbox.
Collins specifically highlighted Popmoney, which is a payments service largely derived from the company’s acquisition of CashEdge last September. Collins said that since Popmoney now executes same-day cash transfers, lenders can instruct auto borrowers to use it for direct payments, like Walmart. “You can make direct payments to Walmart now,” he said.
This vision for more flexible auto finance payments synchs with Fiserv’s largest current product: a new auto finance servicing platform, on which the company is working. The new servicing platform should go to prototype soon, Collins said.
But overriding all these endeavors, Collins said, are compliance matters. He said there is not a client of Fiserv Automotive right now that is not preoccupied with regulatory compliance matters. “Half the money spent on upgrades now is compliance-related,” he said.
