Synovus Financial Corp Company Profile

Synovus is engaged in two reportable business segments: Financial Services (which is primarily involved in commercial banking activities and also provides retail banking, financial management, mortgage banking, leasing and insurance services), and Transaction Processing Services (which primarily provides electronic payment processing services including consumer, debit, commercial, retail and stored value card processing and related services, as well as student loan processing)

Major Customers. A significant amount of TSYS revenues are derived from long-term contracts with significant customers, including certain major customers. Bank of America Corporation and Providian Financial Corporation accounted for approximately 18% and 10%, respectively, of TSYS total revenues.

Competition

Financial Services. The commercial banking business is highly competitive and the Banks compete actively with national and state banks for deposits, loans and trust accounts, and with savings and loan associations and credit unions for deposits and loans. In addition, Synovus and its banks and bank related subsidiaries compete with other financial institutions, including securities brokers and dealers, personal loan companies, insurance companies, finance companies, leasing companies, mortgage companies and certain governmental agencies, all of which actively engage in marketing various types of loans, deposit accounts and other services. These competitors have been successful in developing products that are in direct competition with or are alternatives to the banking services offered by traditional banking institutions. Synovus ability to maintain its history of strong financial performance will depend in part on its ability to expand the scope of and effectively deliver products and services, allowing it to meet the changing needs of its customers.

TSYS major competitor in the card processing industry is First Data Resources, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of First Data Corporation, which is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, and provides card processing services, including authorization and data entry services. The principal methods of competition between TSYS and First Data Resources are price, system performance and availability, breadth of features and functionality, disaster recovery capabilities, data security, scalability and flexibility of infrastructure and customer service. Certain other subsidiaries of First Data Corporation also compete with TSYS. In addition, there are a number of other companies which have the necessary financial resources and the technological ability to develop or acquire products and, in the future, to provide services similar to those being
offered by TSYS.