Financial Services Technology (FinTech)

Industry Overview

Georgia is 3^rd in the nation, just behind New York and California in FinTech revenue. Georgia FinTech companies have produced more than $83 billion of shareholder value since 1995 and revenues are more than $34 billion annually. Here, there is a convergence of three key sectors: finance, IT, and software, all of which have a strong presence in Atlanta, along with an abundant IT, software and financial labor force. According to the American Transaction Processing Coalition (ATPC), 70% of all U.S. payments are processed through Georgia’s ‘Transaction Alley.’

Atlanta, along with the surrounding areas of Georgia, has evolved to become the epicenter of a growing segment of the financial services industry – a sector often known as Financial Technologies or FinTech. This sector encompasses the product and service companies that support the technology needs of the financial services industry and, ultimately, the payment-processing infrastructure of the economy.

The FinTech industry includes; Trade Payments, Electronic Billing & Presentment, Retail Banking Solutions, Capital Markets, Identity/Analytics/Risk, Prepaid/Loyalty & Points, Gateways/Alternative Payments, and Card Processing/POS.

FinTech has brought approximately 1,331 companies into Fulton County, employing around 24,664 individuals and paying out $2.6 billion in salary. Over five year from 2007 to 2012 the FinTech industry in Fulton County saw a 1.5% increase in the number of businesses related to the industry and a 1.03% increase in the amount of salary being paid to employees within the industry.

• Georgia State University: Offers Bachelor’s degrees in Accounting and Management
• Georgia Tech:  Offers a MBA program
• Emory University:  Offers degree programs in finance, accounting, information systems and management, and organization and management.
• Morehouse College: Offers degree programs in business administration and economics.
• Atlanta Metropolitan College: Offers degrees and/or certificates in business administration, business management, and information technology

Along with the numerous incentives offered by the state of Georgia, financial services and insurance firms in Georgia are also offered:

• Opportunities to expand business in the U.S. and abroad
• Access talent from Georgia colleges and universities, and continually develop employees through customized workforce education programs at no cost.
• Reduction of costs with five years of tax credits for job creation and a premium tax rate of 2.25 percent on gross direct premiums received by insurers.

In 2015, Worldpay US made a $1 million gift to the Georgia Institute of Technology to create a Financial Technology (FinTech) Program at the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). This initiative creates a unique program between a non-profit, university-based incubator and a major financial services company. The ATDC FinTech Program powered by Worldpay US is focused on building and growing companies in the state of Georgia. ATDC supports technology-based startups across many industry verticals where innovation is taking place in fields such as, healthcare IT, software, hardware, big data, social media, mobile, and E-commerce. ATDC offers mentors, advice, classes and endless business connections to startup FinTech companies.

Atlanta Tech Village is building a thriving ecosystem in the tech community. The mission is to support and inspire entrepreneurs to achieve success through a community that promotes faster connections between talent, ideas and capital. Established in 2013, the Atlanta Tech Village is a community of innovation powered by a 103,000 square foot building. The Village is designed for technology and technology-related companies that have a unique set of needs in their quest to change the world. Atlanta Tech Village is currently the 5th largest tech entrepreneurial hub in the US.

Georgia is the number one business climate, according to Site Selection’s annual ranking of states’ attractiveness to corporate facility investors, providing a healthy marketplace for financial services and insurance companies.

The particular subdivisions of FinTech in Georgia are divided up into the following categories: Card Processing, Retail Banking, Electronic Billing and Presentment, Identity/Analytics/Risk, Trade/Payment, Gateways/Alternative Payments, Prepaid/Loyalty & Points, and Capital Markets.

Card processing is the largest subdivision with 21 major companies headquartered in Fulton County. Among these businesses are Ingenico Group, First Data, and WorldPay. Retail banking has 7 businesses in the county, among the most popular are Chexar, Distra and Q2ebanking. Electronic Billing and Presentment have only 2 in the county, which are Digital Insight and First View. As for the division of Identity/Analytics/Risk there are 13 businesses catering to this service, including Equifax, FICO, and LexisNexis. The Trade/Payment division also has 13 businesses in Fulton County, including Etrade, Kabbage Inc., and NOWaccount. The Gateways/Alternative Payment subdivision has 4 companies in the county, among the most popular is Bitpay. The Prepaid/Loyalty and Points category has 9 companies, including InComm, TSYS, and CoFire. The capital Markets category houses 8 companies in the county, among the most popular are FiPath, GROUNDFLOOR, and SterlingFunder.

Atlanta, along with the surrounding areas of Georgia, has evolved to become the epicenter of a growing segment of the financial services industry – a sector often known as Financial Technologies or FinTech. This sector encompasses the product and service companies that support the technology needs of the financial services industry and, ultimately, the payment-processing infrastructure of the economy. Georgia FinTech companies generate annual revenues of more than $72 billion, placing it third in the nation behind only New York and California. Six of the ten largest US payment processing firms are Georgia-based? Georgia FinTech organizations employ more than 30,000 professionals in the state and over 130,000 globally. The FinTech companies process over 118 billion transactions per year representing over $2 trillion of purchase volume each year, supporting nearly 4 million merchants

The following major financial services companies call Fulton County home.

• ADP, Inc.
• InComm
• Fiserv, Inc.
• LexisNexis RIAG
• Macy’s Systems & Technology
• RBS WorldPay
• First Data Corp.
• GE Money
• Elavon
• Global Payments, Inc.
• S1 Corp.
• TSYS | Total Systems Services, Inc.
• Fidelity National information Svcs.

Atlanta is well positioned because it now has a strong cadre of startup graduates that serve as investors and mentors, a base of corporate giants that will become clients and acquirers for smaller innovators and growing sense of place around around locations like Tech Square, Ponce City Market and the Atlanta Tech Village in Buckhead. WorldPay, Fiserv, First Data, TSYS, Global Payments and even emerging players such as Kabbage and BitPay, a Bitcoin merchant services provider, call Atlanta home, giving the city the nickname Transaction Alley. It’s the epicenter of payments with large, global banks right next door. This can be particularly enticing for young developers and startups in fintech, since it means even if the startup fails and the developer winds up unemployed, there’s a safety net in the area’s legacy companies. Plus Atlanta has an active social scene and a low cost of living.