News

MPS gets new name, leader

December 19, 2002

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Fifth Third Bank's Midwest Payment Systems subsidiary got a new name and a new leader on Dec. 19, according to a report in the Cincinnati Post.

MPS will be renamed Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions because the old name simply no longer fit, the bank said.

And the head of the transaction processor, Barry L. Boerstler, 55, is retiring after 25 years with Fifth Third. He'll be replaced by Robert A. Sullivan, 48, who will leave his post as president and chief executive officer of Fifth Third Bank-Northwestern Ohio in Toledo.

The subsidiary was founded in 1973 as a Midwestern processor of credit card and ATM transactions. But this year, it will handle more than 8 billion e-commerce transactions for clients including the Pulse network, Hibernia Bank, Kroger Co. and Federated Department Stores in all 50 states and 23 foreign countries.

It also processes debit card and credit card payments for more than 175,000 retail locations and provides ATM processing, debit card management and debit network access for more than 1,500 financial institutions.

The unit generated $343 million for Fifth Third, 9 percent of its revenues, in 2002. It grew 38 percent in 2001 and has continued its double-digit growth this year, according to bank officials.