By Dean Seal

The new leaders of Fiserv gave investors a harsh reality check: The financial technology company would never be able to hit financial forecasts set by its former boss Frank Bisignano before he left for the Trump administration.

The disclosure sent the company's stock tumbling more than 40%, erasing nearly $30 billion in market value. Fiserv slashed its financial goals for the year and reported third-quarter results below Wall Street's expectations. It also said its chief financial officer was leaving.

Though largely unknown to consumers, Fiserv provides much of the financial technology that connects Wall Street to Main Street. It processes payments and handles transactions at Walmart registers, gas station pumps and even apps like Lyft.

Chief Executive Mike Lyons, who joined Fiserv this year from PNC, told analysts on Wednesday that as the company analyzed its business, many of the assumptions and projections set by prior leaders were too rosy.

Lyons took the helm in May from Bisignano, who led Fiserv for five years and was tapped to lead the Social Security Administration. Earlier this month, Bisignano was additionally named CEO of the Internal Revenue Service.

"It became clear that there were incremental assumptions embedded in our guidance, including outsized business volume growth, record sales activity and broad-based productivity improvements, all of which would have been objectively difficult to achieve even with the right investment and strong execution," Lyons said on a conference call.

A representative for Bisignano couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Fiserv processes credit- and debit-card transactions for banks and merchants, and provides a range of other services to firms in the business of moving money. The 38,000-person company has faced competition from upstarts such as Square.

Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 29, 2025 12:41 ET (16:41 GMT)

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