Fiserv‘s newly appointed president, Dhivya Suryadevara, has resigned less than a month after taking on the role, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 7.
According to the filing, Suryadevara resigned for “good reason” under the terms of her employment agreement and Fiserv‘s executive severance policy, a designation that may entitle her to severance benefits.
While her resignation as president took effect on Tuesday, Suryadevara will remain as a “non-executive officer employee” through July 31 to assist with the transition while continuing to receive her base salary and benefits.
The global fintech and payments company named Takis Georgakopoulos as CEO and Suryadevara as president on June 15 after former CEO Mike Lyons stepped down to lead Truist Financial Corp.
Also in the filing was the news that Andrew Gelb, executive vice president and chief operating officer for financial solutions, and Srini Krish, head of technology and operations for financial solutions, were appointed as interim leaders of Fiserv’s Financial Solutions business. The moves were effective July 7.
The news of Suryadevara’s resignation comes as The Wall Street Journal reported that several major banks — including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and PNC Financial Services — have held preliminary discussions about acquiring one of Fiserv’s debit payment networks.
Per WSJ’s reporting, owning a debit network could exempt a bank from the federal interchange fee caps imposed by the Durbin amendment, part of the Dodd-Frank Act, potentially allowing it to collect higher fees on debit transactions. Other banks have backed away from this type of deal before due to regulatory scrutiny concerns, the outlet noted.
Fiserv issued a statement to HousingWire about Suryadevara’s resignation while declining to comment about preliminary discussions of a potential acquisition.
“We can confirm that Dhivya Suryadevara has decided to leave Fiserv, and we thank her for her contributions. Andrew Gelb and Srini Krish, who have each been with the company for 12 years, are serving as interim co-heads of Financial Solutions, ensuring continuity and strong execution,” the statement read.
“The One Fiserv Action Plan and the strategy, priorities and key actions laid out at our Investor Day remain unchanged, and we continue to focus on delivering for clients through a client-first approach, innovation, and platform modernization.”
