Fiserv and Georgia Tech partner to advance insight into consumer finances

By Edlyn Cardoza

The Financial Services Innovation Lab (FSIL), which serves as an interface between the financial services industry and faculty and students at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Fiserv, a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology with a flagship presence in Georgia, are partnering on a new initiative to understand consumer financial health better. Through this new initiative, Georgia Tech researchers will leverage Fiserv data to generate insights into household financial behaviour, which will be relevant to policymakers, consumers, and small businesses. The three-year partnership, funded by Fiserv, aims to increase financial and payments inclusion.

“With the annual inflation rate in the U.S. at a four-decade high, understanding the financial health of U.S. consumers and offering innovative ways to increase their financial resiliency is paramount,” said Sudheer Chava, Alton M. Costley Chair Professor of Finance at the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, who leads the FSIL. “By combining insights from unique data with our team’s expertise in household finance and big data analysis, we intend to deliver high-value insights about how major economic trends such as inflation affect U.S. consumers and small businesses.”

As a company that enables money movement for thousands of financial institutions and millions of people and businesses, Fiserv will enable FSIL to construct a comprehensive picture of consumer spending and financial health. This will allow researchers to generate valuable insights about how consumers and small businesses are impacted by sudden economic changes and larger economic trends.

“At Fiserv, we believe data can be used for the greater good, to not only understand the financial health of consumers and small businesses, but to actively create opportunities to further financial inclusion,” said Prasanna Dhore, Chief Data Officer at Fiserv. “By partnering with Georgia Tech, we will be able to grow our understanding of the populations and businesses who use our solutions every day, and take steps to positively impact people’s financial lives.”