Wallace: FIS leading area fintech strength | Jax Daily Record | Jacksonville Daily Record

JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace says Jacksonville’s status as a leading financial technology hub is due to “three letters: FIS.”

Wallace heads JAX Chambers’ economic development department.

He told the Southside Business Men’s Club on Oct. 5 that Fidelity National Information Services Inc.’s Downtown headquarters expansion is an example of how the financial technology sector is bucking the general slowdown in the commercial office market following the pandemic.

“FIS is the largest financial technology company in the world,” he said.

“Seventy-five percent of payment processing goes through their particular platforms. So that’s huge for us and this respective region.”

Wallace listed fintech as one of Northeast Florida’s top growth areas along with e-commerce distribution, including Amazon; transportation and logistics; advanced manufacturing; and biotechnological sciences.

The JAXUSA Partnership helps negotiate deals to attract, retain and grow companies in the seven-county region, and fintech is a targeted sector for government financial incentives.

JAXUSA works with Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.

With FIS, the Jacksonville City Council approved $29.9 million in state and local incentives in September 2019 for the $156 million FIS World Headquarters, then codenamed Project Sharp.

The legislation awarded FIS a $3 million qualified target industry tax refund — $600,000 from the city and $2.4 million from the state — for the estimated 500 jobs the FIS headquarters would create and 1,216 jobs it would retain.

For the building’s construction, negotiations led to a city Recapture Enhanced Value Grant property tax refund of up to $23.4 million and a $3.5 million grant to complete construction.

The city also transferred ownership of a 2.3-acre Brooklyn parcel, valued at $3.17 million, to Florida Blue to build a parking garage so the insurer could free up the riverfront parking lot for the FIS headquarters.

Since 2019, the city and JAXUSA have negotiated deals for fintech companies to relocate to Jacksonville, including VyStar Credit Union software partner Nymbus Inc., personal finance company SoFi and business data and analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet.

Florida State College at Jacksonville, St. Johns River State College and the JAX Chamber are collaborating to develop a comprehensive financial technology education, employment and recruitment program.

Jacksonville University announced in August that it is expanding its degree in financial technology.

Wallace said recruiting is more than offering public money — it’s about the talent of the local workforce.

“If I can’t get through workforce, buildings, speed and safety for local regulations and business environment, we’ll never get a conversation with the company about incentives.”