First Data Corp., which recently replaced its chief executive with his predecessor, has rehired David Bailis to oversee a subsidiary that manufactures and processes credit cards for banks and retailers, the company announced Friday.
Bailis will return as executive vice president of First Data’s Card Issuing Services unit, the company said in a statement. He will report to CEO Henry Duques and be based in Omaha.
An executive vice president at First Data from 1989 to 2001, Bailis, 49, will oversee an ongoing review of the unit, the Greenwood Village-based company said. First Data last month hired Morgan Stanley to review options for the division, which represented 23 percent of sales last year and has been losing customers.
“David’s immediate focus will be on working closely with me to ensure a thorough, strategic and expedient review of the U.S. card services business,” Duques said in the statement.
First Data on Nov. 28 appointed Duques, who had stepped down as CEO in 2002, to replace Charles Fote, who the company had said quit for personal reasons. Duques, 62, presided over First Data’s 1992 spinoff from American Express Co.
Shares of First Data surged 4.8 percent, the biggest gain since January 2003, on the day Duques’ reappointment was announced, on speculation he will be more successful than Fote in fixing or selling the card unit.
First Data hired Morgan Stanley to explore “various options” for the card-issuing unit, which had $2.4 billion of sales last year. That business has lost customers, including Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., which have moved card- processing in-house or given it to competitors such as Total System Services Inc.
The subsidiary’s revenue fell 4 percent, to $594 million, in the third quarter.
