EVERTEC is a leading full-service transaction processingtransaction-processing business in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Latin America, and the Caribbean, providing a broad range of merchant acquiring, payment services and business process management services. According to the September 2019 Nilson Report,We believe that we are one of the largest merchant acquirers in Latin America based on total number of transactions and we believe we are the largest merchant acquirer in the Caribbean and Central America.Caribbean. We serve 26 countries in the region out of 11 offices, including our headquarters in Puerto Rico. We manage a system of electronic payment networks that process more than two billion transactions annually, and offer a comprehensive suite of services for core bank processing, cash processing and technology outsourcing. In addition, we own and operate the ATH network, which we believe is one of the leading personal identification number (“PIN”) debit networks in Latin America. We manage a system of electronic payment networks and offer a comprehensive suite of services for core banking, cash processing, and fulfillment in Puerto Rico, that process over three billion transactions annually. Additionally, we offer technology outsourcing in all the regions we serve. We serve a diversified customer base of leading financial institutions, merchants, corporations, and government agencies with “mission-critical” technology solutions that enable them to issue, process and accept transactions securely. We believe our business is well-positioned to continue to expand across the fast-growing Latin American region.

We are differentiated, in part, by our diversified business model, which enables us to provide our varied customer base with a broad range of transaction-processing services from a single source across numerous channels and geographic markets. We believe this capability provides several competitive advantages that will enable us to continue to penetrate our existing customer base with complementary new services, win new customers, develop new sales channels, and enter new markets. We believe these competitive advantages include:

 

Our broad suite of services spans the entire transaction processingtransaction-processing value chain and includes a range of front-end customer-facing solutions such as the electronic capture and authorization of transactions at the point-of-sale, as well as back-end support services such as the clearing and settlement of transactions and account reconciliation for card issuers. These include: (i) merchant acquiring services, which enable point of sales (“POS”) and e-commerce merchants to accept and process electronic methods of payment such as debit, credit, prepaid and electronic benefit transfer (“EBT”) cards; (ii) payment processing services, which enable financial institutions and other issuers to manage, support and facilitate the processing for credit, debit, prepaid, automated teller machines (“ATM”) and EBT card programs; and (iii) business process management solutions, which provide “mission-critical” technology solutions such as core bank processing, as well as IT outsourcing and cash management services to financial institutions, corporations and governments. We provide these services through scalable, end-to-end technology platforms that we manage and operate in-house and that generate significant operating efficiencies that enable us to maximize profitability.

We sell and distribute our services primarily through a proprietary direct sales force with established customer relationships. We continue to pursue joint ventures and merchant acquiring alliances. We benefit from an attractive business model, the

Currently, the penetration of banking products, including electronic payments,The markets in which we operate, particularly in the Latin American and Caribbean region is lower relative to the mature U.S. and European markets. As these markets continue to grow and financial inclusion increases, the emergence of a larger and more sophisticated consumer base will influence and drivepreference is driving an increase in card (e.g., debit, credit, prepayment, and EBT) andfor electronic payments usage. According to the 2019 World Payments Report, non-cash paymentNon-cash transaction volumes in Latin America increased to 43.1 billion in 2017have grown from 39.840.9 billion in 2016 to 57.2 billion in 2020 according to the 2021 World Payments report, representing a compound annual growth rate of 8.7%. Increase in demand for contactless technology, QR code payments and instant payment-based transfers is one of the main drivers for this growth. Latin America is one of the fastest-growing mobile markets globally, with a growing base of tech-savvy customers that demonstrate a preference for credit cards, digital wallets, contactless payments, and other value-added offerings. Non-cash markets in Latin America are expected to continue their accelerated growth, with non-cash transactions expected to reach over 100 billion in 2025, a growth rate of 8%. A growing base of young and Internet-savvy customers and e-commerce growth are defining the Latin America payments landscape with credit card penetration, digital wallets, and other value-added offerings. Debit card transactions in Latin America grew 14% in 2017. Latin American non-cash markets continued14.1% from 2020 to be poised for growth despite recovering economies, as non-cash transactions are expected to grow 6% through 2022.2025. The region's FinTech sector is driving change via new financial inclusion initiatives and mobilecontactless payment platformstechnology that are becoming popular alternatives to cash payments. In North America, non-cash payments grew by 5.1% in 2017, are projected to grow 4.7% through 2022 and North America is expected to cede the position as the region with the largest number of non-cash transactions to emerging Asia by 2020. We continue to believe that the attractive characteristics of our markets and our position across multiple services and sectors will continue to drive growth and profitability in our businesses.

We benefit from the trend of financial institutions and government agencies outsourcing technology systems and processes. Financial institutions globally are facing significant challenges including the entrance of non-traditional competitors, the

compression of margins on traditional products, significant channel proliferation and increasing regulation that could potentially curb profitability. Many of these institutions have traditionally fulfilled their IT needs through legacy computer systems, operated by the institution itself. Legacy systems are generally highly proprietary, inflexible, and costly to operate and maintainmaintain. Many medium and small-size institutions in the Latin American markets in which we believe the trend to outsource in-house technologyoperate have outdated computer systems and processes by financial institutions will continue.updating these legacy systems is financially and logistically challenging, which presents a business opportunity for the Company.

We believe we have an inherent competitive advantage relative to U.S. competitors based on our first-hand knowledge of the Latin American and Caribbean markets and technologicaltechnology needs, language, and culture. We have built leadership positions across the transaction processingtransaction-processing value chain and the financial technology space in the key geographic markets that we serve, which we believe will enable us to continue to penetrate our core markets and provide advantages to enter new markets. According to the September 2019 Nilson Report, weones. We are one of the largest merchant acquirers in Latin America based on total number of transactions and we believe we are the largest merchant acquirer in the Caribbean and Central America.transactions. We own and operate the ATH network, which we believe is one of the leading ATM and PIN debit networks in Latin America. EVERTEC processed approximately 2.4over three billion transactions in 2019.2021. According to management's estimates, ATH branded products are the most frequently used electronic method of payment in Puerto Rico. We offer compelling value to our merchants, as noted in the most recent report published by the Federal Reserve Board regarding debit network fees, which ranked the ATH network as one of the most economical networks for merchants. Given ourOur scale and customer base of top tier financial institutions and government entities we believeensures we are the leading card issuer processor and core bank processorprocessors in the Caribbean and the only non-bank provider of cash processing services to the U.S. Federal Reserve in the Caribbean. We believe our competitive position and brand recognition increases card acceptance, driving usage of our proprietary network, and presents opportunities for future strategic relationships.

We have built a strong and long-standing portfolio of financial institution, merchant, fintech, corporate and government customers across Latin America and the Caribbean, which provides us with a reliable, recurring revenue base and powerful references that have helped us expand into new channels and geographic markets. Our Payment Services - Puerto Rico & Caribbean, Payment Services - Latin America and Merchant Acquiring segments, as well as certain business lines representing the majority of our business solutions segment, generate recurring revenues that collectively accounted for approximately 94%95% of our total revenues in 2019.2021. We receive recurring revenues from services based on our customers’ on-going daily commercial activity such as processing loans, hosting accounts and information on our servers, and processing everyday payments at grocery stores, gas stations and similar establishments. We generally provide these services under one to five yearfive-year contracts, often with automatic renewals. We also provide a few project-based services that generate non-recurring revenues in our business solutions segment and our Payment Services - Latin America segment, such as IT consulting for a specific project or integration or one-time license sales. Additionally, we entered into a 15-year Master Services Agreement with Popular on September 30, 2010. We provide a number of critical payment services, core baking services and business solutions products and services to Popular as part of the 15-year MSA entered into on September 30, 2010 and benefit from the bank’s distribution network and continued support. Through our long-standing and diverse customer relationships, we are able to gain valuable insight into trends in the marketplace that allows us to identify new market opportunities. In addition, we believe the recurring nature of our business model provides us with revenue and earnings stability.

Our diversified business model is supported by our scalable, end-to-end technology platforms that allow us to provide a broad range of transaction processingtransaction-processing services and develop and deploy technology solutions to our customers at low incremental costs and increasing operating efficiencies. We have spent over $214$251 million over the last five years on technology investments, including POS terminals, to continue to buildbuilding the capacity and functionality of our platforms and we have been able to achieve attractive economies of scale with flexible product development capabilities. We believe that our platforms will allow us to provide differentiated services to our customers and facilitate further expansion into new sales channels and geographic markets.

We have grown our revenue organically by introducing new products and services and expanding our geographic footprint throughout Latin America. We have a proven track record of creating value from operational and technology improvements and capitalizing on cross-selling opportunities. We have combined new leadership at EVERTEC, bringingEVERTEC's management team brings many years of industry experience, with long-standing leadership at the operating business level. Collectively, our management teamlevel and collectively benefits from an average of over 20 years of industry experience and weexperience. We believe they areour leadership team is well positioned to continue to drive growth across business lines and regions.

We intend to grow our business by continuing to execute on the following business strategies:

We seek to grow revenue by continuing to sell additional products and services to our existing merchant, financial institution, corporate and government customers. We intend to broaden and deepen our customer relationships by leveraging our full suite of end-to-end technology solutions. For example, we believe that there is significant opportunity to cross-sell our payment gateway product; card issuing and card acquiring platforms and services,services; network services; ATM and point-of-sale processing services, and ATM point-of-sale processing, as well aspayment and collection platforms, and our risk management products to our over 180 existing financial institution customers, particularly in markets outside of Puerto Rico. We will also seek to continue to cross-sell value addedvalue-added services into our existing merchant base.

We intend to attract new customers by leveraging our comprehensive product and services offering, the strength of our brand and our leading end-to-end technology platform. Furthermore, we believe we are well positioned to develop new products and services and to take advantage of our access to and position in markets we currently serve. For example, in markets we serve outside of Puerto Rico, we believe there is a good opportunity to penetrate small to medium and some larger financial institutions, fintech companies and medium to large retailers with our products and services.

We offer our customers end-to-end products and solutions across the transaction processingtransaction-processing value chain from a single source across numerous channels and geographic markets, as further described below.

We believe we are the largest card processor and card network service provider in the Caribbean. We provide a diversified suite of payment processing products and services to blue chip regional and global corporate customers, government agencies, and financial institutions across Latin America and the Caribbean. These services provide our clients with the infrastructure technology necessary to facilitate the processing and routing of payments across the transaction processingtransaction-processing value chain.

At the point-of-sale, we sell transaction processingtransaction-processing technology solutions, similar to the services in our merchant acquiring business, to other merchant acquirers to enableenabling them to service their own merchant customers. We also offer terminal driving solutions to merchants, merchant acquirers (including our merchant acquiring business) and financial institutions, which provide the technology to securely operate, manage and monitor POS terminals and ATMs. We also rent POS devices to financial institution customers who seek to deploy them across their own businesses.

To connect the POS terminalsmerchants to card issuers, we own and operate the ATH network, which we believe is one of the leading ATM and PIN debit networks in Latin America. The ATH network connects the merchant or merchant acquirer to the card issuer and enables transactions to be routed or “switched” across the transaction processingtransaction-processing value chain. The ATH network offers the technology, communications standards, rules and procedures, security and encryption, funds settlement and common branding that allow consumers, merchants, merchant acquirers, ATMs, card issuer processors and card issuers to conduct commerce seamlessly, across a variety of channels, similar to the services provided by Visa and MasterCard. We also own and operate ATH Movil and ATH Business which is an ATH network application that allows individuals to (i) transfer money instantly to individuals and merchants using only their phone number, and (ii) transfer money between an individual's registered cards. ATH Business enables businesses through the download of the application to accept payments instantly for their services or products from individuals with ATH Movil in real time and to donate to non-profit organizations. The ATH network and payment processing businesses processed approximately 2.0two billion transactions in 2019.2021.

To enable financial institutions, governments and other businesses to issue and operate a range of payment products and services, we offer an array of card processing and other payment technology services, such as Internetinternet and mobile banking software services, bill payment systems and EBT solutions. Financial institutions and certain retailers outsource to us certain card processing services such as card issuance, processing card applications, cardholder account maintenance, transaction authorization and posting, high volume payment processing fraud and risk management services, and settlement. Our payment products include electronic check processing, automated clearing house (“ACH”), lockbox, online, interactive voice response and web-based payments through personalized websites, among others.

We have been the main provider of EBT services to the Puerto Rican government since 1998. Our EBT application allows certain agencies to deliver government benefits to participants through a magnetic card system and serves approximately 740,000over 850,000 active participants.participants in Puerto Rico.

We provide our financial institutions, corporate and government customers with a wide suite of business process management solutions including specifically core bank processing, network hosting and management, IT consulting, business process outsourcing, item and cash processing, and fulfillment. In addition, we believe we are the only non-bank provider of cash processing services to the U.S. Federal Reserve in the Caribbean.

Competitive factors impacting the success of our services include the quality of the technology-based application or service, application features and functions, ease of delivery and integration, ability of the provider to maintain, enhance and support the applications or services, and price. We believe that we compete well in each of these categories. In addition, we believe that our relationship with Popular, scale and expertise, and financial institution industry expertise, combined with our ability to offer multiple applications, services and integrated solutions to individual customers, enhances our competitiveness against companies with more limited offerings and helps us compete with large global competitors with similar assets to ours.

In merchant acquiring, we compete with several other service providers and financial institutions that are either in our markets or represented through Independent Sales Organizations (“ISO”), including Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., Fiserv, Inc., Global Payments, Inc., Elavon, Inc., EVO Payments, Inc., independent sales organizationsPaypal, Square, Zelle and some local banks. Also, the card associations and payment networks are increasingly offering products and services that compete with ours. The main competitive factors are price, reliability of service, brand awareness, strength of the relationship with financial institutions, system functionality, integration service capabilities and innovation. Our business is also impacted by the expansion of new payments methods and devices, card association business model expansion, and bank consolidation.

In payment services, we compete with several other third partythird-party card processors, debit networks, and financial technology start-ups,providers, including Tecnocom Telecomunicaciones y Energía, S.A., Galileo Financial Technologies, LLC, Marqeta, Inc., Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., Fiserv, Inc., Total System Services, Inc., MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, and Global Payments, Inc. Rappi, PayU and Paypal. Also, card associations and payment networks are increasingly offering products and services that compete with our products and services. The main competitive factors are price, system performance and reliability, system functionality, security, service capabilities and disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities.

In business solutions, our main competition includes internal technology departments within financial institutions, retailers, data processing or software development departments of large companies, large technology and consulting companies, and/or financial technology start-ups,providers, such as Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., CGI Inc. and Fiserv, Inc. The main competitive factors are price, system performance and reliability, system functionality, security, service capabilities, and disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities.

We own numerous registrations for several trademarks in different jurisdictions and own or have licenses to use certain software and technology, which are critical to our business and future success. For example, we own the ATH and EVERTEC trademarks in several jurisdictions, which are associated by the public, financial institutions and merchants with high quality and reliable electronic commerce, payments, and debit network solutions and services. Such goodwill allows us to be competitive, retain our customers and expand our business. Further, we also use a combination of (i) proprietary software, and (ii) duly licensed third partythird-party software to operate our business and deliver secure and reliable products and services to our customers. The licensed software is subject to terms and conditions that we considered within the industry standards. Most are perpetual licenses and the rest are term licenses with renewable terms. In addition, we monitor these license agreements and maintain close contact with our suppliers to ensure their continuity of service.

We seek to protect our intellectual property rights by securing appropriate statutory intellectual property protection in the relevant jurisdictions. We also protect proprietary know-how and trade secrets through company confidentiality policies, licenses, programs, and contractual agreements.

As ofAt December 31, 2019,2021, we had approximately 2,3002,500 employees, across 11 countries53% of which are Puerto Rico and US employees, while our remaining workforce is composed of foreign nationals working in the United States,our offices throughout Latin America, which include, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay and the Caribbean.Brazil. In Brazil, we have two unionized employees covered by the terms of industry-specific collective agreements. None of our other employees are otherwise represented by any labor organization. We consider ourbelieve we have strong and positive relationships with our employees to be good.employees. We have not experienced any work stoppages in connection with employee matters.

Popular is a bank holding company that has elected to be treated as a financial holding company under the provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. To the extent that we are deemed to be a “subsidiary” of Popular for purposes of the Bank Holding Company (“BHC”) Act, we will be subject to regulation and oversight by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve Board”) and our activities will be subject to several related significant restrictions, the more significant of which are discussed below.

In addition, Section 23B and Regulation W require that to the extent that we are deemed an affiliate of Banco Popular or BPNA, all transactions between us and either Banco Popular or BPNA be on terms and conditions, including credit standards, that are substantially the same or at least as favorable to Banco Popular or BPNA, as the case may be, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions involving other non-affiliated companies or, in the absence of comparable transactions, on terms and conditions, including credit standards, that in good faith would be offered by Banco Popular or BPNA to, or would apply to, non-affiliated companies.

To the extent that we are deemed to be controlled by Popular for bank regulatory purposes, we may conduct only those activities that are authorized for a bank holding company or a financial holding company under the BHC Act, the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation K and other relevant U.S. federal banking laws. These activities generally include activities that are related to banking, or that are financial in nature or incidental to financial activities. In addition, restrictions placed on Popular as a result of supervisory or enforcement actions may restrict us or our activities in certain circumstances, even if these actions are unrelated to our conduct or business.

To the extent that we are deemed to be a foreign subsidiary of a bank holding company under the Federal Reserve Board’s regulations, we will rely on the authority granted under the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation K to conduct our data processing, management consulting and related activities outside the United States. The Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation K generally limits activities of a bank holding company outside the United States that are not those activities of a banking or financial in nature, that are specifically permitted under Regulation K to foreign subsidiaries or necessary to carry on such activities that are not otherwise permissible for a foreign subsidiary under the banking regulations. We continue to engage in certain activities outside the scope of such permissible activities pursuant to authority under the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation K, which allows a bank holding company to retain, in the context of an acquisition of a going concern, such

New lines of business, other new activities, divestitures, or acquisitions that we may wish to commence in the future may not be permissible for us under the BHC Act, the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation K or other applicable U.S. federal banking laws. Further, as a result of being subject to regulation and supervision by the Federal Reserve Board, we may be required to obtain the approval of the Federal Reserve Board before engaging in certain new activities or businesses, whether organically or by acquisition, unless such activities are considered financial in nature. If we are unable to obtain any such approval on a timely basis, are delayed in receiving approval, are approved subject to regulatory conditions or do not receive approval, this may make transactions more expensive or may make us less attractive to potential sellers.

As a technology service provider to financial institutions, we are also subject to regulatory oversight and examination by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (the “FFIEC”), an interagency body of federal financial regulators that includes the Federal Reserve Board. The office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico also participates in such examinations by the FFIEC. In addition, independent auditors annually review several of our operations to provide reports on internal controls for our clients’ auditors and regulators.

The payment card industry has come under increased scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) set forth significant structural and other changes to the regulation of the financial services industry, including the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB”). The CFPB has broad supervisory, enforcement and rulemaking authority over consumer financial products and services (including many offered by us and by our clients) and certain bank and non-bank providers of such products and services. In addition, Section 1075 of the Dodd-Frank Act (commonly referred to as the “Durbin Amendment”) imposed new restrictions on card networks and debit card issuers. More specifically, the Durbin Amendment provides that the interchange transaction fees that a card issuer or payment network may receive or charge for an electronic debit transaction must be “reasonable and proportional” to the cost incurred by the card issuer in authorizing, clearing, and settling the transaction.

The Federal Reserve’s regulations (a) limit debit transaction interchange fees to $.21 + (5 bps times the value of the transactions) + $.01 (as a fraud adjustment for issuers that have in place policies and measures to address fraud); (b) require that issuers enable at least two unaffiliated payment card networks on their debit cards without regard to authentication method; and (c) prohibit card issuers and payment card networks from entering into exclusivity arrangements for debit card processing and restrict card issuers and payment networks from inhibiting the ability of merchants to direct the routing of debit card transactions over networks of their choice. The Dodd-Frank Act also allows merchants to set minimum dollar amounts (currently, not to exceed $10) for the acceptance of a credit card and provide discounts or incentives to entice consumers to pay with various payment methods, such as cash, checks, debit cards or credit cards, as the merchant prefers.

The CFPB is responsible for many of the regulatory functions with respect to consumer financial products and services. In addition to rulemaking authority over several enumerated federal consumer financial protection laws, the CFPB is authorized to issue rules prohibiting unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices in connection with the offering of a consumer financial product or service or any transaction with a consumer for such product or service. The CFPB also has authority to examine supervised entities for compliance with, and to enforce violations of, consumer financial protection laws.

To the extent that we are deemed an affiliate of Banco Popular-anPopular, an insured depository institution with greater than $10 billion in total consolidated assets-andassets, and as a service provider to other insured depository institutions with $10 billion or more in total consolidated assets, as well as larger participants in markets for consumer financial products and services, as determined by the CFPB, we are subject to the supervision, enforcement, and rulemaking authority of the CFPB. CFPB rules, examinations and enforcement actions may require us to adjust our activities and may increase our compliance costs.

From time to time, various legislative initiatives are introduced in Congress and state legislatures, and changes in regulations or agency policies, or in the interpretation of such regulations and policies, are proposed by regulatory agencies. Such initiatives may include proposals to modify the powers of bank holding companies and their affiliates. Such legislation or changes in regulation could affect our operating environment in substantial and unpredictable ways. If adopted, such legislation or changes in regulation could increase the cost of doing business or limit permissible activities. We cannot predict whether any such legislation will be enacted, and, if enacted, the effect that it, or any implementing regulations or related policies and guidance, would have on our financial condition or results of operations.

Our services are also subject to a broad range of complex federal, state, Puerto Rico, and foreign regulation, including privacy laws, international trade regulations, the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering laws, anti-trust and competition laws, the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, the PR Code, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and other Puerto Rico laws and regulations. Failure of our services to comply with applicable laws and regulations could result in restrictions on our ability to provide such services, as well as the imposition of civil fines and/or criminal penalties. The principal areas of regulation (in addition to oversight by the Federal Reserve Board) that impact our business are described below.

 

Since we provide data processing services to both foreign and domestic financial institutions, we are required to comply with certain anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws and economic sanctions imposed on designated foreign countries, nationals, and others. Specifically, we must adhere to the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (collectively, the “BSA”) regarding processing and facilitation of financial transactions, as well as other state, local and foreign laws relating to money laundering. Furthermore, as a data processing company that provides services to foreign parties and facilitates financial transactions between foreign parties, we are obligated to screen transactions for compliance with the sanctions programs administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). These regulations prohibit us from entering into or facilitating a transaction to or from or dealings with specified countries, their governments and, in certain circumstances, their nationals and others, such as narcotics traffickers and terrorists or terrorist organizations designated by the U.S. Government under one or more sanctions regimes.

A major focus of governmental policy in recent years has been aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Preventing and detecting money laundering and other related suspicious activities at their earliest stages warrants careful monitoring. The BSA, along with a number of other anti-money laundering laws, imposes various reporting and record-keeping requirements concerning currency and other types of monetary instruments. Similar anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and proceeds of crime laws apply to movements of currency and payments through electronic transactions and to dealings with persons specified on lists maintained by organizations similar to OFAC in several other countries and which may impose specific data retention obligations or prohibitions on intermediaries in the payment process. These laws and regulations impose obligations to maintain appropriate policies, procedures, and controls to detect, prevent and report money laundering and terrorist financing and to verify the identity of their customers. Failure to maintain and implement adequate programs to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, or to comply with all of the relevant laws or regulations, could have serious legal and reputational consequences for us. We may also be subject to enforcement actions and as a result may incur losses and liabilities that may impact our business.

All persons engaged in commerce, including, but not limited to, us and our merchant and financial institution customers are subject to Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act prohibiting Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (“UDAP”). In addition, there are other laws, rules and/or regulations, including the Telemarketing Sales Act, that may directly impact the activities of our merchant customers and in some cases may subject us, as the merchant's payment processor, to investigations, fees, fines, and disgorgement of funds in the event we are deemed to have aided and abetted or otherwise provided the means and instrumentalities to facilitate the illegal activities of the merchant through our payment processing services. Federal and state regulatory enforcement agencies including the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, and the states' attorneys general have authority to take action against nonbanks that engage in UDAP or violate other laws, rules, and regulations. To the extent we process payments for a merchant that may be in violation of these laws, rules, and regulations, we may be subject to enforcement actions and as a result may incur losses and liabilities that may impact our business.

As a data processing company that services both foreign and domestic clients, our business activities in foreign countries, and in particular our transactions with foreign governmental entities, subject us to the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA, as well as the laws and regulations of the foreign jurisdiction where we operate. Pursuant to applicable anti-bribery laws, our transactions with foreign government officials and political candidates are subject to certain limitations. Finally, in the course of business with foreign clients and subsidiaries, we export certain software and hardware that is regulated by the Export Administration Regulations from the United States to the foreign parties. Together, these regulations place restrictions on who we can transact with, what transactions may be facilitated, how we may operate in foreign jurisdictions and what we may export to foreign countries.

The preceding list of laws and regulations is not exhaustive, and the regulatory framework governing our operations changes continuously. The enactment of new laws and regulations may increasingly affect directly and indirectly the operation of our business, which could result in substantial regulatory compliance costs, litigation expense, loss of revenue, decreased profitability and/or adverse publicity.

Several of our subsidiaries are registered with or certified by card associations and payment networks, including the ATH network, MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover and numerous debit and EBT networks as members or as service providers for member institutions in connection with the services we provide to our customers. As such, we are subject to applicable card association and network rules, which could subject us to a variety of fines or penalties that may be levied by the card associations or networks for certain acts and/or omissions by us, our acquirer customers, processing customers and/or merchants. For example, “EMV” is a credit and debit card authentication methodology that the card associations are mandating to processors, issuers, and acquirers in the payment industry. Compliance deadlines for EMV mandates vary by country and by payment network. We have invested significant resources and man-hours to develop and implement this methodology in all our payment related platforms. However, we are not certain if or when our financial institution customers will use or accept the methodology and the time it will take for this technology to be rolled-out to all customer ATM and POS devices connected to our platforms or adopted by our card issuing clients. Non-compliance with EMV mandates could result in lost business or financial losses from fraud or fines from network operators. We are also subject to network operating rules promulgated by the National Automated Clearing House Association relating to payment transactions processed by us using the Automated Clearing House Network and to various government laws regarding such operations, including laws pertaining to EBT.

Our revenue composition by geographical area is basedFor the year ended December 31, 2021, 80% of revenues were generated from our business in Puerto Rico, while the remaining 20% was generated from Latin America and the Caribbean. Latin America includes, among others, Costa Rica, México, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, and Panamá. The Caribbean primarily represents Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands. See Note 2324 to Audited Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information related to geographic areas.

Our payment businesses generally experience increased activity during the traditional holiday shopping periods and around other nationally recognized holidays.

 

Readers should carefully consider, in connection with other information disclosed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the risks and uncertainties described below. The following discussion sets forth risks that we believe are material to our stockholders and prospective stockholders. The occurrence of any of the following risks might cause our stockholders to lose all or a part of their investment in our Company. We cannot assure you that the risk factors described below or elsewhere in this document are a complete set of all potential risks we may face; additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or not believed by us to be material may also affect our business results, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and the trading price of our common stock. Some statements in this report, including statements in the following risk factors section, constitute forward-looking statements. Please also refer to the section titled “Forward Looking Statements” at the beginning of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

In 2019, products and services billed to Popular accounted for2021, we derived approximately 43%42% of our total revenues.revenue from our relationship with Popular and the MSA is our most significant client contract, which has an initial term ending in 2025. The majority of Popular’s business is presented in the Business Solutions segment. If Popular were to terminate or fail to perform under (in whole or in part), or fail to renew the Master Services Agreement (“MSA”), which currently expires in 2025,MSA, or our other material agreements with Popular, our revenues could be materially reduced and our profitability and cash flows could also be materially reduced, all of which would have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

Growth in our merchant acquiring business is derived primarily from acquiring new merchant relationships, new and enhanced product and service offerings, cross selling products and services into existing relationships, the shift of consumer spending to increased usage of electronic forms of payment, and the strength of our relationship with Banco Popular, a wholly owned subsidiary of Popular. A substantial portion of our business is generated from our Independent Sales Organization Sponsorship and Services Agreement (the “ISO Agreement”) with Banco Popular, which expireshas an initial term ending in 2025.

Banco Popular acts as a merchant referral source and provides sponsorship into the ATH, Visa, Discover and MasterCard networks for merchants, as well as card association sponsorship, clearing and settlement services. We provide transaction processingtransaction-processing and related functions. Both we and Popular, as alliance partners, may provide management, sales, marketing, and other administrative services to merchants. We rely on the continuing growth of our merchant relationships, which in turn is dependent upon our alliance with Banco Popular and other distribution channels. There can be no guarantee that this growth will continue and the loss or deterioration of these relationships, whether due to the termination of the ISO Agreement or otherwise, could negatively impact our business and result in a material reduction of our revenue and income.

Our MSA with Popular has an initial term that ends in 2025. For 2019, we derived approximately 43% of our revenue from such contract, which makes the MSA our most significant client contract. We regularly discuss with Popular the terms of the MSA and the services we provide thereunder to Popular.Popular thereunder. We cannot be certain that we will be able to negotiate an extension to the MSA. In addition, evenMSA upon its expiration on its terms. Even if we are able to negotiate an extension of the MSA, any new master services agreement may be materially different from the existing MSA. Further, Popular may require significant concessions from us with respect to pricing, services, and other key terms, both in respect of the current term and any future extension of the MSA, particularly as we approach 2025.MSA. Any such events may materially and negatively impact our financial condition, results of operations and trading price of our common stock, as well as potentially limit our ability to renegotiate our debt.

Pursuant to our ISO Agreement with Banco Popular, Banco Popular sponsors us as an independent sales organization with respect to certain credit card associations and is required to exclusively refer to us any merchant that inquires about, requests or otherwise evidences interest in merchant and other services. If the ISO Agreement is not renewed, we will have to seek other card association sponsors, we will not benefit from Banco Popular referral of merchants and we may experience the loss of

some merchants if Banco Popular itself enters the merchant acquiring business or agrees to sponsor another independent sales organization.  Any of these events may negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations.

Similarly, theThe BPPR ATH Agreements also have initial terms ending in 2025. Under such agreements, among other things, we provide Banco Popular certain ATM and POS services in connection with our ATH network; we grant a license to use the ATH logo, word mark and associated trademarks; and Banco Popular agrees to support, promote, and market the ATH network and brand and to issue debit cards bearing the symbol of the ATH network. If one or both of the BPPR ATH Agreements are not extended, our ATH brand and network could be negatively impacted, and our financial condition and results of operations materially adversely affected.

Failure to achieve favorable renewals of client contracts could negatively impact our business. Our contracts with private clients generally run for a period of one to five years, except for our Master Services Agreement with Popular.years. Our government contracts generally run for one year and do not include automatic renewal periods due to government procurement rules and related fiscal funding requirements. Our standard merchant contract has an initial term of up to three years, with automatic one-year renewal periods. At the end of the relevant contract term, clients can renew or renegotiate their contracts with us, but may also consider whetherdecide to engage one of our competitors to provide products and services. If we are not successful in achieving high renewal rates and/or contract terms that are favorable to us, our results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

Our substantial leverageWe also depend on our payment processing clients to comply with their contractual obligations, applicable laws, regulatory requirements and credit card associations rules or standards. A client's failure to comply with any such laws or requirements could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, exposeforce us to interest rate riskdeclare a breach of contract and terminate the client relationship. The termination of such contracts or relationships, as well as any inability to the extent of our variable rate debt and prevent us from meeting our obligations under our notes and senior secured credit facilities, and, if we incur additional amounts of debt, it could exacerbate the risks associated with our substantial indebtedness.

Many of our services are based on sophisticated software, technology, and computing systems, and we may encounter delays when developing new technology solutions and services. Further, theWe have experienced and expect to continue to experience actual and attempted cyber-attacks of our IT networks, such as through phishing scams and ransomware. The technology solutions underlying our services have occasionally contained, and may in the future contain, undetected errors or defects when first introduced or when new versions are released. In addition, weWe may experience difficulties in installing or integrating our technologies on platforms used by our customers.

Our businesses are dependent on our ability to reliably process, record and monitor a large number of transactions. For example, weWe settle funds on behalf of financial institutions, other businesses and consumers and process funds transactions from clients, card issuers, payment networks and consumers on a daily basis for a variety of transaction types. Transactions facilitated by us include debit card, credit card, electronic bill payment transactions, ACH payments, electronic benefits transfer ("EBT") transactions and check clearing that supports consumers, financial institutions, and other businesses. These payment activities rely upon the technology infrastructure that facilitates the verification of activity with counterparties, the facilitation of the payment and, in some cases, the detection or prevention of fraudulent payments. If any of our financial, accounting, or other data processing systems or applications fail or experience other significant shortcomings, or limitations, our ability to serve our clients and accordingly our results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Such failures or shortcomings could be the result of events that are wholly or partially beyond our control, which may include, for example, computer viruses, fires, electrical or telecommunications outages, natural disasters, disease pandemics, terrorist acts or other unanticipated damage to property or physical assets. Any such failure or shortcoming could also damage our reputation, require us to expend significant resources to correct the defect, and may result in liability to third parties, especially since some of our contractual agreements with financial institutions require the crediting of certain fees if our systems do not meet certain specified service levels.

Although we have taken steps to protect against data loss and system failures, thereThere is stillalso a risk that we may lose critical data or experience system failures. We perform the vast majority of disaster recovery operations ourselves, though we utilize select third parties for some aspects of recovery. To the extent we outsource our disaster recovery, we are at risk of the vendor’s unresponsiveness in the event of breakdowns in our systems. Furthermore, ourOur property and business interruption insurance may not be adequate to compensate us for all losses or failures that may occur.

We are similarly dependent on our employees. Our operations could be materially adversely affected if one or more employees cause a significant operational breakdown or failure, either intentionally or as a result of human error. Suppliers and third

parties with which we do business could also be sources of operational risk to us, including relating to breakdowns or failures of such parties’ own systems or employees. Any of these occurrences could diminish our ability to operate one or more of our businesses, or result in potential liability to clients, reputational damage and regulatory intervention or fines, any of which could materially adversely affect our financial condition or results of operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic, and measures taken to contain and/or mitigate it, such as travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter in place or total lock-down orders and business limitations and shutdowns, have had dramatic adverse consequences for the global supply chains. During the first monthseconomy. The effects of 2020, we were notified of potential delays in the delivery of POS devices from suppliers whose operations have been affected by the coronavirus. At this time, the coronavirus has not caused major disruptions to our operations, nor has it affected our employees or client base. However, if the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread and becomes a global pandemic, it may affect our employees, our clients and our suppliers in ways which could materially adversely affect our financial condition or results of operations.

These factors may prevail for a significant legal liability.

As part of our business, we electronically receive, process, store and transmit a wide range of confidential information, including sensitive customer information and personal consumer data, such as names and addresses, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, cardholder data and payment history records. We also operate payment, cash access and electronic card systems. Attacks on information technology systems continue to grow in frequency, complexity and sophistication, a trend we expect will continue. The objectives of these attacks include, among other things, gaining unauthorized access to systems to facilitate financial fraud, disrupt operations, cause denial of service events, corrupt data, and steal non-public information. Such attacks have become a point of focus for individuals, businesses, and governmental entities.

Despite the safeguards we have in place, unauthorizedUnauthorized access to our computer systems or databases could result in the theft or publication of confidential information, the deletion or modification of records or could otherwise cause interruptions in the successful operations of our businesses. These risks are increased when we transmit information over the Internet as our visibility in the global payments industry may attractattracts hackers to conduct attacks on our systems. Our security measures may also be breached due to the mishandling or misuse of information; for example, if such information were erroneously provided to parties who are not permitted to have the information, either by employees acting contrary to our policies or as a result of a fault in our systems.

Actual or perceived vulnerabilities or data breaches may lead to claims against us, which may require us to spend significant additional resources to remediate by addressing problems caused by breaches and further protect against security or privacy breaches. Additionally, while we maintain insurance policies specifically for cyber-attacks, our current insurance policies may not be adequate to reimburse us for losses caused by security breaches, and we may not be able to collect fully, if at all, under these insurance policies. A significant security breach, such as loss of credit card numbers and related information, could have a material adverse effect on our reputation and could result in a loss of customers throughout the years. Some of our systems have experienced in the past and may experience in the future security breaches and, although they did not have a material adverse effect on our operating results or reputation, there can be no assurance of a similar result in the future. We cannot assure you that our security measures will prevent security breaches or that failure to prevent them will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and reputation. In addition, anyAny breaches of network or data security at our customers, partners or vendors could have similar negative effects.

Changes in technology may limit the competitiveness of and demand for our services. Our businesses operate in industries that are subject to technological advancements, developing industry standards and changing customer needs and preferences. Also, our customers continue to adopt new technology for business and personal uses. We must anticipate and respond to these industry and customer changes in order to remain competitive within our relative markets. Our inability to respond to new competitors and technological advancements could impact all of our businesses. For example, the ability to adopt technological advancements surrounding POS technology available to merchants could have ana material and adverse impact on our merchant acquiring business.

In recent years, there have been a number of mergers and consolidations in the banking and financial services industry. Mergers and consolidations of financial institutions reduce the number of our clients and potential clients, which could adversely affect our revenues. Further, if our clients fail or merge with or are acquired by other entities that are not our clients, or that use fewer of our services, they may discontinue or reduce their use of our services. It is also possible that the larger banks or financial institutions resulting from mergers or consolidations would have greater leverage to negotiate terms less favorable to us or could decide to perform in-house some or all of the services which we currently provide or could provide. Any of these developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

If the number of electronic and digital payment transactions of the type we process does not continue to grow or if businesses or consumers do not continue to adopt our services, it could have a material adverse effect on the profitability of our business, financial position, and results of operations. We believe future growth in the use of credit, debit and other electronic and digital payments will be driven by the cost, ease-to-use, and quality of products and services offered to customers and businesses. In order to consistently increase and maintain our profitability, businesses and consumers must continue to use electronic and digital payment methods that we process, including credit and debit cards.

In order to provide our transaction processingtransaction-processing services, several of our subsidiaries are registered with or certified by Visa, Discover and MasterCard and other networks as members or as service providers for member institutions. As such, we and many of our customers are subject to card association and network rules that could subject us or our customers to a variety of fines or penalties that may be levied by the card associations or networks for certain acts or omissions by us, acquirer customers, processing customers and merchants. Visa, Discover, MasterCard and other networks, some of which are our competitors, set the standards with which we must comply. The termination of Banco Popular’s or our subsidiaries’ member registration or our subsidiaries’ status as a certified service provider, or any changes in card association or other network rules or standards, including interpretation and implementation of the rules or standards, that increase the cost of doing business or limit our ability to provide transaction processingtransaction-processing services to or through our customers, could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

From time to time, card associations and debit networks change interchange, processing, and other fees, which could impact our merchant acquiring and payment services businesses. Competitive pressures could result in our merchant acquiring and payment services businesses absorbing a portion of such increases in the future, which would increase our operating costs, reduce our profit margin, and adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Our business is subject to the extentlaws, rules, regulations, and policies in the countries in which we operate, as well as the legal interpretation of such regulations by administrative bodies and the judiciary of those countries. The expansion of our business may also result in increased regulatory oversight and enforcement, as well as any claims by regulatory agencies and courts that we are deemedrequired to be controlled by Popular,obtain licenses to engage in certain business activity.

Enforcement of, failure, or perceived failure to comply with laws, rules, regulations, policies, or licensing requirements could result in criminal or civil lawsuits, penalties, fines, forfeiture of significant assets, an outright or partial restriction on our operations, enforcement in one or more jurisdictions, additional compliance and licensure requirements, and force us to change the way we will beor our users do business. Any changes in our or our users' business methods could increase cost or reduce revenue.

The laws, rules, regulations, and policies in the markets in which we operate include, but are not limited to, privacy and user data protection, banking, money transmission, antitrust, anti-money laundering and the export, re-export, and re-transfer abroad of covered items. In addition, our operations in most of the countries where we operate are subject to regulation,risks related to compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other applicable U.S. and other local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials and other third parties.

In general, financial institution regulators require their supervised institutions to cause their service providers to agree to certain terms and to agree to supervision and examinationoversight by applicable financial regulators, primarily to protect the safety and soundness of the financial institution. We have agreed to such terms and provisions in many of our service agreements with financial institutions.

Regulation of the electronic payment card industry has increased significantly in recent years. There is also continued scrutiny by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board,Congress of the manner in which payment card networks and card issuers set various fees. Banking regulators have been strengthening their examination guidelines with respect to relationships between banks and their third-party service providers, such as us. Any such heightened supervision of our activities will be limited to those permissible underrelationship with Popular could have an effect on our contractual relationship with Popular as well as on the BHC Actstandards applied in the evaluation of our services. See “Item 1. Business-Government Regulation and related regulations. We may be required to obtain regulatory approval before engaging in certain new activities or businesses, whether organically or by acquisition.Payment Network Rules-Regulatory Reform and Other Legislative Initiatives.”

To the extent that we are deemed to be controlled by Popular pursuant to regulation and guidance under the BHCBank Holding Company Act of 1956 (the “BHC Act”), we will be subject to regulation, supervision, and examination by the U.S. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board.System (the “Federal Reserve Board”). The BHC Act defines “control” differently than GAAP, and “control” can be found based on a variety of facts and circumstances.

and acquisitions that we may wish to commence or undertake in the future, including the manner in which we conduct our business or may undertake such activities or acquisitions, may not be permissible for us under the BHC Act, the Federal Reserve Board’sBoard's Regulation K or other applicable U.S. federal banking laws or may require the approval of the Federal Reserve Board or another applicable U.S. federal banking regulator. In addition, potentialPotential acquisitions may take longer, be more costly, or make us less attractive as a buyer. There can be no assurance that any required regulatory approvals will be obtained, or that they will be obtained without regulatory conditions. Additional regulatory requirements may be imposed on our activities or acquisitions to the extent we are controlled by Popular and Popular is subject to any supervisory or enforcement action, even if the supervisory actions are unrelated to us or to our business.

We are also subject to the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”), which regulates the export, re-export and re-transfer abroad of covered items made or originating in the United States as well as the transfer of covered U.S.-origin technology abroad. We have adopted a compliance program to make sure our goods and technologies are exported in compliance with the requirements of the EAR. However, thereThere can be no assurance that we have not violated the EAR in past transactions or that our new policies and procedures will prevent us from violating the EAR in every transaction in which we engage. Any such violations of the EAR could result in fines, penalties or other sanctions being imposed on us, which could negatively affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Moreover, someSome financial institutions refuse, even in the absence of a regulatory requirement, to provide services to companies operating in certain countries or engaging in certain practices because of concerns that the compliance efforts perceived to be necessary may outweigh the usefulness of the service relationship. Our operations outside the United States make it more likely that financial institutions may refuse to conduct business with us for this type of reason. Any such refusal could negatively affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We and our subsidiaries conduct business with financial institutions and/or card payment networks operating in countries whose nationals, including some of our customers’ customers, engage in transactions in countries that are the targets of U.S. economic sanctions and embargoes. If we are found to have failed to comply with applicable U.S. sanctions laws and regulations in these instances, we and our subsidiaries could be exposed to fines, sanctions and other penalties or other governmental investigations.

Because we process transactions on behalf of financial institutions through the payment networks, we have processed a limited number of transactions potentially involving sanctioned countries and there can be no assurances that, in the future, we will not inadvertently process such transactions. Due to a variety of factors, including technical failures and limitations of our transaction screening process, conflicts between U.S. and local laws, political or other concerns in certain countries in which we and our subsidiaries operate, and/or failures in our ability to effectively control employees operating in certain non-U.S. subsidiaries, we have not rejected every transaction originating from or otherwise involving sanctioned countries, or persons and there can be no assurances that, in the future, we will not inadvertently fail to reject such transactions.

Due to our ownership of the ATH network and selective acquisition strategy exposes us to risks, including the risk that we may not be able to successfully integrate acquired businesses.

For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, approximately 80% and 82%, respectively, of our total revenues were generated from our operations in Puerto Rico. Some revenues that are generated from our operations outside Puerto Rico are dependent upon our operations in Puerto Rico. As a result, our financial condition and other resources. Althoughresults of operations are highly dependent on the economic and political conditions in Puerto Rico, and could be significantly impacted by adverse economic or political developments in Puerto Rico, including adverse effects on the trading price of our common stock, our customer base, general consumer spending and the timeliness of the Government's payments, thus increasing our Government accounts receivable, and potentially impairing the collectability of those accounts receivable. As of December 31, 2021, we conduct due diligence investigations priorhad net receivables of $14.1 million from the Government and certain public corporations.

During any protracted federal government shutdown, the federal government may reduce or cut funding for certain welfare and disaster relief programs. Beneficiaries of certain federal programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), obtain their benefits through electronic benefits transfer (EBT) accounts. A temporary or permanent reduction in federal welfare and relief programs could lead to each acquisition, there can be no assurance that we will discover all operational deficienciesa decrease in electronic benefit card volume. The effect of a protracted government shutdown now or material liabilities of an acquired business for which wein the future may be responsible as a successor owner or operator. The failure to successfully integrate these acquired businesses or to discover such liabilities couldmaterially and adversely affect our operating results.revenues, profitability, and cash flows.

Our trademarks, proprietary software, and other intellectual property, including technology/software licenses, are important to our future success. Limitations or restrictions on our ability to use such marks or a diminution in the perceived quality associated therewith could have an adverse impact on the growth of our businesses. We also rely on proprietary software and

technology, including third party software that is used under licenses. It is possible that others will independently develop the same or similar software or technology, which would permit them to compete with us more efficiently. Furthermore, ifIf any of the third partythird-party software or technology licenses are terminated or otherwise determined to be unenforceable, then we would have to obtain a comparable license, which may involve increased license fees and other costs.

Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary or confidential business know-how and other intellectual property rights, unauthorizedUnauthorized parties may attempt to copy or misappropriate certain aspects of our services, infringe upon our rights, or to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Policing such unauthorized use of our proprietary rights is often very difficult, and therefore, we are unable to guarantee that the steps we have taken will prevent misappropriation of our proprietary software/technology or that the agreements entered into for that purpose will be effective or enforceable in all instances. Misappropriation of our intellectual property or potential litigation concerning such matters could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. Our registrations and/or applications for trademarks, copyrights, and patents could be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented by others and may not be of sufficient scope or strength to provide us with maximum protection or meaningful advantage. Managing any such challenges, even if they lack merit, could: (i) be expensive and time-consuming to defend; (ii) cause us to cease making, licensing, or using software or applications that incorporate the challenged intellectual property; (iii) require us to redesign our software or applications, if feasible; (iv) divert management’s attention and resources; and (v) require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements in order to obtain the right to use necessary technologies. Furthermore, theThe laws of certain foreign countries in which we do business or contemplate doing business in the future may not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States or Puerto Rico. Adverse determinations in judicial or administrative proceedings related to intellectual property or licenses could prevent us from selling our services and products or prevent us from preventing others from selling competing services, impose liability costs on us, or result in a non-favorable settlement, all of which could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

EVERTEC Group has a tax exemption grant under the Tax Incentive Act No. 73 of 2008 from the Government of Puerto Rico. Under this grant, EVERTEC Group will benefit from a preferential income tax rate of 4% on industrial development income, as well as from tax exemptions with respect to its municipal and property tax obligations for certain activities derived from its data processing operations in Puerto Rico. The grant has a term of 15 years effective as of January 1, 2012 with respect to income tax obligations and July 1, 2013 and January 1, 2013 with respect to municipal and property tax obligations, respectively.

The grant contains customary commitments, conditions, and representations that EVERTEC Group is required to comply with in order to maintain the grant. The more significant commitments include: (i) maintaining at least 750 employees in EVERTEC Group’s Puerto Rico data processing operations during 2012 and at least 700 employees for the remaining years of the grant, (ii) investing at least $200.0 million in building, machinery, equipment or computer programs to be used in Puerto Rico during the effective term of the grant (to be made over four year capital investment cycles in $50.0 million increments), (iii) an additional best efforts capital investments requirement of $75.0 million by December 31, 2026 (to be made over four year capital investment cycles in $20.0 million the first three increments and $15.0 million the last increment); and (iv) 80% of EVERTEC Group employees must be residents of Puerto Rico. Failure to meet the requirements could result, among other things, in reductions in the benefits of the grant, tax penalties, other payment obligations or revocation of the grant in its entirety, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We have no direct operations or significant assets other than the ownership of 100% of the membership interest of Holdings, which in turn has no significant assets other than ownership of 100% of the membership interest of EVERTEC Group. Because we conduct our operations through our subsidiaries, we depend on those entities for dividends and other payments to generate the funds necessary to meet our financial obligations, and to pay any dividends with respect to our common stock. Legal and contractual restrictions in our existing senior secured credit facilities and other agreements which may govern future indebtedness of our subsidiaries, as well as the financial condition and operating requirements of our subsidiaries, may limit our ability to obtain cash from our subsidiaries. We are prohibited from paying any cash dividend on our common stock unless we satisfy certain conditions. The senior secured credit facilities also include limitations on the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends to us. The earnings from, or other available assets of, our subsidiaries may not be sufficient to pay dividends or make distributions or loans or enable us to pay any dividends on our common stock or other obligations.

Popular has the right to nominate two members of our Board and, therefore, may be able to influence our decisions. The interests of Popular could conflict with your interests as a holder of shares of our common stock. For example, the concentration of ownership held by Popular, the terms of the Stockholder Agreement and our organizational documents (including Popular’s quorum rights and consent rights over amendments to our bylaws) and Popular’s right to terminate certain of its agreements with us in certain situations upon a change of control of EVERTEC Group, could delay, defer or prevent certain significant corporate actions that you as a stockholder may otherwise view favorably, including a change of control of us (whether by merger, takeover or other business combination). See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions” in EVERTEC’sour proxy statement for a description of the circumstances under which Popular may terminate certain of its agreements with us. A sale of a substantial number of shares of stock in the future by Popular could cause our stock price to decline.

Provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and the Stockholder Agreement may make it more difficult for, or prevent a third party from, acquiring control of us without the approval of our Board and/or Popular. These provisions include:

Our issuance of shares of preferred stock could delay or prevent a change in control of us. Our Board has authority to issue shares of preferred stock, subject to the approval of at least one director nominated by Popular for so long as Popular, together with its respective affiliates, owns at least 10% of our outstanding common stock. Our Board may issue preferred stock in one or more series, designate the number of shares constituting any series, and fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions

thereof, including dividend rights, voting rights, rights and terms of redemption, redemption price or prices and liquidation preferences of such series. In addition, Popular, under and subject to the Stockholder Agreement and our organizational documents, will retain significant influence over matters requiring board or stockholder approval, including the election of directors. Together, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, bylaws and Stockholder Agreement could make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our common stock. Furthermore, theThe existence of the foregoing provisions, as well as the significant percentage of shares of our outstanding common stock owned by Popular and its individual right to nominate a specified number of directors in certain circumstances, could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. They could also deter potential acquirers of us, thereby reducing the likelihood that you could receive a premium for your common stock in an acquisition.

We are highly leveraged. As of December 31, 2021, the risks associatedtotal principal amount of our indebtedness was approximately $467.5 million. Our high degree of leverage could have a significant impact on us, including (i) increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic, industry or competitive developments; (ii) requiring a substantial portion of cash flow from operations to be dedicated to the payment of principal and interest on our indebtedness, reducing our ability to use our cash flow for other purposes, including for our operations, capital expenditures and future business opportunities; (iii) exposing us to the risk of increased interest rates because our borrowings are predominantly at variable rates of interest; (iv) making it difficult for us to satisfy our indebtedness obligations generally, including complying with restrictive covenants and borrowing conditions, our substantial indebtedness.noncompliance with which could result in an event of default under the agreements setting forth the terms of other indebtedness; (v) restricting us from making strategic acquisitions or causing us to make non-strategic divestitures; (vi) limiting our ability to obtain additional debt or equity financing for working capital, capital expenditures, business development, debt service requirements, acquisitions and general corporate or other purposes; and (vii) limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business or market conditions and placing us at a competitive disadvantage to competitors who may be less highly leveraged.

We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, some of which may be secured. Although the agreement setting forth the terms of our senior secured credit facilities contain restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of significant qualifications and exceptions, and under certain circumstances, the amount of indebtedness that could be incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. In addition to the $116.9$119.1 million which was available for borrowing under our revolving credit facility as of December 31, 2019,2021, the terms of the senior secured credit facilities enable us to increase the amount available under the term loan and/or revolving credit facilities if we are able to obtain loan commitments from banks and satisfy certain other conditions. If new debt is added to our and our subsidiaries’ existing debt levels, the related risks that we face would increase.

The agreement setting forth the terms of the senior secured credit facilities contain, and any future indebtedness we incur may contain, various covenants that limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions. These covenants limit our ability and our restricted subsidiaries’ ability to among other things:

As a result of these covenants, we are limited in the manner in which we conduct our business, and we may be unable to engage in favorable business activities or finance future operations or capital needs. In addition, theThe covenants in the senior secured credit facilities require us to maintain a maximum total secured net leverage ratio and also limit our capital expenditures.ratio. A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under one or more of these agreements, including as a result of cross default provisions and, in the case of our revolving credit facility, permit the lenders to cease making loans to us. Upon the occurrence of an event of default under the senior secured credit facilities, the lenders could elect to declare all amounts outstanding under the senior secured credit facilities to be immediately due and payable and terminate all commitments to extend further credit. Such actions by those lenders could cause cross defaults under our other indebtedness. If we were unable to repay those amounts, the lenders under our senior secured credit facilities could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure that indebtedness. We have pledged a significant portion of our assets as

collateral under the senior secured credit facilities. If the lenders under the senior secured credit facilities accelerate the repayment of borrowings, the proceeds from the sale or foreclosure upon such assets will first be used to repay debt under our senior secured credit facilities and we may not have sufficient assets to repay our unsecured indebtedness thereafter. As a result, our common stock could become worthless.

TheAt December 31, 2021, we had $467.5 million of borrowings under our secured credit facilities bearing interest at Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) plus an applicable margin. In July 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced in 2017 that it intendsits intention to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. In addition, other regulatorsHowever, for U.S. dollar-denominated (“USD”) LIBOR, only one-week and two-month USD LIBOR have suggested reforming or replacing other benchmark rates. The discontinuation, reform or replacementceased to be published after 2021, and all remaining USD LIBOR tenors will continue being published until June 2023. It is not possible to predict the effect of LIBOR or any other benchmark rates may have an unpredictable impact on contractual mechanicschanges in the credit marketsmethods by which LIBOR is determined or regulatory activity related to LIBOR's phaseout. Any of these developments could cause disruptionLIBOR to perform differently than in the broader financial markets. Uncertainty aspast or cease to exist. If a published U.S. dollar LIBOR rate is unavailable, the nature of such potential discontinuation, reform or replacement may negatively impact the volatility ofinterest rates on our debt indexed to LIBOR rates, liquidity, our access to funding required to operate our business, our ability to hedge our interest rate risk, or the trading market forwill be determined using various alternative methods set forth in our existing senior secured credit facilities.

At December 31, 2019,2021, we also had twoan interest rate swap agreementsagreement which areis designed to protect us from changes in interest rates. If LIBOR becomes unavailable and market quotations for specified inter-bank lending are not available, it is unclear how payments under such agreementsagreement would be calculated, which could cause these agreements to no longer offer us the protection we expect. Relevant industry groups are seeking

On February 24, 2022, we entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Popular, Inc. and Banco Popular, pursuant to which partieswe will sell certain assets that are currently used to then-existing swapsprovide services to Banco Popular under the MSA, and, in connection with the closing of which, we and Banco Popular agreed to enter into certain other agreements and to amend and extend the duration of certain existing commercial agreements (collectively, the “Popular Transaction”).

The consummation of the Popular Transaction is subject to certain conditions, including (i) satisfaction of certain regulatory requirements, including under the Hart-Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and the Bank Holding Company Act, (ii) completion of certain actions required in order to operate the acquired assets under Banco Popular ownership (iii) the absence of any injunction or other order from a governmental authority that prevents the closing of the Popular Transaction, and (iv) subject to certain exceptions, the accuracy of the representations and warranties of, and compliance with covenants by, the other party. There can be no assurances that such conditions will be ablesatisfied.

If we complete the Popular Transaction, there can be no assurance that such a protocolwe will be developedable to realize the intended benefits of the transaction. Specifically, the Popular Transaction could cause disruptions in our remaining businesses or otherwise limiting the ability to compete for or perform certain contracts or services. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our remaining businesses, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Banco Popular has agreed that, following the closing of the Popular Transaction, it will seek to sell common stock in an amount sufficient to reduce its shareholding below 5% and if it has not done so within 90 days, subject to the satisfaction of certain requirements by the Company, then it will exchange any shares it holds above 4.5% for newly issued non-voting convertible preferred stock of the Company that will convert automatically into common stock upon a qualified transfer by Banco Popular to an unaffiliated third party.

The Popular Transaction will require significant amounts of management’s time and resources, which will be in addition to and may divert management’s time and attention from the operation of our swap counterpartiesremaining businesses and the execution of our other strategic initiatives. Additionally, we will adhereincur costs in connection with the Popular Transaction. These costs must be paid regardless of whether the Popular Transaction is consummated.

None.

Our common stock trades on the NYSE under the symbol "EVTC".

The Company has a history of paying cash dividends. Any declaration and payment of future dividends to holders of our common stock will be at the discretion of our Board and will depend on many factors, including our financial condition, earnings, available cash, business opportunities, legal requirements, restrictions in our debt agreements and other contracts, capital requirements, level of indebtedness and other factors that our Board deems relevant. The covenants of our senior secured credit facilities may limit our ability to pay dividends on our common stock and limit the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends to us if we do not meet required performance metrics contained in our debt agreements. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Financial Obligations.”

We are a holding company and have no direct operations. We will only be able to pay dividends from our available cash on hand and funds received from our subsidiaries, Holdings and EVERTEC Group, whose ability to make any payments to us will depend upon many factors, including their operating results and cash flows. In addition, the senior secured credit facilities limit EVERTEC Inc.’s ability to pay distributions on its equity interests. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Financial Obligations.”

In connection with our initial public offering, we adopted the 2013 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2013 Plan”) and reserved 5,956,882 shares of our Common Stock for issuance upon exercise and grants of stock options, restricted stock and other equity awards. We have filed a Form S-8 under the Securities Act covering 12,089,382such shares of our common stock reserved for issuance under the Equity Plans and certain options and restricted stock granted outside of the Equity Plans but subject to the terms and conditions of the 20102013 Plan.

The following table summarizes equity compensation plans approved by security holders and equity compensation plans that were not approved by security holders as of December 31, 2019:2021:

The following graph shows a comparison from April 12, 2013 (the date our common stock commenced trading on the NYSE) through December 31, 2019 of the cumulative total return for our common stock, the S&P 500 Index and the S&P Technology Index.Index for the five years ended December 31, 2021. The graph assumes that $100 was invested on April 12, 2013December 31, 2016 in our common stock and each index and that all dividends were reinvested.

Note that historical stock price performance is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.

EVERTEC is a leading full-service transaction processingtransaction-processing business in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Latin America, and the Caribbean, providing a broad range of merchant acquiring, payment services and business process management services. According to the September 2019 Nilson Report,We believe that we are one of the largest merchant acquirers in Latin America based on total number of transactions and we believe we are the largest merchant acquirer in the Caribbean and Central America.Caribbean. We serve 26 countries in the region out of 11 offices, including our headquarters in Puerto Rico. We manage a system of electronic payment networks that process more than two billion transactions annually, and offer a comprehensive suite of services for core bank processing, cash processing and technology outsourcing. In addition, we own and operate the ATH network, which we believe is one of the leading personal identification number (“PIN”) debit networks in Latin America. We manage a system of electronic payment networks and offer a comprehensive suite of services for core banking, cash processing, and fulfillment in Puerto Rico, that process approximately three billion transactions annually. Additionally, we offer technology outsourcing in all the regions we serve. We serve a diversified customer base of leading financial institutions, merchants, corporations, and government agencies with “mission-critical” technology solutions that enable them to issue, process and accept transactions securely. We believe our business is well-positioned to continue to expand across the fast-growing Latin American region.

We are differentiated, in part, by our diversified business model, which enables us to provide our varied customer base with a broad range of transaction-processing services from a single source across numerous channels and geographic markets. We believe this capability provides several competitive advantages that will enable us to continue to penetrate our existing customer base with complementary new services, win new customers, develop new sales channels, and enter new markets. We believe these competitive advantages include:

 

Our broad suite of services spans the entire transaction processing value chain and includes a range of front-end customer-facing solutions such as the electronic capture and authorization of transactions at the point-of-sale for both card present transactions and card not present transactions, as well as back-end support services such as the clearing and settlement of transactions and account reconciliation for card issuers. These include: (i) merchant acquiring services, which enable point of sales (“POS”) and e-commerce merchants to accept and process electronic methods of payment such as debit, credit, prepaid and electronic benefit transfer (“EBT”) cards; (ii) payment processing services, which enable financial institutions and other issuers to manage, support and facilitate the processing for credit, debit, prepaid, automated teller machines (“ATM”) and EBT card programs; and (iii) business process management solutions, which provide “mission-critical” technology solutions such as core bank processing, as well as IT outsourcing and cash management services to financial institutions, corporations and governments. We provide these services through scalable, end-to-end technology platforms that we manage and operate in-house and that generates significant operating efficiencies that enable us to maximize profitability.

We sell and distribute our services primarily through a proprietary direct sales force with established customer relationships. We continue to pursue joint ventures and merchant acquiring alliances. We benefit from an attractive business model, the hallmarks of which are recurring revenue, scalability, significant operating margins and moderate capital expenditure requirements. Our revenue is predominantly recurring in nature because of the mission-critical and embedded nature of the services we provide. In addition, we generally negotiate multi-year contracts with our customers. We believe our business model should enable us to continue to grow our business organically in the primary markets we serve without significant incremental capital expenditures.

Prior to the Merger onOn September 30, 2010, EVERTEC Group was 100% owned by Popular, the largest financial institution in the Caribbean, and operated substantially as an independent entity within Popular. After the consummation of the Merger, Popular retained an approximately 49% indirect ownership interest in EVERTEC Group and is our largest customer. In connection with, and upon consummation of, the Merger, EVERTEC Group entered into a 15-year Master Services Agreement,MSA, and several related agreements with Popular. Under the terms of the Master Services Agreement,MSA, Popular agreed to continue to use EVERTEC services on an ongoing exclusive basis for the duration of the agreement, on commercial terms consistent with those of our historical relationship.agreement. Additionally, Popular granted us a right of first refusal on the development of certain new financial technology products and services for the duration of the Master Services Agreement.MSA. As of December 31, 2019,2021, Popular retained a 16.2% interest in EVERTEC.EVERTEC and was our largest shareholder.

The Company's Board of Directors approved regular quarterly dividends of $0.05 per common share in February, April, July and October of 2019.2021. The Board anticipates declaring this dividend in future quarters on a regular basis; however future declarations of dividends are subject to the Board’s approval and may be adjusted as business needs or market conditions change.

Finally, our financial condition and results of operations are, in part, dependent on the economic and general conditions of the geographies in which we operate.

On June 30, 2016, the U.S. President signed into law PROMESA. PROMESA establishes a fiscal oversight and the Oversight Board comprisedThe government of seven voting members appointed by the President. The Oversight Board has broad budgetary and financial powers over Puerto Rico’s budget, laws, financial plans and regulations, including the power to approve restructuring agreements with creditors, file petitions for restructuring and reform the electronic system for the tax collection. The Oversight Board has ultimate authority in preparing the Puerto Rico government’s budget and any issuance of future debt by the government and its instrumentalities. In addition, PROMESA imposes an automatic stay on all litigation against Puerto Rico and its instrumentalities, as well as any other judicial or administrative actions or proceedings to enforce or collect claims against the Puerto Rico government. On May 1, 2017, the automatic stay expired. Promptly after the expiration of the stay, creditors of the Puerto Rico government filed various lawsuits involving defaults on more than $70 billion of bonds issued by Puerto Rico, having failed to reachhas experienced a negotiated settlement on such defaults with the Puerto Rico government during the period of the automatic stay. On May 3, 2017, the Oversight Board filed a voluntary petition of relief on behalf of the Commonwealth

our receivables with the government of Puerto Rican governmentRico and overall payment transaction volumes have not been significantly affected by the debt crisis; however;however, we remain cautious.

The hurricanes that impacted Puerto RicoConsumer preference for digital payment solutions accelerated in 2017 led to an influx of funds for recovery efforts, primarily from private insurance companies and federal agencies and programs, that impactedconnection with the economy through 2018 and 2019. These funds have had a positive impact on Puerto Rico's economy and our business. Post hurricane recovery expectations by the local governmentCOVID-19 pandemic and the Oversight Board considerCompany has benefited from an increase in transaction volumes from these types of payment solutions as a significant amountresult. The acceleration of disaster recovery funding that will impactcontactless and card-not-present transactions has driven innovation and focus towards our digital channels such as, ATH Movil and ATH Business, where we have introduced new technologies for contactless payment such as QR codes. In Latin America we have expanded the islandreach of our payment gateway product by localizing into our other geographies to further capitalize on the acceleration of e-commerce and the economy over the next years. However, the actual amounts to be deployed, the timing in which they will become available and the impact to the Puerto Rico economy remain unclear. We will continue to monitor progress on these funds but remain cautious as to the amount and impact they will have in our business.

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. In connection with the preparation of our financial statements, we are required to make estimates and assumptions about future events and apply judgments that affect the reported amounts of certain assets and liabilities, and in some instances, the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the period.

We base our assumptions, estimates, and judgments on historical experience, current events, and other factors that management believes to be relevant at the time our consolidated financial statements are prepared. However, because future events are inherently uncertain and their effects cannot be determined with certainty, actual results could differ from our assumptions and estimates, and such differences could be material. A summary of significant accounting policies is included in Note 1 of the Notes to Audited Consolidated Financial Statements appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We believe that the following accounting estimates are the most critical; require the most difficult, subjective, or complex judgments; and thus, result in estimates that are inherently uncertain.

The Company recognizes revenue when (or as) control of goods or services are transferred to a customer. The transfer of control occurs when the customer can direct the use ofComplex arrangements with nonstandard terms and receive substantially all the benefits from the transferred good or service. Therefore, revenue is recognized over time (typically for services) or at a point in time (typically for goods).

The valuation of goodwill and intangible assets

The Company firstmay test for goodwill impairment using a qualitative or a quantitative analysis. In a qualitative analysis, the Company assesses qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the quantitative impairment test. If determined to be necessary, the quantitative impairment test shall be used to identify goodwill impairment and measure the