SHAZAM celebrates 50 years of innovation in 2026
posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 in Company News
From pioneering the PIN-debit point-of-sale transaction, to introducing a national debit product, to helping financial institutions significantly reduce their fraud losses, SHAZAM® has been a payments leader for 50 years.
Since the beginning, SHAZAM has been built around serving banks and credit unions through its member-ownership model. SHAZAM is owned by our clients who can apply to become members, and most do. Every member financial institution, regardless of asset size, gets a vote. This ensures that everyone has an equal voice into the future of our company and the products and services we invest in.
SHAZAM’s membership model is unique to the financial services industry,” says Paul Waltz, SHAZAM President and CEO. “Serving our members, and not shareholders, allows our organization to make long-term decisions that are in the best interests of community financial institutions.”
As SHAZAM celebrates 50 years of innovation, we continue to innovate for our clients. Over the past few years, SHAZAM has been reshaping our corporate brand identity to decouple our products and services to unlock our full potential. We’ll also have a heavy focus on DigiHive™ digital banking, our digital banking platform, by integrating it with third-party cores. This initiative expands our market reach while continuing to provide financial institutions choice and flexibility.
Lastly, as part of our commitment to supporting community financial institutions, we’ve been leading a stablecoin taskforce. This cross-network of industry leaders are collaboratively assessing the regulatory, economic and competitive impacts of stablecoins on deposits, with a focus on preserving deposit stability, sustaining local lending and promoting a level playing field for community financial institutions. Our task force will soon issue a report on this topic and will be encouraging financial institutions to share their views on how we should proceed as an industry.
“I look forward to what’s in store for the year ahead,” says Terry Dooley, SHAZAM EVP and COO. “Through research and strategic planning, our efforts have laid out a strong foundation for the long-term success of SHAZAM.”
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