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Risk Factors - JKHY
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Jack Henry’s information and cybersecurity program is a core component of our overall enterprise risk management framework. Jack Henry relies on third-party service providers to deliver certain services and products to our clients. We evaluate and seek to mitigate the cybersecurity risks associated with these providers through pre-engagement and periodic risk assessments to ensure our standards for security are maintained. Our strategic risk management committees review and address any identified risks. As of the date of this filing, we have not determined that any known cybersecurity threat, including those arising from prior incidents, has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. Our Board of Directors has ultimate oversight of risk management and has delegated responsibility for enterprise and operational risks, including cybersecurity, to the Board’s Risk and Compliance Committee. This Committee includes members with specific experience in technology and cybersecurity oversight.This Committee oversees Jack Henry’s risk assessment and management programs and reviews risk preparedness. This Committee oversees Jack Henry’s risk assessment and management programs and reviews risk preparedness. The Audit Committee oversees financial risks and would be informed of any material cybersecurity incident that could potentially have a material impact on our financial statements. The Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”) reports quarterly to the Risk and Compliance Committee and to the full Board of Directors on information security matters. The CISO also meets with the Risk and Compliance Committee at least annually to evaluate our overall security environment and organization. Our CISO, who reports to the Chief Operations Officer, has primary responsibility for Jack Henry’s information security strategy, policy, security engineering, operations, and cybersecurity threat detection and response. Our CISO brings more than 20 years experience in technology and cybersecurity, including senior leadership roles at major financial institutions. Under the CISO's direction, the information security team continuously monitors cybersecurity trends and implements proactive and defensive measures to protect against cybersecurity threats.
The Company's business and the results of its operations are affected by numerous factors and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. The following is a description of some of the important risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results of operations in future periods to differ materially from those expected or desired.
Business and Operating Risks
Data security breaches, failures, or other incidents could damage our reputation and business. Our business relies upon receiving, processing, storing, and transmitting sensitive information relating to our operations, associates, and clients. If we fail to maintain a sufficient digital security infrastructure, address security vulnerabilities and new threats, or deploy adequate technologies to secure our systems against attack, we may be subject to security breaches that compromise confidential information, including valuable intellectual property, proprietary information, trade secrets, know-how, or source code, which could lead to their theft, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, or misappropriation. Cybersecurity incidents, which, among other things, may result in unauthorized access to systems, service interruptions, malicious intrusions, exfiltration of data, ransomware, cyber-attacks, or operating failures, have become more sophisticated and more prevalent, have occurred in our systems in the past, and may occur in our systems in the future. Such incidents could adversely affect our ability to operate our business, damage our reputation and business, adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition, and expose us to liability. We rely on third parties for various business purposes, and these third parties face similar security risks. A security failure by one of these third parties could expose our data or subject our information systems to interruption of operations and security vulnerabilities. Our information systems rely on hardware, software, and other technological elements, whether developed in-house or provided by third parties, that occasionally need to be patched or updated to address existing or potential security vulnerabilities. If these vulnerabilities are not remediated in a timely manner, our systems and data may be at risk of compromise or interruption.
Our services and infrastructure are heavily reliant on the internet. Computer networks and the internet are vulnerable to disruptive problems such as denial of service attacks or other cyber-attacks carried out by cyber criminals or state-sponsored actors. We are continually subject to attempts by unauthorized parties to access confidential information or to destroy data, often through the introduction of computer viruses, ransomware or malware, and cyber-attacks. The increasing sophistication of frontier artificial intelligence models is reshaping the cyber-attack landscape. The growing use of frontier AI models by unauthorized parties has changed the scale of cyber threats and speed and complexity of cyber-attacks, including automated phishing, deepfakes, the rapid development of new malware, and novel attack techniques targeting or leveraging AI systems and models. Further, the use of frontier AI allows these parties to identify and exploit software vulnerabilities faster and more broadly than ever before, including attacks targeting zero-day vulnerabilities that might not have been identified, or identified as quickly, without the use of frontier AI. The vulnerabilities targeted by these attacks are constantly evolving and can be difficult to identify, detect, prevent, or mitigate. We utilize technology, including artificial intelligence-enabled tools, to help defend against cybersecurity threats. However, threat actors are increasingly using similar technologies to identify vulnerabilities, automate attacks, and evade detection. If our security capabilities fail to keep pace with the evolving methods used by threat actors, our systems, data, operations, and reputation could be adversely affected. Those same parties may also attempt to fraudulently induce associates, clients, third-party service providers, or other authorized users of our systems through phishing schemes or other social engineering methods to disclose sensitive information to gain access to our data or that of our clients or their accountholders. Those same parties may also attempt to fraudulently induce associates, clients, vendors, or other authorized users of our systems through phishing schemes or other social 14engineering methods to disclose sensitive information to gain access to our data or that of our clients or their accountholders. We have experienced phishing attacks, social engineering attempts, and other cybersecurity incidents targeting our associates, clients, and systems. When successful, these coordinated attacks may result in data loss, exfiltration, and disruption to systems and services, and can damage our reputation as a secure financial technology company. Any such coordinated attacks, if successful, can lead to data loss and exfiltration, disruption to systems and services, and damage to our reputation as a secure financial technology company.
We are also subject to the risk that our associates may, unintentionally or with malicious intent, intercept and transmit unauthorized confidential or proprietary information or that corporate-owned devices used by associates are stolen, or client data media is lost in shipment. An interception, misuse, or mishandling of personal, confidential, or proprietary information being sent to or received from a client or third-party could result in legal liability, remediation costs, regulatory action, and reputational harm, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. An interception, misuse, or mishandling of personal, confidential, or proprietary information being sent to or received from a client or third party could result in legal liability, remediation costs, regulatory action, and reputational harm, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Like other financial institution service providers, we continually face third-party attempts to discover and exploit system weaknesses or to circumvent our security measures. We regularly experience attacks and other malicious activities targeting our systems, services, infrastructure, and data, as well as those of our clients, third-party service providers, and other vendors. These activities continue to increase in frequency and sophistication. Despite implementing security controls and infrastructure designed to protect our systems and data, we have experienced cybersecurity incidents in the past and may experience them in the future. We cannot be certain that our efforts will be sufficient to combat all current and future technological risks and threats. These risks are further heightened by
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the fact that a significant portion of our associates and contractors work remotely outside of Company-controlled facilities using networks and devices that are not physically controlled by the Company, potentially limiting the effectiveness of our security controls. Advances in computer capabilities, breakthroughs in cryptography, the accelerating development, sophistication, and deployment of artificial intelligence technologies, or other technical developments could materially enhance the ability of threat actors to identify vulnerabilities, bypass controls, or otherwise compromise our systems, thereby rendering our security measures inadequate. Security risks may result in liability to our clients or other third parties, damage to our reputation, and may deter financial institutions from purchasing our products. The significant amount of capital and other resources we currently expend to protect against the threat of security breaches may prove insufficient to prevent a breach. We cannot ensure that any limitation-of-liability provisions in our client and user agreements, contracts with third-party service providers, or other contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities or damages with respect to claims relating to a security breach or similar matters. We cannot ensure that any limitation-of-liability provisions in our client and user agreements, contracts with third-party vendors, or other contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities or damages with respect to claims relating to a security breach or similar matters. The insurance coverage we maintain to address data security risks may be insufficient to cover all types of claims or losses that may arise, and there is no assurance that such insurance coverage will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all. In the event of a security breach, we may need to spend substantial additional capital and resources alleviating problems caused by such breach. Under state, federal, and foreign laws, including those requiring consumer notification of security breaches, the costs to remediate security breaches can be substantial. Addressing security problems may result in interruptions, delays, or cessation of service to users, any of which could harm our business.
Failure to maintain sufficient technological infrastructure or an operational failure in our outsourcing facilities could expose us to damage claims, increase regulatory scrutiny, and cause us to lose clients. Our products and services require substantial investments in technological infrastructure, and we continue to grow in the number of users, transactions, and data that our technological infrastructure supports. Our products and services require substantial investments in technological infrastructure, and we have experienced significant growth in the number of users, transactions, and data that our technological infrastructure supports. If we fail to adequately invest in and support our technological infrastructure and processing capacity, we may not be able to support our clients’ processing needs and may be more susceptible to interruptions and delays in services. Damage or destruction that interrupts our outsourcing operations could cause delays and failures in processing which could hurt our relationship with clients, damage our reputation, expose us to damage claims, and cause us to incur substantial additional expenses to relocate operations and repair or replace damaged equipment. Events that could cause operational failures include, but are not limited to, hardware and software defects, breakdowns or malfunctions, cybersecurity incidents, human error, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, computer viruses or other malware, or other events. Our facilities are also subject to physical risks related to natural disasters or severe weather events, such as tornados, flooding, hurricanes, and heat waves. Climate change may increase the likelihood and severity of such events. Our back-up systems and procedures may prove insufficient or otherwise fail to prevent disruption, such as a prolonged interruption of our transaction processing services. If an interruption extends for more than several hours, we may experience data loss or a reduction in revenues due to such interruption. Any significant interruption of service could reduce revenue, harm our and our clients' reputations, result in damage claims, cause current and prospective clients to choose alternative service providers, and increase regulatory scrutiny of the critical services we provide to financial institutions, thereby increasing our compliance obligations and costs. Any significant interruption of service could reduce revenue, have a negative impact on our reputation and the reputation of our clients, result in damage claims, lead our present and potential clients to choose other service providers, and lead to increased regulatory scrutiny of the critical services we provide to financial institutions, with resulting increases in compliance burdens and costs. Implementing modifications and upgrades to our technological infrastructure subjects us to inherent costs and risks associated with changing systems, policies, procedures, and monitoring tools.
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Failures associated with payment transactions could result in financial loss. The volume and dollar amount of payment transactions that we process is significant and continues to grow. We direct the settlement of funds on behalf of financial institutions, other businesses, and consumers, and receive funds 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, Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) payments, real-time payments through faster payment networks (such as Zelle, RTP, and FedNow), and check clearing that support consumers, financial institutions, and other businesses. Such services are critical to our clients’ operations. If the continuity of operations, the integrity of our processing systems, or our ability to detect or prevent fraudulent payments were compromised in connection with payments transactions, our clients’ operations could be disrupted or adversely affected. If the continuity of operations, integrity of processing, or ability to detect or prevent fraudulent payments were compromised in connection with payments transactions, we could suffer financial as well as reputational loss. Any such disruption could result in financial losses, reputational damage, legal or regulatory consequences, and other adverse effects for both our clients and us. In addition, we rely on various third parties to process transactions and provide services in support of the processing of transactions and funds settlement for certain of our products and services that we cannot provide ourselves. If we are unable to obtain such services in the future or if the price of such services becomes unsustainable, our business, financial position, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, we may issue short-term credit to consumers, financial institutions, or other businesses as part of the funds settlement process. A default on this credit by a counterparty could result in a financial loss to us.
Failures of third-party service providers we rely upon could lead to financial loss. We rely on third-party service providers to support key portions of our operations. We also rely on third-party service providers to provide part, or all, of certain services we deliver to clients. As we continue to move more computing, storage, and processing services out of our data centers and facilities and into third-party hosting environments like public cloud infrastructure providers. As we continue to move more computing, storage, and processing services out of our data centers and facilities and into third-party hosting environments, our reliance on these providers and their systems will increase. as well as private cloud co-location facilities, our reliance on these providers and their systems will increase. The migration of our products and services to these new cloud-based systems is complex and requires substantial expenditures. Furthermore, we face risks inherent in the conversion to any new system, including potential data loss and operational disruptions. We rely on a limited number of third-party service providers that provide significant portions of our hosting and technology infrastructure. While we have selected these third-party service providers carefully and conduct ongoing diligence and monitoring, we do not control their actions or operations. Any disruption, capacity constraints, interference, failure, cybersecurity incident, service degradation, or other interruption of these services by a third-party service provider could result in degraded performance, data loss, or prolonged outages and adversely affect our operations and our ability to deliver services to clients. Such a failure could lead to damage claims, loss of clients, reputational harm, increased costs, contractual disputes, regulatory scrutiny, and, depending on the duration and severity of the failure, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Third parties perform significant operational services on our behalf. These third-party service providers are subject to similar risks as us including, but not limited to, compliance with applicable laws and regulations, hardware and software defects, breakdowns or malfunctions, cybersecurity incidents, human error, failures in internal controls, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, computer viruses or other malware, natural disasters or severe weather events, or other events. These third-party vendors are subject to similar risks as us including, but not limited to, compliance with applicable laws and regulations, hardware and software defects, breakdowns or malfunctions, cybersecurity incidents, human error, failures in internal controls, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, computer viruses or other malware, natural disasters or severe weather events, or other events. One or more of our third-party service providers may experience a cybersecurity event or operational disruption and, if any such event does occur, it may not be adequately addressed, either operationally or financially, by the third-party service provider. One or more of our vendors may experience a cybersecurity event or operational disruption and, if any such event does occur, it may not be adequately addressed, either operationally or financially, by the third-party vendor. Certain of our third-party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations or may not have the financial capacity to satisfy their indemnification obligations. Certain of our vendors may have limited indemnification obligations or may not have the financial capacity to satisfy their indemnification obligations. If a critical third-party service provider is unable to meet our needs in a timely manner or if the services or products provided by such a third-party service provider are terminated or otherwise delayed and if we are not able to develop alternative sources for these services and products timely and cost-effectively, our clients could be negatively impacted, and it could have a material adverse effect on our business. If a critical vendor is unable to meet our needs in a timely manner or if the services or products provided by such a vendor are terminated or otherwise delayed and if we are not able to develop alternative sources for these services and products timely and cost-effectively, our clients could be negatively impacted, and it could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We operate in highly competitive and rapidly evolving markets and our business will be adversely affected if we fail to compete effectively.We operate in a competitive business environment and our business will be adversely affected if we fail to compete effectively. We vigorously compete with a variety of software vendors and service providers in all our major product lines. We compete on the basis of product quality, reliability, performance, ease of use, quality of support and services, integration with other products, and pricing. Some of our competitors may have advantages over us due to their size, product lines, greater marketing resources, or exclusive intellectual property rights. New competitors, including smaller start-ups, regularly appear with new products, services, and technology for financial institutions. We are also experiencing increasing competition from nontraditional market participants, including financial technology companies, payment-focused providers, and technology platforms that offer products, services, or alternative delivery models that compete with portions of our solutions. Certain competitors may be able to devote greater financial resources to innovation, respond more rapidly to changing client demands, or accept business and operating risks that differ from our approach. If competitors offer more favorable pricing, payment or other contractual terms, warranties, or functionality, or otherwise attract our clients or prevent us from capturing new clients, we may need to lower prices or offer other terms that negatively impact our results of operations in order to
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successfully compete. Emerging technologies, evolving payment methods, and changing client preferences may alter how financial services products and services are delivered and consumed and could reduce demand for certain existing solutions or displace portions of traditional technology and payment processing models. If we are unable to adapt our products and services to these developments in a timely and cost-effective manner, our competitive position, revenues, growth prospects, and results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, increased adoption of specialized point solutions may reduce demand for broader integrated offerings and result in the replacement of components of our existing product suite.
Failure to achieve favorable renewals of service contracts could negatively affect our business. Our contracts with our clients for outsourced data processing and electronic payment transaction processing services generally run for a period of six years. We will continue to experience a significant number of these contracts coming up for renewal each year. Renewal time presents our clients with the opportunity to consider other providers or to renegotiate their contracts with us, including reducing the services we provide or negotiating the prices paid for our services. Certain of our renewals have resulted in price compression between the former and renegotiated contracts. If that trend accelerates or becomes more pronounced, it could negatively impact our results of operations. If we are not successful in achieving high renewal rates upon favorable terms, revenues and profit margins will suffer. We may experience increased costs for services from our third-party service providers due to inflation or other cost expansion, but because our client contracts typically have longer terms than our third-party service provider contracts, our ability to pass on those higher costs to clients may be limited. We may experience increased costs for services from our third-party vendors due to inflation or other cost expansion, but because our client contracts typically have longer terms than our vendor contracts, our ability to pass on those higher costs to clients may be limited. If inflation or costs outpace our contractual ability to adjust pricing during the contractual terms of our client contracts, our revenues and profit margins could be negatively impacted.
If we fail to adapt our products and services to changes in technology and the markets we serve, we could lose existing clients and be unable to attract new business. The markets for our products and services are characterized by changing client and regulatory requirements and rapid technological changes. These factors and new product introductions by our existing competitors or by new market entrants could reduce the demand for our existing products and services, and we may be required to develop or acquire new products and services. In addition, competitors and other third parties may incorporate artificial intelligence into products and offerings more quickly or more successfully than we do, which could impair our ability to compete effectively and adversely affect our results of operations. Our future success is dependent on our ability to enhance our existing products and services in a timely manner and to develop or acquire new products and services. If we are unable to develop or acquire new products and services to address the needs of our clients, or if we fail to sell the new or enhanced products and services in which we have invested, we may incur unanticipated expenses or fail to achieve anticipated revenues, as well as lose prospective sales.
The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and generative artificial intelligence into our products introduces significant and evolving risks that could lead to unintended consequences, result in reputational harm, and increased litigation. Our business currently utilizes AI and ML and we continue to evaluate and expand their use, including generative AI, to augment our products and services. While these technologies offer distinct business opportunities, they also bring evolving legal, regulatory, and operational risks. The regulatory landscape relating to these technologies is quickly and constantly evolving and requires significant resources to modify and maintain business practices to comply with applicable laws. Further, the ongoing tension between the states and the federal government regarding AI regulations is causing increased uncertainty and risk and compliance costs, particularly regarding the use of automated decision-making and other uses of AI technologies in high-risk industries, including the financial industry. This uncertainty has a broader impact than simply AI-targeted regulations and may expose us to claims of privacy rights violations or providing inadequate cybersecurity protections. From an operational standpoint, AI algorithms and training methodologies may create accuracy issues, unintended biases, factual errors, misrepresentations, offensive language, inappropriate statements, or other unexpected outcomes that could undermine product and service quality or lead to errors in our decision-making and solution development. Ineffective or inadequate AI development, testing, evaluation, deployment, content labeling, or governance may impair public acceptance or cause harm, resulting in offerings not working as intended, and we also face explainability risk from our potential inability to interpret or justify AI model decisions, which may lead to concerns about trust, regulatory compliance, and accountability. Furthermore, the uncertainty in the regulatory environment and our development and use of generative AI technologies expose us to evolving intellectual property risks, including the potential misuse of proprietary or confidential inputs, infringement of third-party rights, and uncertainty regarding the ownership of AI-generated outputs. Additionally, the use of AI tools by associates—whether authorized or not—for internal functions or business operations may result in unintended or unreliable outputs, which could negatively impact the quality, accuracy, or consistency of work product and decision-making. Our failure to accurately identify and address our responsibilities and liabilities in this new environment could negatively affect any solutions we develop incorporating such technology and could subject
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us to reputational harm, regulatory action, or litigation, which may harm our financial condition and operating results. These same risks apply to our third-party service providers who are implementing these tools into the products or services they provide to us. Any failures to manage and mitigate these risks by these third-party service providers may negatively affect the products and services we provide our clients.
Software defects or problems with installations and updates may harm our business and reputation and expose us to potential liability. Our software products are complex and may contain undetected defects, especially in connection with newly released products and software updates. Software defects may cause interruptions or delays to our services as we attempt to correct the problem. We may also experience difficulties in installing or integrating our products on systems used by our clients. Defects in our software, installation problems or delays, or other difficulties could result in negative publicity, loss of revenues, loss of competitive position, or claims against us by clients. In addition, we rely on technologies and software supplied by third parties that may also contain undetected errors or defects that could have a negative effect on our business and results of operations. If patches or updates are not properly tested prior to installation, or are not properly installed, our systems and data may be at risk of compromise or interruption as a result of such failures.
Expansion of services to non-traditional clients could expose us to new risks. We have expanded our services to business lines that are marketed outside our traditional, regulated, and litigation-averse base of financial institution clients. These non-regulated clients may entail greater operational, credit, and litigation risks than we have faced before and could result in increases in bad debts and litigation costs.
Regulatory and Compliance Risks
The software and services we provide to our clients are subject to government regulation that could hinder the development of our business, increase costs, or impose constraints on the way we conduct our operations. The financial services industry is subject to extensive and complex federal and state regulation. As a supplier of software and services to financial institutions, portions of our operations are subject to ongoing supervision and examination by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As a supplier of software and services to financial institutions, portions of our operations are subject to ongoing supervision and examination by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the National Credit Union Association, among other regulatory agencies. Credit Unions are subject to supervision by the National Credit Union Administration. These federal agencies, and comparable state agencies, regulate services we provide and the way we operate, and we are required to comply with a broad range of applicable federal and state laws and regulations. We are routinely subject to the examination process with such regulators, which includes the identification of areas where we can improve our practices to better comply with the applicable regulations and guidelines. If regulators identify significant issues, or if we fail to meet supervisory remediation expectations, we could be subject to regulatory actions that could harm our client relationships and reputation. Failure by third parties, with whom we contract or partner, to comply with regulations or guidelines could also harm our relationships and reputation. Such failures could require significant expenditures to correct and could negatively affect our ability to retain clients and obtain new clients.
In addition, existing laws, regulations, and policies could be amended or interpreted differently by regulators in a manner that imposes additional costs and has a negative impact on our existing operations or that limits our future growth or expansion. New regulations could require additional programming or other costly changes in our processes or personnel. Our clients are also regulated entities, and actions by regulatory authorities could influence both the decisions they make concerning the purchase of data processing and other services and the timing and implementation of these decisions. We will be required to apply substantial research and development and other corporate resources to adapt our products to this evolving, complex, and often unpredictable regulatory environment. Our failure to provide compliant solutions could result in significant fines or consumer liability on our clients, for which we may bear ultimate liability.
Moreover, the legislative and regulatory landscape continues to evolve to include alternative payment types, including digital and cryptocurrencies. The regulatory environment for crypto assets, stablecoins, and digital currencies is rapidly evolving, with increased oversight from federal and state regulatory agencies. Recent developments, including the GENIUS Act, and other legislative initiatives, bring increased oversight and more robust compliance obligations including consumer protection, anti-money laundering, sanctions compliance, operational resilience and recordkeeping requirements. We closely monitor legislative and regulatory changes to ensure any existing or new business models, product offerings, and risk and compliance programs adapt to new requirements. Any failure to comply with such laws and regulations could expose us to liability, regulatory scrutiny and/or reputational damage. Rapid changes to cryptocurrency laws and regulations could increase the costs and complexity of compliance, including associated recordkeeping costs, or could require us to change our business practices in a timeframe or manner adverse to our business. As we make significant investments in research, development, and marketing for new products in emerging technologies in an uncertain and rapidly changing regulatory landscape, we may not achieve immediate or expected returns.
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Compliance with data privacy and cybersecurity laws, regulations, and rules may adversely impact our expenses, development, and strategy. We are subject to complex laws, rules, and regulations related to data privacy and cybersecurity, and each year, this regulatory landscape is rapidly changing. If we fail to comply with such requirements, we could be subject to reputational harm, regulatory enforcement, and litigation. The use, confidentiality, and security of private client information is under increased scrutiny. Regulatory agencies, Congress, state legislatures, and foreign regulatory and governmental bodies are considering numerous regulatory and statutory proposals to protect the interests of consumers and to require compliance with standards and policies that have not been defined. The number of state privacy and cybersecurity laws and regulations has grown tremendously over the past several years, resulting in an increasingly complex and fragmented regulatory landscape. This environment imposes comprehensive data privacy compliance obligations in relation to our collection and use of personal information, including a principle of accountability and the obligation to demonstrate compliance through policies, procedures, training, and audits. These laws often include industry-specific requirements and broad consumer data protection obligations. While many of these frameworks share common principles, each jurisdiction imposes unique compliance standards, definitions, and obligations that may not align with one another. This lack of uniformity, combined with frequent legislative updates and regulatory amendments, creates ongoing challenges for organizations seeking to maintain consistent and compliant data governance practices across multiple jurisdictions. Further, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC") and state attorneys general may interpret federal and state consumer protection laws as imposing standards for the collection, use, dissemination, and security of data. Further, the FTC and state attorneys general may interpret federal and state consumer protection laws as imposing standards for the collection, use, dissemination, and security of data. In addition, compliance with these laws and regulations may require changes to our technology and our internal processes and procedures, including the way that we handle, process, and store data, which could divert company resources and negatively impact growth opportunities. We will also be affected by these regulations as a third-party provider to clients who are subject to such regulations and will seek our assistance in their compliance efforts.
Failure to comply or readily address compliance and regulatory rule changes made by payment card networks could adversely affect our business. We are subject to card association and network compliance rules governing the payment networks we serve, including Visa, MasterCard, Zelle, FedNow, and The Clearing House’s RTP network, and all rules governing the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. This environment imposes comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity obligations in relation to our collection and use of personal information, including meeting specific cybersecurity standards and the obligation to demonstrate compliance through policies, procedures, training, and audits. Lack of compliance with these rules and standards, may have a severe impact on our ability to do business, including fines and penalties, loss of revenue, negative reputational impact, increased costs of operations, and disruption of services, including the inability to provide card processing services to our clients. Changes made by the payment networks may result in reduction in revenue, increased costs of operations, and negative impact on growth opportunities if company resources need to be diverted to address such changes.
Economic Conditions Risks
Natural disasters, public health crises, wars, acts of terrorism, other armed conflict, and workforce shortages could adversely affect our results of operations. The occurrence of, or threat of, natural disasters, widespread public health crises, political unrest, war, acts of terrorism, other armed conflicts involving the United States or foreign countries, or general workforce shortages can result in significant economic disruptions and uncertainties and could adversely affect our business, results of operation, and financial condition. The conditions caused by such events may affect the rate of spending by our clients and their ability to pay for our products and services, delay prospective clients’ purchasing decisions, interfere with our associates’ ability to support our business function, disrupt the ability of third-party providers we rely upon to deliver services, adversely impact our ability to provide on-site services or installations to our clients, or reduce the number of transactions we process, all of which could adversely affect our results of operation and financial position. We are unable to accurately predict the impact of such events on our business due to a number of uncertainties, including the duration, severity, geographic reach and governmental responses to such events, the impact on our clients’ and third-party service providers' operations, and our ability to continue to provide products and services, including the ability of our associates to work remotely. We are unable to accurately predict the impact of such events on our business due to a number of uncertainties, including the duration, severity, geographic reach and governmental responses to such events, the impact on our clients’ and vendors' operations, and our ability to continue to provide products and services, including the ability of our associates to work remotely. If we are not able to respond to and manage the impact of such events effectively, our business will be harmed.
Our business may be adversely impacted by general U.S. and global market and economic conditions or specific conditions in the financial services industry. We derive most of our revenue from products and services we provide to the financial services industry. If the general economic environment worsens, including if inflation or interest rates increase or remain at higher than recent historical levels, or if conditions or regulatory requirements within the financial services industry change—such as if financial institutions are required to increase reserve amounts, become subject to new regulatory assessments, or if tariffs or other trade restrictions are imposed or
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increased—clients may be less willing or able to pay the cost of our products and services, and we could face a reduction in demand from current and potential clients for our products and services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. In addition, a growing portion of our revenue is derived from transaction processing fees, which depend heavily on levels of consumer and business spending. Deterioration in general economic conditions could negatively impact consumer confidence and spending, resulting in reduced transaction volumes and our related revenues.
Consolidation and failures of financial institutions will continue to reduce the number of our clients and potential clients. Our primary market consists of approximately 4,300 commercial and savings banks and approximately 4,400 credit unions. The number of commercial banks and credit unions in the United States has experienced a steady decrease over recent decades due to mergers and acquisitions and financial failures and we expect this trend to continue as more consolidation occurs. Such events may reduce the number of our current and potential clients, which could negatively impact our results of operations. A client who merges with, or is acquired by, an entity that is not our client, or a client that is closed by regulatory action, can lead to a reduction or loss of services and negatively impact our results of operation.
Acquisition Risks
Our selective pursuit of strategic transactions may be limited by market conditions, which could impact our ability to complement our organic growth. While our primary growth strategy focuses on organic initiatives, we may from time to time selectively evaluate and pursue strategic transactions, including acquisitions, to complement our existing business. We have historically augmented the growth of our business with a number of acquisitions and our current strategy prioritizes a disciplined and selective approach to such transactions. A successful selective transaction strategy depends on our ability to identify, negotiate, and finance suitable opportunities on favorable terms. However, intense competition, from both within and outside our industry, for attractive acquisition opportunities may increase purchase prices and reduce the availability of transactions that meet our investment criteria, which could adversely affect our ability to complement our organic growth strategy through acquisitions.
Any transactions we pursue subject us to operational, financial, and integration risks. Strategic transactions are difficult to evaluate, and our due diligence may not identify all potential liabilities or valuation issues. Acquisitions are difficult to evaluate, and our due diligence may not identify all potential liabilities or valuation issues. We may also be subject to risks related to cybersecurity incidents or vulnerabilities of the acquired company and the acquired systems. We may not be able to successfully integrate acquired companies, products, or services. We may not be able to successfully integrate acquired companies. We may encounter problems with the integration of these new businesses, including: financial control and computer system compatibility; unanticipated costs and liabilities, including inherited undiscovered liabilities such as past data breaches, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, or intellectual property infringement from the acquired entities; unanticipated quality or client problems with acquired products or services; differing regulatory and industry standards; diversion of management's attention; adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and clients; loss of key associates; and significant depreciation and amortization expenses related to acquired assets. To finance any such transactions, we may have to increase our borrowing or sell equity or debt securities to the public. To finance future acquisitions, we may have to increase our borrowing or sell equity or debt securities to the public. If we fail to successfully integrate our acquisitions, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. If we fail to integrate our acquisitions, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Failed acquisitions could also produce material and unpredictable impairment charges as we review our acquired assets.
Intellectual Property Risks
If others claim that we have infringed their intellectual property rights, we could be liable for significant damages or could be required to change our processes. We have agreed to indemnify many of our clients against claims that our products and services infringe on the proprietary rights of others. We also use certain open- source software in our products, which may subject us to suits by persons claiming ownership of what we believe to be open-source software. Our use of open-source software with permissive licenses may subject us to compliance claims or operational liabilities. By the terms of certain restrictive open-source licenses, if we combine our proprietary software with open-source software in a certain manner, we could be required to publicly release the source code of our proprietary software, which could result in a loss of our competitive advantage. Additionally, open-source licensors generally do not provide warranties or indemnification against intellectual property infringement or for the security of the code. Infringement claims have been and will in the future be asserted with regard to our software solutions and services. Such claims, whether with or without merit, are time-consuming, may result in costly litigation and may not be resolved on terms favorable to us. If our defense of such claims is not successful, we could be forced to pay damages or could be subject to injunctions that would cause us to cease making or selling certain applications or force us to redesign applications.
Our failure to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights may adversely affect our competitive position. Our success and ability to compete depend in part upon protecting our proprietary systems and technology. Unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or access systems or technology that we consider
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proprietary. We actively take steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights, including entering into agreements with users of our services for that purpose and maintaining security measures. However, these steps may be inadequate to prevent misappropriation. Policing unauthorized use of our proprietary rights is difficult and misappropriation or litigation relating to such matters could have a material negative effect on our results of operation.
General Risk Factors
A material weakness in our internal controls could have a material adverse effect on us. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reasonable assurance with respect to our financial reports and to mitigate risk of fraud. If material weaknesses in our internal controls are discovered or occur in the future, our consolidated financial statements may contain material misstatements and we could be required to restate our financial results, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations or financial condition, restrict our ability to access the capital markets, require us to expend significant resources to correct the weaknesses or deficiencies, subject us to fines, penalties or judgments, harm our reputation, or otherwise cause a decline in investor confidence.
The loss of key associates and difficulties in hiring and retaining associates could adversely affect our business. We depend on the contributions and abilities of our senior management and other key associates, particularly for highly specialized technical personnel with expertise in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science. Our Company has grown significantly in recent years and our management remains concentrated in a small number of highly qualified individuals. If we lose one or more of our key associates, we could suffer a loss of managerial experience, and management resources would have to be diverted from other activities to compensate for this loss. We do not have employment agreements with any of our executive officers. We continue to face a competitive market for hiring and retaining skilled associates, especially highly specialized technical personnel. We continue to face a competitive market for hiring and retaining skilled associates. Competition for these professionals has led to wage inflation in the technology sector. Difficulties in hiring and retaining skilled associates may restrict our ability to adequately support our business needs and/or result in increased personnel costs. These challenges are further compounded by the fact that a substantial portion of our workforce operate in hybrid or fully remote arrangements, which introduces additional complexities related to employee engagement, collaboration, training, and the preservation of corporate culture. As we navigate these dynamics, there is no guarantee that we will be able to attract and retain the personnel necessary to maintain the Company’s strategic direction. As we navigate these dynamics, there is no assurance that we will be able to attract and retain the personnel necessary to maintain the Company’s strategic direction.
Unfavorable resolution of tax contingencies or unfavorable future tax law changes could adversely affect our tax expense. Our income tax positions result in a significant net deferred income tax liability on our consolidated balance sheet. Unfavorable future tax law changes, including increasing U.S. corporate tax rates, could increase this net liability and negatively impact our provision for income taxes, net income, and cash flow.
The impairment of a significant portion of our goodwill and intangible assets would adversely affect our results of operations. Our balance sheet includes goodwill and intangible assets that represent a significant portion of our total assets as of June 30, 2026. On an annual basis, and whenever circumstances require, we review our goodwill and intangible assets for impairment. If the carrying value of a material asset is determined to be impaired, it will be written down to fair value by a charge to operating earnings. An impairment of a significant portion of our goodwill or intangible assets could have a material negative effect on our operating results.
Changes in interest rates could increase our borrowing costs or result in decreased interest income. Our current credit facilities bear interest at variable rates, which expose us to interest rate risk. Our current credit facilities bear interest at variable rates. We may require additional or increased borrowings in the future under existing or new debt facilities to support operations, finance selective strategic transactions, or fund stock repurchases. Increases in interest rates on our variable-rate debt would increase our interest expense, which could negatively impact our results of operations. Increases in interest rates on variable-rate debt would increase our interest expense, which could negatively impact our results of operations. Conversely, if interest rates substantially decrease, we would collect less interest income on settlement accounts.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY
Cyber Risk Management and Strategy
As a provider of products and services to financial institutions, Jack Henry integrates industry-standard frameworks, policies, and procedures to securely process and store sensitive information, prioritizing the protection of our associates, clients, and their private data in an ever-evolving cyber threat landscape.
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Jack Henry systems and services are subject to regular reviews by the same regulatory agencies that oversee financial institutions, including the Federal Reserve Bank (“FRB”), FDIC, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), NCUA, and the CFPB, among others. These reviews, including those conducted by the Federal Banking Agencies (comprised of the FDIC, FRB, and the OCC) help identify potential security gaps or control deficiencies. In addition, critical services provided to our clients undergo annual System and Organization Controls (“SOC”) reviews by independent auditors.
Our associates and contractors play a vital role in the safeguarding of systems and data. All are required to complete annual security awareness training to ensure they stay current on best practices and emerging cyber threats. We also conduct routine phishing exercises to help associates and contractors recognize and appropriately respond to suspicious emails. Supplemental training is provided throughout the year to individuals and teams with elevated-risk profiles.
As a large financial technology provider, we continually face risks from cybersecurity threats that, if realized, are reasonably likely to materially affect our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. Despite our efforts to identify and respond to cybersecurity threats, we cannot guarantee that we will not experience a material cybersecurity incident in the future or that an undetected incident has not already occurred. For further discussion of cybersecurity risks, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Item 1A.
Cybersecurity Governance and Oversight
While the Board of Directors, through the Risk and Compliance Committee, maintains oversight of cybersecurity risks, management is primarily responsible for identifying, assessing, and managing these risks within our broader risk management program. The Enterprise Risk Management Committee, composed of senior executives, monitors governance, risk, and compliance enterprise-wide, including cybersecurity. Management has adopted specific policies and procedures to monitor and mitigate cybersecurity threats including an incident response program, led by the CISO and staffed by professionals with diverse expertise. Incidents meeting pre-established thresholds are escalated to management for threat assessment, mitigation, remediation, and, if necessary, disclosure to clients, third-parties, and regulators.
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