President Donald Trump has nominated Frank J. Bisignano, a fintech executive and “Wall Street fixer” known for taking a lavish salary while conducting mass layoffs, for Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Ahead of Bisignano’s Senate confirmation hearing, Americans must consider the following information on his candidacy:
“Wall Street Fixer” And Mass Layoffs
Bisignano is the chair, president, and CEO of Fiserv, an electronic financial payments company. He is one of the most highly compensated executives in the financial services industry, and in 2017, when he was CEO of FirstData, he made more than $100 million, or 2,028% of the median worker at his company. In 2023, he earned more than $28 million in salary, stock awards, and bonuses.
During his financial career, which also included stops at Citigroup, JPMorgan, and FirstData, Bisignano earned a reputation as a “Wall Street fixer”. However, his “fixes” often meant mass layoffs. In December 2024, Fiserv reported that it had laid off roughly 1,500 employees, as much as 3.7% of its workforce, while the company’s stock was also trading near an all-time high. Fiserv also laid off workers in 2022. Employees at Fiserv also appear extremely unhappy with Bisignano’s workplace policies and management style.
Bisignano’s history with laying off workers may have been what prompted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) to write him a letter warning him that he would be responsible if staff cuts at the Social Security Administration led to “backdoor cuts” - delayed or missed payments for beneficiaries. The White House has already announced changes along these lines, including closing offices, cutting thousands of jobs, and requiring more difficult identity checks, which could make it harder for seniors to get their benefits. During an interview with CNBC, Bisignano referred to SSA as a “company” on several occasions and compared it to his former company, FirstData, where he closed approximately 100 locations after merging with Fiserv.
In the CNBC interview, when asked if he could “turn around Social Security in the same way” as he did First Data Corporation, Bisignano said of SSA, “It’s a services org, I understand services org. This company today serves every American household if you think about all the cards on file, and all the transactions. We do $2.5 trillion in payments a day, and Social Security pays 74 million Americans once a month for $1.5 trillion or so.”
Bisignano has not made detailed comments about his plans for the Social Security Administration aside from claiming that the president is committed to not cutting benefits and said he’s “here to carry out the president’s mission” and that “the objective is not to touch benefits.” But also said there is a lot of “fraud, waste and abuse in there” and “we build AI to find fraud, waste and abuse for a living, so it’s going to be a tech story.”
When asked if he would work with Elon Musk’s DOGE, Bisignano said “One hundred percent” and “I’m fundamentally a DOGE person” and cited his company’s growth. “So we live on an efficiency and quality agenda and that’s what we’re going to bring to Social Security.”
Donations To Trump And GOP Candidates
Bisignano is a big political donor and most of his contributions have gone to Republican PACs and candidates over the years. He supported GOP presidential candidate and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, donating $15,000 to his campaign in November 2023. He also donated $125,000 to the Trump Victory Super PAC in 2019 and $119,400 to the Republican National Committee that same year.
Bisignano’s wife Tracy is also a prolific donor and contributed $119,400 to the Republican National Committee in 2019 and also gave $931,000 to help elect Trump during the 2020 cycle.
Mysterious Nomination Withdrawal Followed By Re-Nomination On The Same Day
Bisignano was nominated for the Social Security Commissioner position on January 20, 2025 but his nomination was oddly withdrawn on January 28th and then resubmitted again the same day.
