Jeff Parker, CEO of Paymentology, discusses the pivotal moments that have shaped his FinTech career, strategies for navigating global markets and insights on leveraging technology to stay ahead in the competitive payments industry. Parker shares his vision for future growth and offers advice for aspiring FinTech professionals.
Could you share some pivotal moments or experiences that have shaped your career path in the FinTech industry?
My career in the FinTech industry has enabled me to be involved in many different areas of the payments value chain as well as operate in multiple different geographies. One of the most pivotal moments was my first role in FinTech with OFX back in 2013 which was my first role in FinTech. Prior to that, I cut my teeth in corporate finance. At OFX, I learnt here that everyone is a ‘doer’ – there is no room for managers who just manage. With this in mind, I learned the importance of building a good team, setting a clear strategy and executing at speed to get products in front of customers as soon as possible.
Since then, I joined World First, allowing me to gain first-hand experience in leading a global payments organisation which helped me to understand the complexities involved in expanding into diverse regions with unique regulatory environments and cultural landscapes. Learning to adapt my approach and to localise operations in these different environments became even more important after World First was acquired by Ant Group.
More recently I was managing director at Marqeta, where I spearheaded expansion efforts in Europe and APAC. This experience equipped me with a thorough understanding of both the issuer processing industry and key aspects of launching and running card programmes.
Operating on a global scale with clients and teams across 650+ countries is impressive. How do you navigate the challenges of maintaining consistent quality across diverse international markets?
Paymentology operates a remote-first working policy, so our team members are well-versed in virtual communication, bringing down barriers between our regional teams. Whether based near our London HQ or one of our global hubs, Paymentologists the world over work together to guarantee a consistent high quality of implementation, no matter the region.
Furthermore, our cloud-based infrastructure is designed to adapt to a wide range of markets, meaning that our fast, data-rich payments platform boasts the same capabilities no matter the geography. Our regional teams, based in hubs throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and LATAM, adapt Paymentology’s market-leading payments technology to local requirements, integrating with local switches and other specialised infrastructure, empowering partners to launch truly innovative products.
How do you leverage technology and data insights to continuously enhance and tailor your solutions to meet the evolving needs of your clients?
Issuer-processors like Paymentology operate at a data-rich stage of the payments chain with access to an extremely extensive range of information concerning transactions. We expertly leverage this position to provide real data insights via our FAST API, enabling partners to design and deploy better solutions and products.
Paymentology also employs a keen focus on data to continuously adapt our fraud prevention infrastructure. We know that bad actors are creative, constantly devising new methods to exploit global payments networks and so Paymentology utilises data to stay one step ahead and provide a secure platform from which we can deliver innovative payment services.
Time-to-market is critical in FinTech. Could you share some strategies that have enabled Paymentology to achieve unbeatable speed in launching new solutions and how do they contribute to your competitive advantage?
One of the key enablers of Paymentology’s fast time-to-market is that our infrastructure is cloud-native. This technical advantage means that Paymentology’s platform seamlessly integrates with financial institutions, FinTechs and businesses within their preferred cloud environment without incurring additional costs or lengthy development cycles.
Another crucial enabler of fast time-to-market is the breadth of core services Paymentology offers. Typically, banks and FinTechs need to work with about 12 partners to launch a card programme; Paymentology’s holistic payments platform allows clients to package some of these capabilities together, streamlining the development and launch of new payments products.
The combination of cloud-native infrastructure, provided by only a handful of global issuer processors, extensive regional expertise and a highly configurable platform enables Paymentology to launch new payments products within a matter of weeks and not years.
Looking ahead, what emerging trends in the FinTech industry excite you the most and how do you envision Paymentology positioning itself to seize these opportunities for future growth and innovation?
We’re at an extremely exciting stage in the payments industry; the groundwork has been laid for a decade of fast innovation in payments products, which is only just beginning. Crucially, the technology underpinning the next generation of card programmes is entirely cloud-based, owing to decreased costs and significantly improved interoperability.
Chief of these technologies is tokenisation, bolstering the security of payments by replacing sensitive card data with tokens, whilst also enabling Paymentology to issue virtual cards. Hybrid cards are also a significant innovation, enabling consumers to switch currencies, flip between debit and credit functions and even support the conversion of digital assets. In addition, the digital wallet market is undergoing a significant transformation in many developing markets as issuers launch their own digital wallets. Issuers are working closely with the industry to launch contactless payment capabilities that better enable merchants and consumers to adopt digital payments, boosting financial inclusion. Cloud hosting is an essential enabler of every significant avenue for innovation in payments, enabling interoperability to thrive as technical advancements are adopted.
This high rate of innovation is enabling the globalisation of payments, with barriers coming down between consumers and businesses separated by country lines. Cross-border payments and especially remittances, are seeing key reductions to transfer fees and settlement times, whilst the e-commerce industry is expanding across borders with help from standardised APIs and the rise of digital wallets.
What steps would you recommend someone take to successfully navigate and advance their career within the rapidly evolving field of FinTech?
FinTech is an extremely competitive market, which celebrates unique ideas and hard work. Finding a purpose and an end goal and working backwards, be it financial inclusion, sustainability or any other ambition of our industry, should give an individual the drive they need to excel and make a difference in the FinTech industry.
I think it is also important to dive deep into the fundamentals; the FinTech community is extremely passionate about the details and it pays to know your way around the recent innovations and advancements in payments technology.
Finally, I would recommend just giving it a go. As I said at the start there is no room for passengers in FinTech; the industry moves too quickly. In my experience, the most successful people are those who just throw their hat into the ring, get involved and run as fast as they can. Don’t stress about role descriptions, don’t worry if this is not taking you down the exact career path you dreamt of. It is an evolving industry and opportunities will always present themselves for the right people with the right attitude.