Areas of Expertise
Board Membership
Boards and the businesses they advise and supervise are facing a polycrisis: a perfect storm of political and economic uncertainty, rising costs, changing regulation, greater cyber-security risks, challenges attracting and retaining talent and more. Boards with diverse experiences, perspectives, backgrounds and approaches will better survive - and even thrive - through the storm.
Payments
The demands on businesses to meet customer expectations have never been greater - not only for the products and services that are front and centre but also for the services running in the background that are expected to be frictionless and invisible: payments. Fintechs and banks are hard at work reimagining and redesigning payments - from the experience to the infrastructure - for the digital era and virtual world. I bring deep experience in international payments, embedded payments and, more recently, the Lightning Network.
International Expansion
It takes more than ambition to successfully expand into new markets. It requires expertise, focus, cultural awareness and perseverance. Having led one of the UK’s fastest growing Fintechs, WorldFirst (Ant Financial), into markets including China, Japan, Netherlands and Canada I know what’s necessary. And what isn’t.
Innovation
A firm’s ability to innovate is determined by more than the people it hires and the culture it aspires to. Innovation can be stifled by process, procedure and even organisational design. Quickly innovating and solving problems can be the difference between being a unicorn or just surviving - or not. Executives should look beyond company culture to ensure their teams can deliver the ideas that will deliver their business’ growth.
Scaling
Of course companies focus on growing as quickly and sustainable as possible. Adding more people, markets, customers and products at the same time can be more than a business can manage. It doesn’t have to be. Balancing ambition with realism and ensuring priorities align with the business’ strengths is essential - as are scalable processes and controls that protect the business.
FX
Businesses may find the foreign exchange industry complex and full of jargon. It can be. But the industry is changing due to customer demands for tech-driven solutions as well as regulators’ demands for greater transparency. Banks and fintechs need to navigate a competitive world where transparency and technology will define the future of FX businesses with different margins, service levels and profitability.