Cross-border payments platform xpate has announced several senior hires after a year of explosive growth.
The London FinTech took its total headcount from 15 to 90 in 2020, a six-fold increase.
David Backshall joins as chief commercial officer and Viktorija Raizina as head of card operations. Anna Zotova, meanwhile, comes onboard as xpate’s chief risk officer.
Backshall has been in the payments processing and acquiring industry for nearly 20 years, working with market leaders PayPal, Sage Pay and Cardpay. He is responsible for developing and implementing multiple strategies to expand the business.
With more than 11 years of experience at a number of banks, processing companies and PSPs including ECOMMPAY, Raizina accumulated extensive expertise in the cards and payments industry, built up successful relationships with Visa and Mastercard and is bringing unrivalled sector knowledge accompanied by strong leadership skills.
Zotova, meanwhile, is an eCommerce expert skilled in various competences from AML to compliance and operations management with a track record of heading the risk teams at Paydoo and CardPay. She is responsible for numerous aspects of risk mitigation strategy: merchant, card scheme, compliance, AML, fraud and chargeback.
xpate says its single, multi-fit solution now unites 79 payment methods across the globe and partners with 24 financial institutions to help modernise the way businesses receive and transfer funds.
CEO Mike Shafro said: “We’re proud of how rapidly we’ve grown this year and the strides we’ve made as a team here at xpate. It’s undeniable that 2020 has been a testing year for so many industries and businesses across the world.
“Our commitment to simplifying the processing of payments and, in particular, cross-border payments, is shaping the future of business. To that end, we’re thrilled to announce that we have opened our London and Singapore offices this year to offer our clients and their customers the truly global service they require.
“With exciting and ambitious plans for 2021, as well as onboarding some fantastic clients, we’re predicting it will be the year of cross-border payments. Increasing numbers of companies become familiar with this new payment trend, in part, due to one of the few opportunities afforded by the ongoing pandemic.
“Automation is the next step for FIs, driven by advanced and focused Fintech partners like xpate. If we are to truly seize the opportunities globalisation has brought with it, we must implement both technological and administrative processes that take over manual tasks, negate friction, and open doors for greater cost-saving measures while enhancing the customer experience.”