Newcastle-based Kani Payments has appointed Dan Clappison as chief operating officer.
The company, second on our FinTech 50 ranking last year, is bolstering its leadership team as it continues to scale globally.
Clappison, who has over 17 years’ experience in the payments space, started his career at Newcastle Building Society alongside Kani Payments founder and CEO Aaron Holmes, building out a cards business and working largely with early startup e-money issuers.
Since then, Clappison has held tenure at TSYS in a range of roles, including pre-sales, product and partnership management. He was part of the team which launched the Virgin Money credit card business, which now has more than two million customers.
His key responsibilities will include overseeing the reporting and reconciliation teams as well as liaising with customers on their operational requirements. Clappison will join Holmes, CMO Melissa Beckett and CTO Steven Licciardi as the new senior leadership team focused on business and talent growth for Kani and the wider North East region.
Kani Payments already champions talent in the North East of England through its apprenticeship programme with Baltic Apprenticeships, supporting career changes or the development of new skills for people of all ages, levels and experiences.
FinTech 50 – UK’s most innovative financial technology creators for 2021
“A business cannot scale without a solid foundation and established operations,” said Clappison. “I want to ensure that, as we continue to grow, our clients have confidence that Kani Payments will continue to provide a great, reliable service and they know that we can support their businesses as they continue to grow.
“I’m delighted to be joining Kani Payments at such a critical moment in its growth, to help build on the operational foundations the company already has in place. Having been based in Newcastle since 2003, I’m also proud to be supporting such a strong local company and championing talent in the North of England.”
The Software-as-a-Service platform has reconciled more than €10 billion in processed payments volume to date, while it has been selected for the Mastercard Start Path Global programme.
Newcastle was named as an emerging FinTech hub in the 2021 Kalifa Review of UK FinTech.
“Since its inception, Kani Payments has championed the talent and opportunity that the North East of England offers. In fact, we’re currently recruiting for a number of critical roles that will help the company as it develops and expands,” said CEO Holmes.
“As part of our growth we have been strengthening the senior leadership team and addressing all areas of the business, to now also include operations and sales. In turn, this means we have strengthened senior guidance throughout the customer journey. It’s fantastic to have Dan on board as we embark on this exciting period of growth.”