Hi Steve, welcome to the AiThority Interview Series in 2023. Please tell us about your two decades of tech experience so far. How did you arrive at Mastercard?

My career has had several phases. For the first 10 years or so after graduating, I worked at various – mostly small – independent, software companies and consultancies. My position evolved over the years; I started as a developer before advancing to the role of a software engineering manager and then eventually becoming a CTO.

Next, I worked for Science Foundation Ireland (SF), Ireland’s national science funding agency, where I led our investments in topics such as computer science, data science, software engineering, and artificial intelligence.

In 2014 I started at Mastercard, which is where I still currently work today. Initially, I supported and grew a team called Start Path, an engagement program for innovative startups in the fintech space. A few years later, I joined Mastercard Foundry, the innovation and R&D arm within the company, leading research and development for AI, ML, and now also quantum computing. This July, I was appointed to Mastercard’s first class of Distinguished Engineers, a recognition for select Senior Vice President technical experts as part of the company’s continuing commitment to technology, innovation, and career growth. With this distinction, I continue my work with a focus on artificial intelligence and quantum computing. 

You are in charge of Mastercard R&D’s strategy and execution of AI and ML in new product development efforts. What is the biggest challenge to Digital Transformation in the market you cater to?

Of the many years that I’ve worked in technology – this current period is distinct for the speed and scale of innovation taking place. This dynamism is exciting because we’ve only just scratched the surface of what is possible for businesses and consumers, but with it also comes new challenges for enterprises.

For one – leveraging emerging technologies to build new products and services.

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Part of the equation is to understand and introduce technologies like web3, spatial computing, PETs, and AI/ML, while also maintaining and upgrading legacy systems, and aligning with ever-evolving legislation and regulation governing their application.

AI specifically has been top of mind for our market, especially following the fairly recent explosion of generative AI.  Mastercard has been putting AI to work for years, particularly in our products and solutions across open banking, routing, personalization, and fraud that enhance the safety and security of the payments ecosystem.  Although the step change between AI and generative AI is exponential in terms of what you can do with it, our deep roots in AI have afforded us the capabilities, talent, framework, and partnerships to keep a pulse and execute on emerging technologies.  

As a leader in the payments space, and as with any nascent technology, Mastercard has a responsibility to set the precedent for exploring generative AI responsibly.  We developed an AI governance program and guidelines for our data scientists to minimize risks in AI and best serve our customers, invested in partnerships with key institutions like RIT In Dubai and Howard University, and actively encouraged our employees to safety test and learn. 

What technologies within AI and computing are you interested in?

The idea of being able to control a computer system and anything connected to it through programming has fascinated me since I was a teenager.

Today I’m looking at how AI, mixed reality, spatial computing, and web3 have unlocked an entirely new frontier in technology. We’re likely to see several key trends, such as the rapid increase in computational power, both at the edge and in the cloud, and the tokenization of assets to start to coalesce around some of these new computing paradigms.

For AI, the incredible advances born from generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) are also contributing to the transformative period we’re in.

Currently, Mastercard is engaging in test-and-learn with generative AI applications to enhance operational efficiency and improve data quality, aggregation, entity resolution, and categorization.

We’re also using ML for certain models that support our open banking solutions, such as credit scoring, financial management insights, account opening, and payments. It enables us to extract, identify, and classify data quickly and more efficiently than rules-based models alone.

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In the longer term, I’m paying close attention to both quantum computing and AGI. With quantum, I’m tracking developments in both hardware and software, to understand how these new devices will help us to solve ever more complex computational problems, and what use cases will arise in our industry. With AGI, at some stage, we may be looking at the prospect of human-like machines that can solve a wide range of complex tasks at scale. 

In the current analysis, it is reported the global quantum computing (QC) market will be at $900 million. How do you see QC disrupting the digital market in the next couple of years? 

At $900m, quantum computing is still a very small part of the overall computing market.

Over the next few years, we’ll see quantum computers – inclusive of quantum annealers – get progressively more performant, capable, and reliable.

Currently, our best guess is that the earliest use cases in banking and payments will most likely be in the optimization space, with other applications such as machine learning coming later.

Rather than a disruption, it’s more probable that we’ll see quantum technology adopted gradually, across industries and companies, as the technology continues to improve, becomes more usable, and its primary use cases become more evident. 

What steps can young technology professionals take to enhance their proficiency in collaborating effectively with Cloud, Automation, and AI-based tools? 

Nothing beats getting “hands-on-keyboard” experience using these technologies.  One of the amazing benefits that all young tech professionals have today is readily available online learning materials. There are tutorials on YouTube for just about every emerging technology imaginable, and through cloud computing, there’s also access to the resources required to explore those areas. Many cloud and tech companies also offer cheap or free trial accounts to help young developers learn their technologies at little or no cost.

On the Mastercard Developers platform, for example, you’ll find a quick start guide that will walk you through how to create a new project using Mastercard’s APIs, and gain access to the Sandbox environment. So, armed with nothing more than a laptop and an internet connection, people can get access to all the technology they could imagine, even quantum computers!

One of the tried and tested ways to build skills in these areas has been through the open-source community – whether it’s contributing to an existing project that you find interesting or relevant, or starting a personal project that scratches your own itch. 

What are your predictions for AI/ML and other smart technologies heading beyond 2024?

As machine and deep learning evolve, so too will their role within our sector. This past year has been about experimentation. In 2024, we expect generative AI to continue to gradually integrate into business operations and products.

Companies are currently focused on internal generative AI applications, like software development co-pilots, knowledge bots and operational efficiency drivers that are serving as testbeds and laying the groundwork for what’s to come. This phase is likely to continue throughout the year, as companies start building the foundations for implementation. As challenges like data privacy, information accuracy and bias are addressed, we anticipate that the range of use cases will expand to include more ambitious and public-facing deployments.

 

One of the most compelling use cases for generative AI in the financial services industry is in open banking. With the aid of fine-tuned LLMs, generative AI can enable the cleaning and categorization of data at a significantly higher through-put and with more accuracy than previously available.

In line with informed data consent protocols, generative AI could streamline personal financial management, for example, by acting as a personal wealth manager to create an encompassed view of an individual’s financial well-being, help formulate college savings plans, procure loans and implement financial strategies – empowering people to navigate their financial lives more adeptly.

Thank you, Steve! That was fun and we hope to see you back on AiThority.com soon.

• About Steve
• About Mastercard

About Steve

Steve is an IT professional with more than 25 years of industry experience in payments, government, and academia. He is currently responsible for leading Mastercard Foundry’s R&D initiatives in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum computing, 5G and Web3. In this role, Steve leads a team of talented data scientists, data engineers and software engineers to bring new products and services to market.

About Mastercard

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

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Papaya Global, the SaaS fintech company providing global payroll and payments technology, announced the launch of its latest offering, Papaya Global Payroll Payments — a fully automated, embedded payments platform that gives clients the ability to process global payroll and make mass payments to employees, authorities, benefits vendors, and other beneficiaries. Most payroll vendors do not manage the payments but outsource the process to third-party vendors that frequently are not equipped to handle payroll payments. Papaya now offers a singular payments platform specifically designed for payroll and worker-related expenditures that is fast, efficient and cost effective.

This first-of-its-kind product gives clients the ability to provide faster payments because Papaya owns money transfer licenses globally and built a solution designed for payroll payments. Other payment providers see the payment distribution as the main goal while Papaya knows that the time of receiving funds accurately is the goal — this is what payroll is required to do. With Papaya’s platform, payments arrive within 72 hours, which is an industry first.

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This payments solution offers the “last mile of the payroll process” to anyone. It can be connected seamlessly to Papaya’s payroll or linked within no time to any payroll provider to be used for any workforce payout need. The in-house transfer rails also provide payment accuracy and visibility. With other providers, any mismanagement of payroll can result in delays and fees that get transferred to employees. However, with Papaya’s payroll payment-focused infrastructure, employees always receive the full due transfer value.

Third-party payments providers require clients to work with customer service to resolve problems. With Papaya, clients have a monitoring team that can support on any issue, even after banks are closed, and has an employee guaranteed compensation plan for any failed or delayed payments that result from a technical error. Clients also have the freedom of funding in multiple currencies to pay out in 160 countries. This is all backed by JP Morgan, so clients’ money is always safe and under control.

“Papaya Payroll Payments is a game changer, full stop,” said Eynat Guez, co-founder and CEO of Papaya. “No other company is offering fully automated, embedded payments designed for payroll. We are the first payroll payments company in the industry to help its clients navigate the needs of the local employee and the global employer. We’re giving organizations with global workforces a true borderless solution for getting team members their payments quickly and accurately. No more manual processes, no more late or inaccurate payments, no fees reaching the employees. Managing a global workforce, especially payroll, is complex. Payroll payments are not just any payments, either — they are a super transaction that carry their own unique banking requirements. Most global payroll vendors outsource payments, typically to accounting firms that aren’t built for payroll and cannot offer liability, because the various geographies presented local challenges. The vendor pulls money from their client’s account, but there is a lack of visibility and planning. It works more like a lien than a wallet that a client can control. Our promise to our clients: employers now have full control in determining when their employee’s payments land.”

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Papaya’s platform simulates all payment transfers regularly to find the best route for delivery and the exact amount needed to complete the payment. It accounts for currency volatility as late in the process as possible. Clients also have full visibility and control of their account, with balances in multiple currencies provided in real-time, and the ability to track any payment at any stage of the process, monitoring the flow of funds end-to-end. With Payroll Payments, they can also mark payments as a salary, service, tax, or other designation, which helps how the money is screened by banks. And, with the money marked as “salary,” employees’ credit scores will not be affected.

Papaya’s Payroll Payments can help other entities in addition to Papaya’s clients, which are typically enterprise-size companies. The new platform can assist accounting firms and other industry partners with supporting customers’ needs that exist outside of their areas of expertise. And, it can help Papaya’s partners and other international companies with efficient global money movement.

Papaya’s acquisition of Azimo provided the necessary licenses to make cross-border payments. Partnerships with JP Morgan, Citibank and a few select others helped to build the banking rails of the platform, which gives it payment capability in-house. Papaya’s engineers then created an orchestrator that is distributable, flexible, scalable and asynchronous.

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Interos, the world’s leading AI technology and supply chain visibility company, announced the appointment of Evangelos Antypas as Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Evangelos will lead end-to-end commercial and business operations while executing strategies to unlock new growth opportunities across the vibrant supply chain visibility and operational resilience landscape.

Evangelos joins Interos from Fullsteam, a PE-backed payments technology company where he was Group President overseeing 15 portfolio companies. A skilled technology strategist and global business leader with 25+ years of experience in strategy, sales, marketing, finance, general management, IT and operations, Evangelos brings a proven record of navigating challenging market conditions and accelerating results through collaboration.

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“Evangelos brings a special blend of discipline and focus to high growth organizations like Interos that are accelerating their market leadership, industry impact, and technology placement, even in the midst of economic uncertainty,” says Interos CEO and Founder, Jennifer Bisceglie. “He’s the right leader at the right time to take on this critical role.”

Evangelos is deeply experienced in accelerating companies to the next stage of their evolution by focusing on profitable growth within a customer centric business model. He was a key leader at asTech, enabling the company’s rapid growth including driving global expansion in less than 3 years, while achieving record bottom line results.  He was also part of the team that took Solera Holding private at a $6.5 billion valuation.

“When you look at how critical supply chain visibility is to the world today and you complement that with the technology, insights and business model the Interos team has so artfully built, this is just an amazing time to be in this space. I look forward to working with this accomplished organization and advancing its mission and vision of de-risking the world’s supply chains, ensuring operational resilience, and creating long-term value for customers,” said Evangelos.

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Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (“Priority”), a leading payments technology company helping customers collect, store, and send money, has partnered with PAX Technology, Inc. (“PAX”), a leading global payment products provider.

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“We are excited to be working with one of the largest non-bank merchant acquirers in the U.S.”

The collaboration began when Priority asked PAX to develop, customize and certify their VTX payment app so that end users, including Priority’s partners, would be able to utilize the entire line of PAX’s Android products. PAX provides a diverse suite of Android products to fit the needs of merchants of all sizes, allowing Priority’s sales and distribution channels greater flexibility to meet their merchants’ varied requirements.

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Joseph Harrington, SVP of Sales and ISO Development said, “Our collaboration with PAX made perfect sense as PAX’s footprint in the U.S. continues to grow year over year, and our merchants are requesting PAX products to be one of the options available to them for purchase.”

Businesses are looking for solutions to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world through software solutions, point of sale, ecommerce, credit card acceptance, and more. The Priority & PAX partnership provides those solutions, paving the way for success.

“We are excited to be working with one of the largest non-bank merchant acquirers in the U.S.,” said Andy Chau, PAX’s President & CEO. “Priority’s customers will now be able to utilize our certified payment application that combines Priority’s current card acceptance offerings with the PAX’s terminal solutions.”

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Finix, the payments technology company for software platforms, announced that it has raised $30 Million in fresh capital, bringing the company’s total funding to $133M. Finix raised at an increased valuation despite the more challenging economic environment this year. New and existing investors, including The General Partnership (TheGP), Franklin Templeton, American Express Ventures, Acrew Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Cap Table Coalition, Homebrew, Insight Partners, Inspired Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Precursor Ventures, PSP Growth, Vamos Ventures, and more participated in the round.

Here’s what Dan Portillo, co-founder and managing partner at TheGP, had to say about his investment in Finix:

“The payments space is surprisingly young—only nine percent of payments are digital today. And if the last two years have taught us anything, businesses with modular and configurable payments technology are best equipped to benefit from commerce moving online. TheGP invested in Finix because we believe they are the only payments provider that offers software platforms the flexibility needed to succeed as they scale.”

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Here’s why Matt Harris, Finix board member and Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures, is doubling down:

“The next generation of fintech is all about businesses embedding financial services when and where their customers need them most. Finix is a leading example of the type of state-of-the-art payments infrastructure provider that makes this embedded experience possible. BCV is proud to continue to support its growth.”

Finix’s mission is to create the most accessible financial services ecosystem in history, starting with payments. Finix has shown tremendous growth and rapid product development over the past year, which CEO and co-founder, Richie Serna, outlined in a blog post: Reintroducing Finix: A PayFac for Platform Payments. Here’s a summary of what the company has accomplished recently:

• Became a registered payment facilitator to support software platforms of all sizes—from $0 to over $1B+ in total payments volume
• Expanded its suite of in-person payment devices and capabilities
• Launched many features that help software platforms manage payment operations while increasing revenue and decreasing costs
• Powered billions of dollars in total annual payments volume on its platform
• Doubled total annual payments volume from 2020 to 2021
• Grew to support over 12,000 active sub-merchants each month
• Handled billions of API calls with 99.999% uptime

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To put this in perspective, if you compared Finix to Nilson’s 2021 list of top US merchant acquirers, the company would rank in the top 50 based on total payments volume and merchant count.

Finix is dedicated to becoming the payments provider of choice for software platforms and is well on its way, with Q2 2022 being the company’s best quarter ever in terms of new deals closed. Over the next few months, Finix plans to announce more features to help software platforms better manage their payments and merchants.

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A new report launched by payments technology provider Tribe Payments reveals that two in five (40%) ecommerce businesses in Europe plan to open a physical store in the next three years. With governments across the continent backing initiatives to save and promote high streets, a reversal of fortunes for brick-and-mortar stores could be on the cards.

The move to open physical stores is being driven by a number of consumer and payment trends that merchants will need to adapt to in the next five years. The report, which surveyed bot online and multi-channel merchants across Germany, Lithuania, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK found that the majority of merchants believe there is an increased desire from shoppers for a better customer experience (84%), cross-border shopping (81%), to pay using multiple device types (80%) and for greater personalisation (79%).

To meet these demands, merchants recognise they must overcome some challenges. Overall, 50% of merchants say that they struggle to compete with larger chains who offer an innovative customer experience at the checkout. 46% of all merchants say regulatory compliance is a challenge, 46% struggle to navigate consumer trends such as BNPL, multicurrency and contactless. For 27% a challenge lies with reducing fraud, with these issues being more acute for ecommerce merchants.

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34% of merchants across Europe plan to overcome these challenges by offering consumers more ways to pay. Surprisingly, physical stores (13%) are leading the charge on payment methods with ecommerce (10%) players playing catch up. Just under a third of merchants expect to launch their own branded store cards, mobile apps and increase range of payment options to better compete. Expanding geographically is another tactic being considered (59%), mostly by British (88%) and Spanish (80%) brands.

“Reports of the high street’s death may be premature… or even just wrong,” said Alex Reddish Managing Director of Tribe Payments. “Merchants are responding to consumer demand and want to deliver a multi-channel, highly personalised shopping experience. This includes launching their own financial offerings via cards and embedded finance options. It’s up to acquirers and infrastructure partners to provide the technology and innovation to enable merchants to compete with their rivals, both online and in-store and keep up with consumer demand.”

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Main Street Alliance (MSA), the leading organization in small business advocacy, and TRNXN (Transaction) Company, one of the fastest growing payments technology organizations, have announced a joint initiative to help businesses across the country use modern point-of-sale technology to reduce costs and grow sales.

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“The amount of technology available to small businesses today is unparalleled” says Paul Hadfield, Founder & CEO of TRNXN Company. “The main issue we find is that most small organizations don’t have the time to source the best fit for their business, or how to use that technology in the most efficient and advantageous way. We believe that local businesses are the heart and soul of our communities and MSA shares in that passion. It’s an honor to join forces in our mutual mission”.

Since their founding in 2008, Main Street Alliance has become the true independent voice for small business. Through deep grassroots organizing and leadership development, producing independent research, and connecting small businesses to the resources they need to thrive, MSA is building an ecosystem to engage small businesses in work to create more equitable, inclusive, and just economies.

“We’re excited to expand our member services through a partnership with TRNXN,” said Chanda Causer, Executive Director of Main Street Alliance. “Point of sale systems are a central part of small business operations. We hope that our members will find this beneficial.”

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Through this partnership, members of Main Street Alliance will have access to:

1. Design, Implement and Support Custom Payments Solutions
TRNXN provides secure cloud-based systems that exceed the needs for retailers, restaurants and service businesses. In addition, the company developed a proprietary application that offsets the entirety of businesses credit card processing fees. This software pairs with the firm’s in-house merchant services platform.

2. Integrated Software Applications
A suite of growth tools seamlessly integrates with TRNXN systems, from commission-free branded ordering tools, QR code-based ordering and payments, pay-at-the-table technology, POS integrated scheduling and time clock, payroll integrations, sales tax automation, and more.

3. Additional Services
Website development to help small businesses keep a modern look online, as well as  catch-up and ongoing bookkeeping and accounting services are all provided to help further drive sales and track finances.

“After what was likely the most challenging two-year span to operate a small business, the tide is turning in the right direction,” says Paul Hadfield, Founder & CEO of TRNXN Company. “However, owners and operators of locally owned restaurant, retail, and service organizations face new challenges. To combat them, every dollar counts, and every minute matters. We’re thrilled to help consult with members of Main Street Alliance and connect every moving part of their businesses to simplify operations and reduce operational costs”.

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EQONEX Limited, a digital assets financial services company, and Bifinity UAB, a payments technology company that is part of Binance, took the next step in solidifying their strategic partnership with the appointment of  EQONEX’s new CEO and two new members to the EQONEX Board of Directors.

Jonathan Farnell, who previously served as Head of Binance UK and CEO of Bifinity, has been appointed as CEO of EQONEX and a director on the Board. Helen Hai, President of Bifinity, has also been appointed to the Board. Both appointments are effective immediately. The current interim CEO Andrew Eldon will revert back to his primary roles of Chief Operating Officer and interim Chief Marketing Officer.

Under the terms of the strategic partnership announced last week, Bifinity had the right to nominate key appointments, including the CEO and two new Board members. Bifinity will also nominate two additional senior leaders in the coming weeks.

As CEO, Jonathan will play an instrumental role in fast-tracking the collaboration between both businesses. The initial phase of this groundbreaking strategic partnership will put in place a framework for Bifinity to safeguard some of its client assets with EQONEX’s FCA registered custodian, Digivault, in compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements. Moving forward, Bifinity will develop ways to leverage the EQONEX Exchange as an alternative trading platform, deploy resources to strengthen the technology, and also explore opportunities to scale the asset management business.

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Jonathan is a respected finance and crypto industry leader and most recently held the roles of Head of Binance for the United Kingdom and CEO of Bifinity. With a strong compliance pedigree, Jonathan was involved in developing the company’s global regulatory license and registration roadmap, which was crucial for the official launch of Bifinity in early March 2022.  Prior to that, Jonathan was Director of Compliance and Board Member of eToro Money, an FCA-regulated payments firm.  He also headed operations and sat on the Board at eToroX, the Group’s crypto exchange and custody platform

Helen is President of Bifinity and holds various senior positions within the Binance organization including heading the NFT and fan token platforms and the Binance Charity Foundation.  Helen is a respected global leader and a United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Goodwill Ambassador. Helen founded the Made in Africa Initiative that advised African governments on industrialization and investments. She was also the Co-Founder of C&H Garments, which was a pioneer Pan-Africa export-oriented garments manufacturer. She is also a trained actuary with almost 20 years of experience working with FTSE100 companies.

Chi-Won Yoon, EQONEX Chairman said, “We are delighted to welcome Jonathan to the EQONEX management team and Helen to our Board. Their appointments mark the next critical step in developing the Bifinity and EQONEX strategic partnership. I look forward to working with them closely to optimize our businesses and fulfil our joint vision to become a bridge between the old world of traditional finance and cryptocurrencies.”

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Jonathan Farnell, CEO of EQONEX said, “EQONEX was one of the crypto industry’s pioneering firms, leading the sector towards greater regulatory compliance and governance as a listed company.  Now as we embark on this groundbreaking industry partnership, it’s particularly exciting to join EQONEX as it approaches such an important inflection point in its history.”

“We can already see the strengths and capabilities that we can harness between the two companies.  EQONEX has an outstanding regulatory and licensing track record and market-leading expertise at identifying opportunities for institutions, which is most clearly evident when looking at the Digivault business that continues to attract institutions and law enforcement agencies.  Coupled with its asset management business and exchange, the opportunity to create a full ecosystem by harnessing Bifinity’s technology, marketing clout and client base has the potential to be transformative for the industry.”

Jonathan added, “EQONEX and Bifinity share the same ethos and vision to help create safe and compliant cryptocurrency ecosystems for consumers and institutions across the world.  I’m looking forward to fostering true collaboration and productivity across both businesses across both teams.”

As part of these organizational changes, current board members Andrew Eldon, EQONEX Chief Operating Officer and interim Chief Marketing Officer, and Paul Ewing, EQONEX Chief Financial Officer will step down from the EQONEX Board, effective immediately.

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