NB: What was your background before joining IFX Payments?
RM: My career in payments began over a decade ago, when I joined global payments processing provider, Worldpay. Starting in a business associate type of role, I rotated through different teams and departments to support with short term needs, ultimately landing a role in the financial operations team.
Here I learnt more about the challenges of the payment's ecosystem including acquiring, settlement, reconciliation and sending payments internationally. This is where my passion for payments started, and I began to pursue product focused roles at Thomas Cook and IFX Payments.
NB: Do you feel that male dominance in financial services and fintech is easing?
RM: Yes, it is easing and I've been fortunate enough to have always worked in businesses that value diversity and inclusion. Something that influenced my career path early on was a book I read by Sheryl Sandberg called ‘Lean In'. This focuses on helping women achieve their professional ambitions by navigating internal barriers like self-doubt, fear of judgment, and the tendency to underestimate their own potential - and encourages them to lean into opportunities rather than stepping back. Sheryl's inspirational messages definitely gave me more confidence during times where I was the only woman in the room.
In contrast, I was recently in a meeting with a bank where everyone on the call was a woman. It certainly gave me pause to reflect how much the payments industry has progressed and evolved to be more inclusive.
Of course, imbalances still exist in the industry. I particularly notice it when working with external suppliers and traditional institutions but there are signs of progress in many organisations. Perhaps there is still work to be done across the entire payments supply chain to ensure things are more balanced.
NB: What was your top priority when you joined IFX Payments and how has the business evolved?
RM: During my time at IFX Payments I've seen the business go through pivotal changes. When I joined the company in 2019, we were operating as a nimble startup working out of a WeWork. Teams were grassroots and collaborative, consisting of one person doing many jobs with limited resources. For example, the marketing team consisted of myself, our CEO and one of the sales team. We would meet every Thursday and work together to generate the content for our LinkedIn channel. It perhaps wasn't ideal but this way of working, and cross-functionality definitely enabled us to scale as a business.
A key focus and a turning point in my career was getting ibanq off the ground. This is our all-in-one platform enabling businesses to send, receive and manage multi-currency funds with ease.
Up to this point I saw first-hand the difficulties of sending and receiving cross border payments and having multiple accounts that need reconciling endlessly, in a previous role. There wasn't a product at that time that addressed the reconciliation issue, so common for institutions managing complex funds or payment operations, along with providing a broad international payments and FX solution.
The platform was already in development when I started at IFX Payments however, it needed refining prior to launching to the market. Helping to enhance the platform and launch it was a proud moment for me.
ibanq has made a monumental impact to the business. Since its launch, IFX Payments has evolved from a brokerage business to an alternative banking partner offering cross-border payments and solutions.
Now the business has scaled to over 200 people worldwide and we have a clear value and purpose North Star around ‘Winning Properly' and everyone is extremely well aligned to that. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) along with cross-functional team collaboration have generated an operating rhythm that balances innovation with execution.
IFX Payments emphasises high performance, teamwork, and a commitment to delivering excellent service. This involves consistently exceeding industry standards without cutting corners and prioritising customer needs. It also means taking individual responsibility, fostering collaboration, and striving for continuous improvement. Having a shared purpose helps us to maintain the same levels of energy when working with customers that reflect our values, rather than pulling in different directions.
NB: What do you see as the key challenges to product development and innovation over the next 5 years?
RM: Key challenges will revolve around removing friction in the payments experience and further embedding payments into the customer's journey. The ability to send and receive payments across all industries is a top priority. Ultimately, I think the goal of product development and innovation will be around making payments invisible, intelligent and interoperable.
In 2025, payments will feel the growing influence of AI and machine learning - and intelligent payments. Europe alone is expected to see over $200 billion in AI investment, according to Goldman Sachs - a sign that the technology's potential is still largely untapped. Beyond the hype, AI is already proving its value: detecting fraud in real time, reducing risk, and easing the burden of compliance by automating regulatory checks. We'll see fraud intensify in the years to come and at IFX Payments we are leveraging the latest technologies to ensure we are taking the appropriate steps to stay on top of it.
With an expanding variety of payment methods including blockchain-based infrastructure, innovation will focus on making the ecosystem of the future interoperable. To put it simply, the ability for different systems to integrate with each other to better serve customers around the world without disruption.
Meanwhile, SME customers need to have access to a payments infrastructure that is not only innovative but inclusive. With a continually evolving regulatory environment and changes in the risk appetite of banks, the industry needs to ensure that SMEs are safeguarded against becoming unbanked to mitigate the risk of disruption to business continuity.
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