The move sees Reynolds rejoin WorldPay founder Nick Ogden, with whom he worked at the firm from 1998 to 2002 before its sale to RBS.

After selling WorldPay, Ogden set up Voice Commerce, which offers a voice-verified authentication system for mobile and Internet payments, in 2007.

In November it emerged that he has been in talks with private equity groups about buying back the WorldPay franchise from RBS, which is being forced to dispose of the asset as a consequence of state-backed bail out support.

The Voice Commerce business has also recently received authorisation from the FSA to establish as a Payment Institution under the European Payment Services Directive (PSD).

The firm says the appointment of Reynolds, who was head of global merchant services design at RBS WorldPay, marks the expansion of its payment and identification and verification services, as it "looks to capitalise on new opportunities in the payments industry".

Says Reynolds: "Voice Commerce is now in the unique position to take advantage of the prospects for Payments Institutions as a result of the PSD coming into force in November 2009 and I look forward to helping it reach the next level of growth and maturity in introducing new and innovative technologies to the market."