Visa Europe has appointed Apollo Group's Nicolas Huss as its next president and CEO, replacing Peter Ayliffe.
A 20 year financial services veteran, Huss is currently chief executive of Apollo Group's Avant credit card business in Spain and Ireland. Previously, he worked for Bank of America as the MBNA European collections and portfolio optimisation executive for the card business, and was CEO for Spain at GE Money.
Huss will take on the new role at the beginning of October, when Ayliffe steps down after seven years in the job to "concentrate on his expanding portfolio of non-executive roles".
The new man arrives as Visa cashes in on the rise of electronic payments, thanks to online and mobile channels, at the expense of notes and coins. But he also faces competition from new entrants in the payments market bidding to bypass the card schemes as well as a regulatory assault on lucrative interchange fees.
"I am delighted to be joining Visa Europe at such an incredibly exciting time for the payments industry. The explosive adoption of smartphones and the relentless growth of e-commerce have created tremendous new opportunities to provide consumers and retailers with even better ways to pay and be paid," says Huss.