Pay.UK appoints first CTO

Pay.UK, the operator of the UK’s national retail payment systems including Faster Payments, Bacs and Direct Debit, has appointed David Morris from Network International to the new role of chief technology officer (CTO).

2 comments

Pay.UK appoints first CTO

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Morris will be responsible for critical technology projects that underpin Pay.UK’s long-term strategy, including supporting the delivery of the New Payments Architecture that will replace the UK’s existing national infrastructure in the coming years. He will also play a role in leading Pay.UK’s internal IT and architecture teams, to strengthen the business’s core functions

His appointment comes after the UK's Payment Systems Regulator narrowed the scope for the delivery of NPA after finding "unacceptably high risks" that the procurement process for the NPA central infrastructures services contract would not provide value for money and could "delay or prevent the delivery of the benefits of the NPA". 

The watchdog determined that Pay.UK must, as a minimum, buy services needed to support single-push payments - which will allow most Faster Payments transactions to migrate to the NPA - and may buy additional services and system functionality only if the PSR does not object.

David Pitt, chief executive of Pay.UK, says: “We are at a crucial time in our evolution as a business and David’s sector and transformation knowledge, alongside his extensive IT and technology delivery experience, will be invaluable for us as we focus on delivering on our strategy.”

Morris brings over 20 years’ experience in digital delivery and transformational change within the financial services and payments sectors, most recently as CTO for Payments at Network International in Dubai, and formerly as the UK and mainland Europe CIO of Fleetcor and executive director for digital services at Visa Europe.

Sponsored [New Impact Study] Mastering the Transition to ISO 20022: Strategies for Compliance and Automated Testing in Financial Services

Related Company

Comments: (2)

Anthony Walton

Anthony Walton CEO at Iliad Solutions

Great appointment.

A Finextra member 

This is a good start, but the whole governance of Pay.UK, starting with the board needs a good overhaul to strengthen the organisation and improve its effectiveness.

It is 5+ years since FPS initiated project Devon to replace its infrastructure which is still in place with no replacement in sight. The NPA has proved to be a massive blocker to the modernisation of UK payments.

With a CTO to drive, hopefully we will see some progress, but stronger governance is needed in both Pay.UK and its regulators for the UK to re-establish its lead in payments.

[Webinar] Global Workforce Payments: Mastering a world of complexityFinextra Promoted[Webinar] Global Workforce Payments: Mastering a world of complexity