Jim Tate has been appointed Chair of payments disruptor, mx51.
After commencing his banking career in treasury functions of Bank of America in both Sydney and San Francisco, Jim led both Westpac’s New York (1992-1997) and London (1997-2000) branches before taking over Westpac’s finance company arm, AGC, and negotiating its successful sale to GE in 2002.
His appointment to mx51 builds on his other roles as Chair, Westpac Foundation, the bank’s philanthropic arm and regional accounting firm, Boyce Chartered Accountants as well as director positions on the boards of payments infrastructure provider, New Payments Platform Australia (NPPA) and Ausiex Pty Limited, the equity trading settlement provider.
The appointment sees Tate increase his involvement with mx51 after becoming a director in June 2021.
“To have an executive as experienced as Jim join our company as Chair is a substantial milestone for our company,” mx51 CEO and co-founder Victor Zheng said.
“Jim’s experience and advice will be instrumental as mx51 partners with more banks across Australia and then turns its focus towards global growth.”
“Jim is well connected and highly respected across the financial services in Australia. Jim’s involvement in mx51 is timely as mx51 seeks to help banks to combat disruptors such as Square-Afterpay.”
Tate said: “There has rarely been a more significant time in payments globally, let alone locally. The technology and capital being directed into the fundamental need of transferring money safely between consumers, businesses and institutions is evidence of its importance to the banking system and all participants. mx51’s proposition is unique and focused on the core needs of merchants at bank-grade quality.”
The news follows mx51 raising $25 million in May 2021, in a round led by Acorn Capital, Artesian, Commencer Capital and Mastercard.
Banks and acquirers leverage mx51’s technology to offer a white-label robust and secure payment platform for merchants that competes with solutions such as Stripe, Tyro and Square.
This helps these companies maintain the key relationship with their business customers on which businesses can build additional value services.
Since launching last year, in partnership with Westpac, mx51 has processed over $1 billion in transactions and expects that figure to grow to $10 billion over the next 12 months.
Jim Tate joins other new board directors - Jeff Law, Fund Manager from Commencer Capital, Richard Wormald, Mastercard Division President for Australasia, and James Douglas, Venture Partner at Acorn Capital and former head of investment banking for Citibank, UBS and Merrill Lynch.