Hi Jairo, welcome to our Fintech interview Series. Please tell us about your fintech journey so far.
I began my career in payments with Mastercard, which allowed me to create how the products could reach underserved populations around the world while helping me realize my passion for financial inclusion, financial education and disruption. Afterwards, I moved to pensions, which allowed me to work on making financial products easy to understand for larger communities. Those experiences have led me to Paysend, which is where I am at now, where I can help disrupt the industry with our innovative payment solutions.
Today, 70% of LatAm’s population remains unbanked or underbanked. How Paysend is empowering unbanked communities in Latin America?
Some of the daily challenges faced by the unbanked population in LATAM are in big part due to the lack of access to financial services. This gap in accessibility has resulted in millions of people becoming heavily reliant on the remittances they receive from their loved ones abroad to be able to cover basic necessities like housing and food.
At Paysend we are committed to making a difference in the region which is why we introduced Paysend Libre, a true alternative for people to receive their remittances that will allow unbanked customers in Guatemala (and later other countries in LATAM) to receive remittances from the U.S. instantly to a Paysend virtual Mastercard digital card. The virtual card is ready to use in minutes, allowing millions of people to have access to their money safely, simply, instantly and at a lower cost, giving them a true alternative to receive money from their loved ones and get them started on their financial journey.
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Given the current macroeconomic conditions, transferring funds play an even more important role. What are your strategies? Are you planning for some more expansion/partnerships for the next couple of years?
One of our main focus is to ensure that our product remains simple, secure and low cost.
We know we can’t do it alone, which is why in the next couple of weeks we will be announcing major partnerships that will enable us to continue to deliver on our commitment to provide simple, fast and cost effective transfers to both people who support their loved ones and soon to business that need a complete solution for the cross border payment needs.
Paysend Libre solution powered by Mastercard Send technology was launched last year. How are such digital cards creating a revolution?
- Only 55% of Latin American adults on average have an account at a financial institution, leaving nearly half of the population unbanked.
- Digital wallets continuously help the unbanked population in Latin America access an alternative to traditional financial systems.
- Paysend Libre, is a true alternative for people in Latin America to receive their remittances fast, secure and conveniently, allowing them to also begin their financial journey free of the traditional challenges they face on a daily basis.
What’s your smartest work related shortcut or productivity hack?
For me, one of the key productivity hacks is to stay focused. At Paysend we are customer centric and we focus on delighting our customers in everything we do. From our app, to our website, to customer service, everything is done with our customers in mind.
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Could you tell us about any one of your online next-generation integrated global payment financial products which you think as the best for your clients?
Paysend’s Business Payments solution. After a successful launch in the UK, our B2B solution is coming to the US next month.
Paysend business is an innovative payments platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to create online business bank accounts, providing a fast, simple, and reliable way for businesses to send and receive cross-border payments.
Paysend Business makes it easy for SMEs to manage their finances across borders, allowing businesses to receive, spend, and exchange money in over 30 currencies, without worrying about hidden fees or complicated exchange rates.
In 2023, regulatory scrutiny and product innovation will broaden consumer payment choice, intensifying competition among providers. What are your comments?
With these regulatory changes and innovation in the industry, companies will need to deliver on their value proposition and build differentiators for their products, similar to what we have done with Paysend Libre.
This means staying agile, making quick and strategic decisions, getting the right people on board, while focusing on testing instead of guessing on consumer preferences to get everyone on the same page.
Global funding for payments startups fell 49% last year, what cautious approach needs to be taken care of?
Maintain discipline in the execution expenses.
Your predictions for the payment industry for 2030?
In the next decade we will continue the acceleration of innovation in the Payments industry that will reshape what we are experiencing in the industry today.
Starting with the reimagination of money to include assets beyond the traditional ones like cryptocurrencies, data and digital goods, consumers are seeking intelligent experiences to deliver very personalized journeys to customers based on their unique qualities. This means that the ability to allow customers to connect assets from digital, physical or virtual in a connected finance environment will become increasingly important. I also believe that borderless rails that will break through the current barriers that limit the way money is exchanged today.
Also Read: Global Fintech Interview with Manan Vora, SVP of Strategy & Business Operation at Liminal
Tag (mention/write about) the one person in the tech industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read!
Michael Miebach, the CEO of Mastercard.
Thank you, Jairo! That was fun and we hope to see you back on globalfintechseries.com soon.
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]
Jairo is the Managing Director for the Americas and Global Head of Strategy at Paysend, a global Fintech company born in 2017, based in the UK and regulated by the FCA, servicing over 7 million customers in 60+ countries.
Paysend is a next-generation integrated global payment ecosystem, enabling consumers and businesses to pay and send money online anywhere, anyhow and in any currency. Paysend is UK-based and has global reach having been created in April 2017 with the clear mission to change how money is moved around the world. Paysend currently supports cross-network operability globally across Mastercard, Visa, China UnionPay and local ACH and payment schemes, providing over 40 payment methods for online SMEs.
Paysend can send money to over 100 countries worldwide. As a global end-to-end payment platform, Paysend has its own global network of banks and international and local payment systems and has partnerships with the major international card networks Visa, Mastercard and China Union Pay as a principal member and certified processor.
