Board · NED · Advisory
Payments non-executive director and board advisor.
Independent challenge on payment economics, supplier exposure, control design and regulatory posture, from someone who has owned those functions at group level for listed and private businesses. NED at an EU-licensed crypto exchange, 2019 to 2025.
When a board needs this seat
- Payments and risk are material to the business and nobody on the board has run them.
- Investors, regulators or a sponsor bank expect independent challenge on controls.
- Management is strong but needs a sounding board who has seen the next stage.
- A licence application, scheme membership or acquisition puts payments risk on the board agenda.
What I bring to the table
- Independent challenge on supplier exposure, scheme and regulatory posture, fraud and chargeback trends, and the economics behind the revenue line.
- Plain-language reporting: exposure, control, residual risk, trend.
- A network across acquirers, PSPs, schemes and regulators in most markets.
- Board experience in a regulated digital-asset business.
How it works
- Board or committee membership, including chairing a risk and compliance committee.
- Or an advisory retainer: monthly working session plus asynchronous access.
- Typically one to two days a month.
- Clear conflict, confidentiality and independence terms from day one.
The questions I ask
What a board should hear from payments every quarter.
Which three suppliers could stop us processing tomorrow, and what is the fallback. Where are we against each scheme threshold, by acquirer, and which way is the trend moving. What did we pay to accept a payment last quarter versus the quarter before, and why. Which regulator, scheme or bank asked us a question we could not answer the same day. What changed in fraud, and what did we change in response. If the executive team cannot answer these in a page, that is the first thing I fix.
Board-level ground covered
- Payment economics and supplier concentration
- Scheme programmes and acquirer relationships
- Fraud, chargeback and AML control design
- Licensing strategy and regulatory relationships
- Platform and vendor risk
- M&A payments and risk due diligence
- Executive hiring for payments, risk and compliance
Questions people ask
Payments NED FAQ
What does a payments non-executive director add to a board?
Independent challenge on the things that can end a payments business: supplier concentration, scheme and regulatory exposure, fraud and chargeback trends, control design and the economics behind the revenue line. Most boards have finance, legal and technology experience. Few have someone who has run payments and risk at group level.
How much time does a NED or board advisory role take?
Typically one to two days a month: board and committee meetings, reading, and a working session with the executive who owns payments or risk. Advisory retainers add asynchronous access between meetings.
Do you sit on risk or audit committees?
Yes, and I can chair a risk and compliance committee where the board wants independent oversight of payments and financial crime controls.
What sectors do you take board roles in?
PSPs, acquirers and gateways, high-volume online merchants including gaming and trading, and crypto and digital-asset businesses with regulated payment flows.
Looking for a payments voice on the board?
A conversation with the chair or the CEO is the right first step.