Judging panel 2024

Jonathan Easton, Editor, FStech, Retail Systems and National Technology News

Simon Burrows, Payments Consultant and Director of Semper Advisory Limited
Robert Courtneidge, Independent Consultant
Alessandro Hatami, Managing Partner, Pacemakers.io
Saira Khan, Head of Innovation and Partnerships, First Direct Bank (HSBC)
Mark McMurtrie, Director, Payments Consultancy Ltd
Yusuf Ozdalga, Partner, Head of UK and Europe, QED Investor
David Parker, Chief Executive, Polymath Consulting
John Schratz, Managing Director, Eclipse Enterprise Consulting
Anu Widyalankara, Director, Payments Strategy & Technology, EY

Simon Burrows, Payments Consultant and Director of Semper Advisory Limited
Simon is an experienced Payments consultant and Director of Semper Advisory Limited, advising a range of large and small payments companies on numerous aspects of payments, particularly around technology, M&A and regulatory requirements.

Robert Courtneidge, Independent Consultant
Robert is a respected industry expert with a distinguished career in the card and payments industry. He has deep expertise in digital assets and e-money, and is highly skilled in all aspects of consumer finance issues, including banking regulation and compliance, consumer protection and AML/CTF. He was regularly named a key player in the Payments Power 10 (including #1 in 2015), a highly competitive ranking of the influential contributors in payments. Previously, Robert achieved success as a senior legal professional specialising in matters relating to cards and payments. He regularly speaks on issues facing the European Payments’ Industry including laws relating to Electronic Money, Payment Services, AML/CTF, Digital Assets and CBDCs.

Alessandro Hatami, Managing Partner, Pacemakers.io
Alessandro Hatami is the managing partner of Pacemakers.io, specialising in digital transformation in finance. Previously he was the COO of Digital Banking at Lloyds Banking Group and has held several senior roles at PayPal, Paypoint and GE Capital. He is the co-author of “Reinventing Banking and Finance” rated Best Book on Banking of 2021 by Investopedia. He is an NED, an investor in tech startups and a frequent speaker at Fintech events across the globe. ● Twitter: @ahatami ● Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/aehatami/ ● Medium: https://medium.com/@a_hatami ● Web: www.pacemakers.io

Saira Khan, Head of Innovation and Partnerships, First Direct Bank (HSBC)
Saira Khan is the Head of Innovation and Partnerships for First Direct Bank(HSBC), was recognised in Innovate Finance ‘Women in FinTech Powerlist 2023’. Having led the creation of innovation teams and centres in the United Kingdom, Asia, and the United States, while building and testing data management and open banking through global hackathons, she has developed a unique vision and reputation for being a catalyst for transformation around the world on leading deliveries with commercial impact. She is known as a key connector and championing moves towards a digital-first culture, enabling greater collaboration and connectivity between startups and corporations with proven results. While her passion and advocacy for change sets her apart from her peers in the finance sector, it is her work mentoring and supporting global talent in Africa, Asia, and the United States that drives Saira as she focuses and champions efforts around diversity, inclusion, education, and sustainability.

Mark McMurtrie, Director, Payments Consultancy Ltd
Mark McMurtrie is an award-winning Independent Consultant who focuses on Payments and FinTech. He advises retailers, payment service providers, acquirers, technology companies, financial services companies and investors. For the last 12 years he has been providing a range of advisory services focusing on market assessments, strategy development, supplier selection and commercial due diligence. He has worked with many of the world’s leading companies including the largest retailers, eCommerce merchants, PSPs, retail banks, merchant acquirers, payment schemes and merchant service providers. His payments experience is broad and covers mobile, face-to face, ecommerce, Omni-channel, realtime payments and Open Banking. Mark is a regular industry commentator, conference chairman, speaker and awards judge. He is proud to be an Ambassador for The Payments Association.

Yusuf Ozdalga, Partner, Head of UK and Europe, QED Investor
Ozdalga joined QED in 2017, and his career has spanned roles as an operator, advisor, entrepreneur and investor. His current portfolio of investments include Wagestream, GetGround, Wayflyer, Fidel API and Weavr. He started his professional investing career in 2006 funding speciality finance and consumer credit companies in Europe, including early fintech plays such as some of the first online loan originators in Sweden. Prior to joining QED, Ozdalga was an Investment Director with a growth fund helping emerging companies and entrepreneurs build lasting consumer franchises by leveraging the power of data analytics.

David Parker, Chief Executive, Polymath Consulting
David is the founder and chief executive of Polymath Consulting, who work on projects and advises organisations across the cards and payments industry. He is also an active mentor, non-executive director and advisor to boards including: – KYP, Payoma Ireland, Swiipr, Hands In and WAC along with others. In consultancy he has worked across the complete value chain, helping banks with their overall e-money/prepaid and emerging payments strategy, right through to market entry analysis, as well as working with processors and programme managers on segment analysis, certification and membership applications. He has co-founded several companies including KYP that provides a real time risk orchestration monitoring platform and has been heavily involved in open banking.

John Schratz, Managing Director, Eclipse Enterprise Consulting
John is the founder and Managing Director of Eclipse Enterprise Consulting, a specialist payments consultancy practice providing strategic, interim management, consultancy and advisory support to companies engaged in banking, consumer lending and card payments. As a leading professional in the card and payments sectors, John brings a unique blend of technical expertise, industry knowledge, product innovation and international experience. A financial services practitioner with over 25 years of experience, he has worked with some of the world’s leading financial institutions, as well as established Fintech and start-ups, where he has gained an in-depth understanding of the complexities in delivering change initiatives across large-scale business, operational and regulated environments. John has recently joined the Board of Fast Track Money Transfer where he serves as Chief Risk Officer supporting the launch of its international payments business, Simple Transfer. He has also held non-executive positions with Visa and MasterCard in the UK, as well as advisory roles with start-ups, including Jaja Finance, where he supported the successful bid for the Bank of Ireland and Post office credit card back-book.

Dr. Ruth Wandhöfer, Independent non-executive director
Dr. Ruth Wandhöfer’s career spans more than 20 years in financial services, covering regulatory and policy, innovation and strategy in payments, banking and investment. She is currently an independent non-executive director (iNED) with Permanent TSB Bank, Gresham Technologies, Aquis Exchange Group and RTGS.global. She is the Chair of the UK Payment Systems Regulator Panel, strategic adviser to the European Third-Party Payment Provider Association (ETPPA), a Partner at Gauss Ventures and part- time Advisor Banking and Regulation at GC Partners, an FX firm. She also advises the British Standards Institute and the City of London Corporation in the context of innovation and growth.
She is well known in the banking industry and with regulators for her leadership and ability to build consensus across diverse stakeholder groups. Ruth unites an in-depth knowledge of the business, technology and the regulatory landscape with her strong relationships with regulators, central banks, governments, public sector and supranational institutions, financial market infrastructures, banks and corporates and FinTechs around the world. Over the last 8 years she has been deeply engaged in the topic of innovation in the FinTech and RegTech space and how this transforms the business model of financial market infrastructures and financial institutions.

Anu Widyalankara, Director, Payments Strategy & Technology, EY
Anu is a Payments Strategy and Technology Lead in the UK Payments Practice at EY. She has over 16 years of experience in Financial Services, leading and delivering strategy. M&A integration, complex transformation and new payments product development to financial services and cross-sector payments clients, focusing on both domestic & global payments. With a focus on designing and delivering payments innovation and payments strategy, Anu supports CTO’s and CIO’s through technology transformation and target architecture implementation. She specialises in key payments innovations and infrastructure such as real-time payments, ISO20022, SWIFT gpi, RTGS, open Banking, UK New Payment