Mr Wilson has more than 30 years’ experience in a number of global institutions, both in financial services and technology.
Verrency provides a platform that sits on top of a bank’s, processor’s or superapp’s existing infrastructure, allowing institutions to connect to connect to additional services without changing their existing technology or migrating portfolios.
Speaking on his appointment, Mr Wilson said he had been aware of Verrency because it addressed a “significant underlying banking industry problem,” the challenge of connecting and building consumer and small business value-added services without migrating away from legacy payment systems.
“Over the past five years there has been a dramatic powershift in payments with traditional banks now competing with global technology companies and home-grown disruptors. Because of this, every bank in the world is focused on payments-related innovation,” he said.
“I have been impressed by the elegance of the Verrency platform and underlying architecture, its rapid growth in global markets, its focus on security, its robust FinTech partnerships arm and the calibre of its team.
“They have several high-calibre clients already, and I am thrilled to join the company as it gains scale and helps traditional banks tackle the most critical of customer touchpoint, payments.”
Prior to joining Westpac, Mr Wilson worked with SAP in a global banking role with a special focus on core banking, payments and digital.
Before that he ran a fintech start-up backed by Swiss Re and McKinsey, working to support innovation in digital credit management and securitisation. Prior to this, Robert spent 11 years working in Europe, Asia and the US with ABN AMRO Bank.
David Link, Verrency founder and chief executive commented: “Having recently been part of the senior executive team at Westpac, Robert is acutely aware of the challenges that banks large and small face in innovating at scale while still leveraging their legacy payment systems, and will be an important conduit to Verrency’s prospective customers.
“He is also deeply passionate about delivering innovation not in a disrupting, but enabling manner, which is a passion we equally share.”
Verrency has recently announced agreements with a number of major financial institutions around the world, including UAE-based Emirates NBD, Colombia’s Banco Davivienda and Australia's Volt Bank.