Paymentology is the leading global issuer-processor, giving banks, fintechs and telcos the technology, team and experience to issue and process any kind of physical or digital card anywhere in the world, rapidly and at scale.
With clients living in more than 50 countries, and its workforce of payments experts working in 60 countries across the globe, the very nature of diversity and inclusion is embedded into the company’s DNA. This International Women’s Day, Paymentology is shining a spotlight on some of its female leaders by exploring their views on why it’s important that more women are hired for leadership roles in the fintech industry, how it impacts businesses and where they get their inspiration.
Why do you think it’s important that more women are hired in the Fintech industry?
“It helps drive the change in landscape for women in fintech by opening opportunities for women that may have traditionally been biased towards men. It makes business sense too, a great study by Deloitte proves placing women in leadership positions drives innovation, increases productivity, and boosts profitability. It’s a domino effect; more women hired increases diversity (but is not the only way to increase diversity) within teams, which then become environments where creativity and innovation can flourish ultimately resulting in better business decisions and higher quality execution.”
Genevieve Mattheus, Head of Implementations
“From an internal point of view, it’s important that we strive for a diversity of thinking within business; that is one of the key ways to ensure that we make good decisions and can execute them well. One of the ways to create diversity (but by no means the only way) is through gender diversity – a predominantly male team risks excluding a raft of different perspectives. It’s more than that though, if we want to attract more women to fintech, and we do in order to grow them into leadership positions, then it’s important that women have role models to show them that leadership roles are possible within their company.”
Angy Watson, Chief Operations Officer
“Breaking barriers and forcing people to change their perspective of the industry and how and who effects change has always been important to me. Women in the fintech industry bring fresh perspectives; if end-users are women, we need their input across all facets of financial services, otherwise we run the risk of providing financial services that have only been designed and delivered by men, for men. It’s also well documented, that women hire more diverse teams which broadens the thinking of a company and helps to challenge legacy thought processes.”
Merusha Naidu, Global Head of Scheme Partnerships
How do you think having more senior women at board level impacts how a business operates?
“More equal and inclusive representation at board level – based on merit and value that can be brought to the table by representatives and not just for bringing in representation to make the board look more diverse – filters down and sets an example within an organisation and the broader fintech industry. In turn, this improves organisational health, employee performance, and helps instil a positive company culture.”
Genevieve Mattheus, Paymentology’s Head of Implementations
“I would be cautious about quotas – where companies feel the need to force “equal representation” for the sake of it. I would not want to be the most recent female hire onto that board, lest I felt that I was fulfilling that mandate. I think it is preferable to think of having strong women on a board that contribute to the direction and operation of a business. Yes, that makes a huge difference, not only to the business decisions but to the other board members. But that wouldn’t be true of all women – there are some women that operate with more masculine traits than some men. I think it is the balance that some women bring that we need both for the business decisions, and interpersonally among board members.”
Angy Watson, Chief Operations Officer
“We live in a diverse multi-cultural society, we cannot service all customers without fair representation. Many studies show that companies with a more diverse gender balance have a higher ROI.”
Merusha Naidu, Global Head of Scheme Partnerships
What inspires you and how do you motivate others?
“I have been fortunate enough to work with some fantastic mentors over the course of my career, which have inspired me to grow, to be collaborative, to recognise that women can succeed in any workplace, and in so doing cultivated my confidence. These are core values I ensure I pass on to others, while promoting diversity in all forms in the workplace, and most importantly to make sure we get things done while having fun!”
Genevieve Mattheus, Paymentology’s Head of Implementations
“I look for inspiration in many different places all the time. I study a lot, so I take my inspiration from theories of philosophy and psychology, as well as from the guidance of experienced people around me and will often seek their insight and advice. An important factor in motivating people is to remain transparent, people need to feel that they have access to information, and that their leaders are not keeping them in the dark.”
Angy Watson, Chief Operations Officer
“As a manager my success is closely tied to the success of my team, and my mentees, sharing knowledge and being a beacon to someone else is something I greatly enjoy. I always make sure to push my teams to learn more, to broaden their thinking and to never let anyone’s voice be dismissed.”
Merusha Naidu, Global Head of Scheme Partnerships
