Ingenico adds four executives after EUR 150 million capital reset. Wednesday, 02/09/2026 | 02:28 GMT-7 by Damian Chmiel * The new leaders come from Mastercard, NCR Atleos, Xplor Technologies and Sitecore. * The PIMCO-led transaction will convert some debt into equity and remove Apollo from the ownership structure. Ingenico appointed four executives to lead product, technology, revenue and customer operations today (Wednesday). The appointments follow a EUR 150 million (about $174 million) capital reset led by PIMCO. The hires put outside executives in charge of the functions that will decide how Ingenico spends the new money and develops its payment terminals and cloud services. Maria Parpou joined as chief product officer, Paul Gardiner as chief technology officer, Ieuan Owen as chief revenue officer and Oliver Moore as chief customer excellence officer, according to Ingenico's announcement. Mastercard executive takes product role. Parpou previously led Mastercard's global gateway operation, which serves more than 200 acquiring banks, Ingenico said. Her earlier employers include Paysafe and Barclays. As product chief, she will set the company's development roadmap. Gardiner will run its engineering teams and technology plans after serving as chief information technology officer at NCR Atleos. Gardiner worked on NCR Atleos' separation from NCR and the modernization of its service operations platforms, according to Ingenico. He has more than 25 years of experience in software engineering, payments infrastructure and technology change. Chief Executive Officer Floris de Kort said the four hires "strengthen every critical capability we need to deliver on our strategy." Revenue and customer operations get new chiefs. Owen will oversee Ingenico's global commercial organization. He most recently served as chief revenue officer and executive director of Xplor Technologies' Fitness & Wellbeing business and previously held roles at Worldpay. Moore will lead customer support and the broader customer experience. He most recently ran Sitecore's global customer support and operations organization, following earlier positions at Colt Technology Services and Deltek. The company did not disclose when the four executives started, where they will be based or whether they replaced departing leaders. It also did not publish compensation details. PIMCO deal changes Ingenico's ownership. Ingenico announced the capital agreement on August 17. The company said the money would support product development and customer operations, but its statement did not explain the transaction's debt or ownership mechanics. AFP reported that part of Ingenico's debt will convert into equity, giving the affected creditors stakes in the company. Apollo, which has owned Ingenico since 2022, will exit the ownership structure. Latham & Watkins said it advised Ingenico on the recapitalization. Neither Ingenico nor the law firm identified the other investors in the PIMCO-led group or provided a closing date. The ownership change follows a short period under Apollo. Worldline entered talks to sell its Terminals, Solutions & Services division to Apollo in February 2022 in a deal valued at about EUR 2.3 billion at the time. Worldline bought Ingenico in 2020. FinanceMagnates.com reported on the Ingenico integration and the planned disposal during Worldline's first-half results in July 2022. Terminals and cloud platform share the budget. Ingenico continues to invest in its AXIUM family of Android payment devices. Ingenico 360, its cloud platform, combines device management, transaction services, applications and analytics. Its Developer Journey gives partners and independent software vendors tools to build and certify payment applications. Ingenico says it employs more than 3,000 people across 32 countries. It reports that tens of millions of its devices are deployed in more than 120 countries and support over 2,500 applications. The product range places Ingenico between physical checkout hardware and the software used to manage it. In 2024, Ingenico supplied technology for Mastercard's biometric checkout pilot in Uruguay. Its work in payment acceptance predates the current cloud push. Ingenico integrated BitPay with its point-of-sale terminals in 2015. Merchants using its Telium system could then accept Bitcoin payments. Damian Chmiel is a Senior Analyst & Editor at Finance Magnates with more than 15 years of experience in the CFD and online trading industry. Active as both a trader and journalist since 2010, he focuses on broker coverage, fintech innovation, and regulatory developments across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. His work includes interviews with C-level leaders at major brokerages and fintech platforms, as well as co-authoring Finance Magnates' quarterly industry benchmarking reports. Damian's reporting is data-driven, market-aware, and grounded in direct industry engagement. His analysis and commentary have also been cited by external media outlets, including Investing.com, Binance, The Asset, Stockhead, and Dispatch. Education: MA in Finance and Accounting, Cracow University of Economics * 3917 Articles * 116 Followers

India preparing framework to allow AI agents make small UPI payments without approval. 1 September 2026 2:41 AM UPI is the world's largest retail fast-payment system by transaction volume, according to a 2025 IMF report. Mumbai: India is preparing a framework that would let AI agents make small digital payments without approval for every transaction, three sources familiar with the matter said, potentially making UPI one of the world's largest networks with agentic payments. While leading payment companies have launched such frameworks in the U.S., Europe, Singapore and Australia, a rollout on the popular Unified Payments Interface would also put India among the first countries to have a national infrastructure for agentic AI payments. UPI, operated by the National Payments Corporation of India, is the world's largest retail fast-payment system by transaction volume, according to a 2025 IMF report. It processed 24.51 billion transactions worth 29.82 trillion Indian rupees ($314.21 billion) in August, with Google Pay and Walmart's PhonePe accounting for around three-fourths of monthly transaction volumes. The Unified Agent Protocol is likely to be unveiled next week at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the details are private. The NPCI did not immediately respond to Reuters queries seeking comment. Early use cases Low-value, frequent purchases such as groceries are likely to be among the first use cases, the first source said, adding that e-commerce platforms are well-placed to capture early demand. NPCI expects use cases to eventually become more sophisticated, the source said. For example, AI agents could place orders based on sale offers and discounts and make investments based on specified instructions around price thresholds. Discover more Football match reports Exploring Travel Maps Bollywood news updates The protocol is expected to draw on two existing UPI mechanisms - UPI Circle, which lets a primary account holder delegate payment authority to a secondary user such as an AI agent, and Reserve Pay, which lets customers block funds for multiple debits. Banks currently cap such blocks at 10,000 rupees ($105.44) for up to 90 days, though this limit and its validity may be revisited for agentic use, the sources added. NPCI is expected to offer infrastructure for merchants to integrate directly, letting customers set rule-based instructions for AI agents on when and how much to pay, with built-in spending limits, audit trails and identity checks, the sources said. They added that the NPCI plans to build in a liability framework, but did not provide details. Global push Global card networks Mastercard and Visa are also separately building similar agentic capabilities for payments in India, mirroring a global push by these companies to secure AI-driven commerce. Mastercard completed its first authenticated agentic transaction in New Delhi in June. Earlier this year, fintech firm Pine Labs launched its own agentic protocol, P3P, letting AI agents complete UPI payments after a single upfront authorisation. ( Source: Reuters) Download the Deccan Chronicle Android and iOS app on your phone for news and views from around the world - accurate and immediate.

Mastercard, PayInit AG launch interoperable Swiss P2P payments. Mastercard has partnered with PayInit AG and Opentech to launch interoperable, card-based P2P payments for Swiss bank customers. Mastercard has partnered with PayInit AG and Opentech to launch interoperable, card-based P2P payments for Swiss bank customers. Mastercard has announced a joint initiative with PayInit AG, a Switzerland-based industry infrastructure provider for card-based P2P transfers, and technology partner Opentech, aimed at bringing interoperable and globally connected P2P payments to consumers in Switzerland. The initiative allows Swiss issuers to offer cross-border P2P transfers while retaining direct control of the customer relationship. PayInit AG was founded by Viseca Payment Services SA and Cornèr Bank Ltd. to bring Swiss card issuers together around a shared, scheme-compliant infrastructure for P2P payments. The platform runs on technology from Opentech, through its OpenPay Send system, which allows issuers to integrate P2P functionality directly into their own digital banking channels. Mastercard supplies the underlying card rails and money movement infrastructure that extends the service beyond domestic borders. Two Mastercard capabilities underpin the offering: Mastercard Move, the company's portfolio of money movement services, which was designed to support transfers across markets, payment types, and borders, and Mastercard Credential Services, which allows senders to initiate transfers using identifiers such as a mobile phone number or email address rather than card or account details. According to the companies, the model is intended to complement existing domestic P2P solutions rather than replace them, using Mastercard's global card network to extend the reach of Swiss transfers internationally. At the same time, participating issuers can adopt the PayInit infrastructure without building individual integrations, which the companies say reduces the technical and operational burden associated with cross-border P2P connectivity. Consumers can send funds directly from their banking application using a recipient's mobile phone number or email address, without needing to know the recipient's card or account details. Transactions are routed through participating issuers via the PayInit infrastructure and processed using Mastercard's money movement capabilities, connecting senders in Switzerland to recipients both domestically and abroad. Daniela Massaro, Country Manager Switzerland and Liechtenstein at Mastercard, said Swiss consumers increasingly expect to send money with the same ease as sending a message, and that Mastercard Move and Mastercard Credential Services bring that functionality into applications already used by consumers. Furthermore, Michael Walther, Chairman of the Board of Directors of PayInit AG, said the shared infrastructure allows Swiss issuers to roll out P2P services more efficiently while retaining direct control of the customer relationship. The initiative reflects a broader trend among card networks and domestic payment infrastructures to extend local P2P schemes internationally through interoperable rails, rather than developing separate bilateral connections between markets... Sep 01, 2026 00:00