South African paytech Stanchion Payments names ex-Synthesis exec Pierre Aurel as new CPO
Stanchion Payments, a paytech solutions provider based in Cape Town, South Africa, has named Pierre Aurel as its new chief product officer (CPO).
Pierre Aurel, CPO, Stanchion Payments
In his new role, Aurel will be tasked with leading the company’s product organisation and innovation initiatives with the aim of enhancing the customer experience across its payments value chain.
Founded in 2001 with outposts in the UK, US, UAE and Australia, Stanchion Payments specialises in the integration, management and optimisation of payment systems. Its core services include SwitchCare, a managed service for the augmentation of payment processes, and its digital payments integration platform Verto.
Steve Kirrage, the company’s CEO, emphasises the “pivotal role” product development plays in its ambition to simplify the complexity of payment processes, an effort that’s currently orientated around the use of apps and web portals to “bring Stanchion’s technology closer to banking customers”.
“Enriching our product capabilities is not merely a choice; it’s a necessity. It calls for strong leadership through the role of CPO,” Kirrage explains.
He adds that the timing of Aurel’s appointment is “ideal to expand our efforts further” and “to continue meeting the evolving needs of our markets”.
Aurel is expected to leverage his key industry experience in product development to achieve these goals. Most notably, he served as head of payments and cryptography at South Africa-based Synthesis Software Technologies, during which time he spearheaded the team launching Africa’s fist SoftPOS solution.
He also headed Synthesis’ Dutch subsidiary, Halo Dot, as managing executive, working specifically in the development of contactless payment systems.
Speaking on the industry challenges he will be seeking to address in his new role, Aurel says: “The major challenges that our customers experience are the same ones that have existed for some time – how to manage system complexity while keeping payments simple for end users.”
“As new payment methods like real-time payments emerge, banks and payment providers need to provide these new payment methods while maintaining their existing complex environments – it’s a full-time job managing how it all fits together.”
