Tell us about Tribe, how do you distinguish yourself from competitor propositions?

What sets Tribe Payments apart? In a nutshell, when it comes to payments, we enable our customers to make, take and move. We were born from the frustrations of legacy technology, and our fully cloud-based and modular platform - all built in-house - empowers our customers to scale at ease, allowing them to meet their demands both today and tomorrow.

“Future-ready” is often bandied about as a buzzword, but we mean it.

By offering both issuer and acquirer processing, we give businesses full control over their payment stack and, when coupled with our unmatched connectivity to no fewer than six major card schemes, our customers are primed for global growth.

At our core, Tribe is about solving real problems in payments. We listen, understand, and build solutions that empower our clients to grow, free from the constraints of outdated systems or geographic limitations. That’s what makes us different.

Based on your experience, how your client requirements have change over time?

It’s a great question, and the answer is directly linked to Tribe’s own journey from a 2018 start-up to scale-up. Over the past three years, we have very much made the successful transition to a fully fledged scale-up. As such, we have taken many of our customers on the same journey with us. While once our target client was a start-up looking for a partner to help them go to market with one single request, that same customer is now partnering with us for a much more comprehensive suite of services.

And this is mirrored with our broader target customer, who are now much more established banking and financial institutions requiring a full migration.

Parallel to this, we continue to adapt to larger macro trends at play - and our flexibility to help customers provide hyper-personalised offerings or multiple payment methods in an increasingly fragmented field has proved crucial to our scale-up journey.

From your perspective, what emerging trends will shape the future of payment processing?

The future of payment processing is being shaped by three major trends: digitisation, global commerce, and evolving consumer expectations. So, what does this mean for the future of payment processing?

First, payment methods are fragmenting rapidly, with the likes of alternative payment systems, digital wallets, buy now, pay later (BNPL), crypto, and local schemes all multiplying. But this is creating complexity for financial service providers, and businesses do not want to juggle multiple providers. They need a single integration that unifies data, simplifies operations, and adapts to their customers’ needs.

Second, the lines between fintechs, acquirers, and banks are blurring. Clients no longer just need processing; they want value-added services powered by payments data. The likes of cross-product analytics, intelligent routing, and real-time reconciliation are all transforming payments from just a cost centre into a strategic growth driver.

Finally, we’re seeing the rise of businesses operating across both issuing and acquiring. As they tap into new models, they expect global reach with local adaptability. They need solutions that support both global and local schemes while optimising for efficient and dynamic routing.

Ultimately, the future of payments is about technology orchestration – ensuring seamless global interoperability while making payments more accessible, frictionless, and data-driven. The winners in this space won’t just process payments, they’ll enable smarter, insight-led commerce at scale.

What do you do in your spare time? What are your hobbies?

I’m lucky enough to live in the Chilterns, so I spend a lot of time running and cycling off-road. I also love being underwater – it’s incredibly relaxing – so I mix scuba with a bit of freediving. When time allows, I enjoy drawing, painting, and gardening. And, of course, I always appreciate a visit to the local pub for the conversations you won’t find anywhere else.

What book are you reading, or which is one of your favourite books?

Over the years, teams I’ve worked with have gifted me books – sometimes work-related, sometimes not. Last year, a colleague in Moldova gave me Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, and I was amazed by how relevant its themes still feel today. In return, I gave them English Pastoral by James Rebanks, an incredible read.

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