B4B PAYMENTS marking significant growth . Paul Swinton and Rob Anderson identified Kieran Draper as the ideal candidate to lead this expansion effort . Draper ’ s long career in management consulting with some of the biggest Financial Services firms made him the perfect choice for a product aimed at optimising corporate payments .
Reality hits hard sometimes , though , and when Draper joined to spearhead B4B Payments in the US , all he had “ to start with was a whiteboard ”. Additionally , external factors could not have made the US launch any more difficult than it was .
Expanding in the US in 2020 coincided with the emergence of the COVID- 19 pandemic . Notwithstanding the operational difficulties this posed , there were other key challenges to scaling in the US , including tapping
“ The assumption that we could lift our tried and tested product from Europe and simply place it into the US market with different partners was probably not a fair one ”
KIERAN DRAPER CEO – USA B4BPAYMENTS into a B2B market with wholly different expectations and requirements .
Establishing a new ecosystem from the B4B Payments digital platform for the US was complex .
“ The assumption that we could lift our tried and tested product from Europe and simply place it into the US market with different partners was probably not a fair one ,” Draper notes .
“ The platform would work , but the situation here is different , and customers are different . We were already partnered with Mastercard in Europe , and when we planned to partner with Visa in the US , we assumed it would be straightforward because their networks are similar .
“ But they each had their own characteristics , almost like personalities ,” Draper explained . “ So , we had to try and fit what we ’ d been doing with Mastercard in Europe into the Visa frame here . And that wasn ’ t simple .”
Once the platform was complete , the focus shifted to market penetration and gaining traction in the US sector , which proved to be much different from the UK and EU .
The US market itself is markedly different too , as Draper explains : “ In some ways , payments technology is more advanced in the UK and Europe compared to the US .
You ’ d be hard-pressed to find a company that would write you a check in London , whereas 70 % of companies in the US still write checks .”
It was clear to Draper and B4B Payments ’ leadership that they were truly
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