A Barclays-backed payment acceptance company which processes billions of pounds each year for small businesses has recruited an industry veteran to become its chief executive.
Sky News has learnt that Jason Lalor, a former boss of Square’s European operations, will head the joint venture between the UK bank and Brookfield Asset Management.
Formerly known as its merchant acquiring unit, the division was wholly owned by Barclays until earlier this year, when it struck a deal to partner with Brookfield’s financial infrastructure specialists.
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Under the arrangement, Barclays will invest £400m into it over three years, while Brookfield has the option to convert its initial 10% stake into a controlling 80% interest within seven years of the deal.
The agreement between Barclays and Brookfield took nearly a year to consummate, with the search for a chief executive having taken several months to conclude.
Mr Lalor’s most recent role was as chief executive of Conferma Pay, a Mastercard-backed virtual payments technology provider.
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He has also worked at Barclaycard, Mastercard, American Express and Dell.
The Barclays unit will continue to use the Barclaycard Payments brand, according to a statement earlier this year, and will be the sole payment acceptance services provider to Barclays’ clients for a minimum of a decade.
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Announcing the deal in April, Matt Hammerstein, Barclays’ UK chief executive, said: “We have a leading position in the UK, but we know that our payments clients are increasingly looking for integrated connectivity, an end-to-end service and tailored technological solutions from their payments providers.”
Brookfield declined to comment on Tuesday.
