Open Standard confirmed the move on 30 June 2026, launching Open USD, or OUSD, and pitching it as neutral infrastructure for payments, trading and the wider internet economy rather than any single company’s product. Visa, Mastercard and Google sit among the founding backers, with Fireblocks on board as a key infrastructure partner. The fuller roster stretches across traditional payments and crypto native firms, including Stripe, American Express, Coinbase, BlackRock, BNY, IBM and DoorDash.

The design is what sets OUSD apart. The token charges nothing to mint or redeem at any scale, and returns nearly all of its reserve income to the partners that distribute it rather than keeping it as issuer profit. Governance sits with a board drawn from those same partner companies rather than a single controlling entity. Zach Abrams, the Bridge co-founder installed as Open Standard’s founding chief executive, framed it plainly at launch. “It’s a stablecoin built for the internet economy, designed by the businesses growing it,” he said.

Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure firm Abrams previously built, was bought by Stripe for roughly a billion dollars in 2024, which makes him an unusually well credentialled operator to steer a coalition this large. OUSD is expected to go live later this year, with Solana confirmed as a day one network and Stellar, Base and Polygon set to follow.

Markets reacted within hours. Circle’s shares fell as much as 18% on the announcement, as investors weighed the threat to USDC’s core revenue, the interest earned on the treasuries backing its reserves. Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire pushed back publicly, arguing that USDC’s liquidity, regulatory track record and years of operating history are not easily replicated by a brand new entrant, and questioning whether fee free minting at scale is sustainable.

Not everyone is convinced OUSD can pull off its own pitch either. Will Harborne, co-founder of stablecoin infrastructure firm Rhino.fi, has warned that a shared standard creates friction of its own once businesses start actually using it, rather than just backing it on paper. “For consumer facing businesses, that’s where the friction bites first,” he told CCN, pointing to the confusion of payments sent in one stablecoin and received in another.

ARK Invest’s Lorenzo Valente has raised a related concern, questioning whether a consortium of roughly 500 competing entities can move quickly enough, given a cold start liquidity problem and thin trading pairs. History offers a caution too. USDC currently holds around seventy three billion dollars in supply, against roughly three billion for USDG, the earlier consortium coin that pioneered yield sharing eighteen months ago.

No US regulator has commented on OUSD by name so far, which is not surprising for an eleven day old announcement with no live product. But there is a genuine open legal question sitting underneath the launch. The GENIUS Act bars payment stablecoin issuers from paying yield to token holders, and the OCC’s proposed rule implementing that ban, published in February, extends the prohibition to arrangements where an issuer routes yield through affiliated third parties.

OUSD’s entire model depends on sharing reserve income with 140 partner companies, precisely the kind of arrangement that rule appears to target, though the OCC has carved out an exemption for white label profit sharing with non-affiliated partners that Open Standard may lean on. Final rules are due by 18th July.

Whichever way that question resolves, OUSD has already done something no rival coin managed. It got Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase to agree, however briefly, that this dollar is nobody’s dollar and everybody’s.

The post Open USD: 140 rivals to share one single cryptocurrency appeared first on International Finance.

This cashback white card, which will give the customers the freedom and flexibility to choose how they earn their rewards based on their lifestyle and needs, comes at a time, when due to positive income growth and a high ratio of young individuals owning their first credit card, Vietnam’s dynamic economy is also emerging as an ideal market for cashless payments.

This partnership between American Express and VIB, with its leading card trends position in Vietnam, will be eyeing to bring privileges that exceed expectations for credit card users.

Knowing The Partnership In Detail

While interacting with International Finance on the strategic partnership, Ms. Tuong Nguyen, Head of Card Strategy & Operation Center, VIB remarked, “American Express and its partners provide cards for consumers in various countries worldwide and innovate based on consumers’ changing needs. VIB is proud to be partnering with American Express to launch a new white card that will provide world-class services and privileges to cardholders in Vietnam.”

“With our leadership in card trends in Vietnam, the Super Card will be a milestone in our personalization strategy to satisfy every customer in using their own card. With this card, customers will be allowed to be truly the boss of their card and decide what they use. The Super Card will be a highlight in the cashless payment market that all users desire to have,” the official stated further.

Ms. Divya Jain, Vice President and General Manager, Global Network Services, Asia and South Pacific Growth Markets, American Express told International Finance, “Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia and presents an opportunity for American Express to expand our brand with new products and services through partnerships. The new cashback product is part of our overall strategy to work with bank partners like VIB to grow attractive portfolios and drive more volume for the American Express network.”

Empowering Cardholders To Personalize Their Card Style

Different from other credit cards, VIB’s Super cardholders can customize the card features according to their own needs, apart from having the ability to choose features like receiving bonus points or cashback of up to 15% during the transaction, along with up to 1,000,000 VND per statement period. The cardholder can also change his/her spending category whenever needed.

VIB’s Super cardholders will have the freedom to choose their own last five digits of their card number for that extra personal touch, while having the choice to set a statement date on a monthly basis, which will suit their actual need of time to pay their credit card bill. After the change, the new statement date will remain effective for the next monthly period for the cardholders.

“Cardholders can choose the minimum payment amount. This privilege can be leveraged for the first 6 statement periods. This makes it more convenient for cardholders to balance their monthly spending,” Vietnam International Bank said.

“With the competitive advantage of 100% digitization of the registration and approval process for credit cards from VIB, the Super Card is shaped as a pioneering digital card in Vietnam. From registering to opening a card, selecting features and changing categories during the whole life of the Super Card, cardholders can fully and proactively do it on our mobile banking application MyVIB 2.0,” it added further.

Leading The Card Race In Vietnam

In the Southeast Asian country, Vietnam International Bank has been occupying the top place in terms of card growth rate and spending on cards for many years. By the 2022 end, the number of credit cards issued by the financial venture exceeded the half-a-million mark, registering an increase of 5.5 times compared to 2019.

“Total spending of Vietnamese through Vietnam International Bank credit cards grew 8.5 times, from 700 billion VND/month (30 million USD) in 2019, to 6,000 billion VND/month (more than 2.7 billion USD) in 2022,” the venture added.

“This impressive result comes from VIB’s strategy of leading card trends and continuously enhancing outstanding incentives for card users, digitizing the card payment experience, and always pioneering the application of the most modern technology for designing credit cards since 2019. With a leading position in card trends, VIB has made a significant mark when pioneering cashless payment trends based on leading technology in terms of customer-centric strategy,” the bank noted further.

On behalf of VIB, Ms Tuong Nguyen told International Finance, “A partnership with global brand American Express will help us to continue to lead card trend in Vietnam via launching ingenious, unique card products and satisfy most customers who want to improve the quality of their spending and level up their lives.”

Being the leading retail bank in Vietnam with over 27 years of development, credit card has remained one of VIB’s core businesses, besides home loans, auto loans, business loans, and bancassurance, which is focused on promoting when the bank implements its transformation strategy.

As of September 2023, Vietnam International Bank has nine different credit card lines with new and highly personalized features to catch up with the smart spending trends of Millennials and Gen Z generations, apart from meeting other life needs like travel, shopping, online transactions, family spending, instalments and vehicle refuelling.

In this background, the strategic partnership with American Express, whose globally integrated payments solutions are known for providing customers unmatched access to financial products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success, will ramp up Vietnam International Bank’s ‘Card Game’ further.

The post With ‘Super Card’, VIB-American Express partnership looks to redefine Vietnam’s ‘Credit Game’ appeared first on International Finance.

The company has more than 2,000 ATMs and 755 branches, including 30 cafe-style locations. It is listed at number 99 on the Fortune 500 and number nine on Fortune’s list of the ‘100 Companies to Work For’ list. It has operations in Canada, and the United Kingdom as well. In the 1990s, the company played a key role in the development of credit cards and the product’s mass marketing. After American Express, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup, it was the fifth-largest credit card issuer by purchase volume in 2016.

Capital One is the second-largest auto lending company in the United States, behind Ally Financial, formally known as GMAC, with a 5% market share.

Capital One mainly focuses on three divisions that are credit cards, consumer banking, and commercial banking. In the fourth quarter of 2018, 75% of the company’s revenues were from credit cards, 14% were from consumer banking, and 11% were from commercial banking.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the company’s net worth was USD 2.4 billion and USD 5.41 per diluted common share, compared to the third quarter which was USD 1.7 billion and USD 4.20 per diluted common share. The net income in the fourth quarter of 2021 was USD 2.4 billion and USD 5.41 per diluted common share. For the fourth quarter of 2022, adjusted net income was USD 2.82 per diluted common share.

As Capital One is the second largest company in the United States when it comes to providing financial services, the brain behind making it this successful is 72-year-old American billionaire businessman and CEO of the company, Richard Fairbank. He founded Capital One with Nigel Morris in 1994.

Who is Richard Fairbank?
• Richard Fairbank was born in California, United States in 1950
• He completed his degree in economics from Stanford University in 1972 and later got an MBA degree in 1981
• Richard Fairbank has had a base salary of zero dollars since 1997; his salary comes from stock and option awards
• He served on the board of directors of MasterCard International from 2004 through 2006
• In 2006, Richard Fairbank received the Excellence in Leadership award from Stanford University
• He is a member of the Stanford Business School advisory council, the Financial Services Roundtable, and the board of directors of the BITS Technology Forum
• While being the CEO of Capital One in 2009, Richard Fairbank earned a total compensation of USD 6,076,805, which included no base salary, no cash bonus, USD 2,000,019 in stock awards, USD 4,000,001 in option awards, and USD 76,785 in other compensation
• In 2012, his total compensation was USD 22.6 million
• In 2018, the net worth of Richard Fairbank rose to USD 1.1 billion, when his company shares reached a record high
• He was awarded the “Business Leader of the Year” by Washingtonian, and placed on lists including Worth’s list of the top 10 CEOs and “50 Best CEOs”
• Richard Fairbank has eight children and lives at Overlook Farm, near Gunston Hall on the Potomac River in Virginia, USA

Capital One Maintaining Strong Credit Card Presence

Credit cards are the main product of Capital One. The majority of the bank’s revenue comes from it. Because of credit cards, bank continues to develop in this field, especially when the competition around rewards continues to heat up.

In 2021, the bank launched Venture X, a new card with a travel-centric focus. It was created to capitalise on a rise in consumer travel (before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) and to compete with existing high-end cards like Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express’ Platinum card. The USD 100,000 dollars sign-up bonus credit card, which has an annual fee of USD 395 dollars, was unveiled in conjunction with the announcement that Capital One will launch three airport lounges to cater to a similar demographic.

“In the card business, competition has definitely intensified especially in rewards. We saw some modest increases in upfront bonuses mainly in the form of limited-time offers and in travel as demand returns,” Richard Fairbank said.

Richard Fairbank is one of the longest-serving CEOs with 28 years at the helm of Capital One. There has been no public discussion about his succession plan, and it seems Fairbank will remain in that position for the foreseeable future.

Image Credits: Capital One

The post Business Leader of the Week: Meet Richard Fairbank, Capital One’s guiding force appeared first on International Finance.

DNA Payments has also tied up embedded finance provider Liberis, a deal which can be the game-changer in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector, as Liberis will be analysing data from DNA Payments to offer pre-approved funding to over 65,000 of their merchant customers across Europe.

DNA Payments, established in 2018, took its first external funding in 2021 from private equity firm Alchemy Partners. While the company’s losses reportedly grew from 2.6 million pounds in 2020 to 8.9 million pounds in 2021, the start-up expanded its headcount by 313% (198 employees currently) in 2023.

Knowing DNA Payments In Detail

As of June 2023, the start-up is helping over 65,000 merchants across the United Kingdom and Europe with its cutting-edge industry solutions for online, in-store and on-the-go businesses.

American Express, Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, name any biggie of the online payments industry, it has a tie-up with the UK-headquartered venture.

“Our Group includes Optomany, a company that services large corporates and medium-sized businesses; and 123Send, Active Payments, First Payment Merchant Services, Kwalitas, and Card Cutters, who all provide services to SME customers. Our combined Group is one of the largest PaaS and SaaS services providers to multinational acquirers and banks,” the company stated.

“We’re FCA (The UK Financial Conduct Authority) regulated for consumer hire with headquarters in London and operational hubs in Kent, Hull and Oxford, and now serve over 65,000 merchants. That’s around £900,000,000 processed monthly across 100,000 POS terminals worldwide,” it remarked further.

DNA Payments was launched in August 2018 with just three people. In September of that year, the start-up launched its first e-commerce payment solution. In July 2019, it got its first ‘Valued Ecommerce Customer’, followed by the launch of its merchant portal v1. In September 2019, the company acquired CR7 Services and a month later, reached the landmark of having 30,000 customers in the United Kingdom.

In 2020-21, DNA Payments acquired Zash AB, launched its maiden payment link solution, reached the 40,000 customer landmark in the UK, launched ‘Pay by Bank App Payments’, acquired ‘Active Merchant Services’, enabled ‘PayPal E-commerce payments’, introduced Partners’ Dashboard, started its open banking payments mechanism, apart from enabling payment set-ups with two tech biggies, Apple and Google.

The year 2021 also saw DNA Payments launching Verifone and PAX terminals software, apart from launching its integration with ‘BigCommerce’. DNA Payments’ growth journey continued in 2022 as well. It started the year by acquiring UK-based payment solutions provider Kwalitas, followed by the launch of its ‘First Verifone Trinity series POS Terminal’. Also, the start-up acquired ‘Card Cutters’ and ‘First Payment Merchant Services’, apart from reaching 100,000 card terminals and online points of sale.

Apart from partnering up with Mastercard to deliver ‘Click to Pay’, DNA Payments, in 2023, has continued to upgrade its Merchant Portal.

Services Offered By DNA Payments

The start-up, established by Arif Babayev and Nurlan Zhagiparov, provides businesses with online payment solutions through Mobile Card Machines, Portable Card Machines, Countertop Card Machines, Unattended Terminals and Zash Android Epos.

For online transactions between businesses and customers, DNA Payments have solutions like ‘Website Payments’, ‘Virtual Terminal’, ‘No-Code Payment Links’, ‘Recurring Payments’ and ‘Charity Donations’.

How Do These Solutions Work?

The ‘Mobile Card Machines’ accept chip, PIN, contactless and mobile payments with major card providers and popular payment methods, with 24/7 operational availability.

Reliable internet connectivity, long battery life, quick processing speed and printer friendly are the key features of these ‘Mobile Card Machines’, which are suitable for contractors, taxi drivers and delivery service providers.

These ‘Mobile Card Solutions’ can be branded as well by DNA Payments, in order to ensure that the client company’s brand awareness runs throughout its payment system.

Also, the start-up’s portable card machines allow businesses to accept payments anywhere in-store.

These devices are facilitated with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G and 4G connections, so that they can be connected to the printing machines, in order to ensure quick generation of receipts in a fast-paced working atmosphere like the ones in supermarkets, pubs, eateries and beauty salons. Also, these portable card machines come with the feature of emailing the receipts directly to the customers, in case the latter doesn’t want paper printouts.

The above two solutions are just prime examples of how DNA Payments’ solutions cover the specific transaction-related needs of businesses across sizes. The ‘Unattended Terminal’ is perfect for entities like petrol pumps and ticket vending centres, which encounter long customer queues and lack payment features which are quick, easy and secure.

Through DNA’s merchant portal, businesses can track transactions, authorise refunds and pull sales reports using data analytics, along with accepting payments online without using a website (for this, the businesses can send Payment Links to their customers through email/other online communication methods).

The start-up’s ‘Payment Gateway’ mechanism aids its client businesses to enjoy the benefits of technologies like ‘Automated Routing’ and ‘Secure Tokenisation’, thus making it easy for these entities to accept and process credit and debit card payments online.

“Our Payment Gateway allows for frictionless transactions across multiple sales channels and was developed to work with all major payment providers so it can be implemented easily into your business’s payment process,” DNA Payments stated.

“Only one token is needed for transactions, so you can monitor and get insight without affecting security. Our Payment Gateway facilitates a seamless journey between your sales channels, unifying your platforms and opportunities,” it stated further.

DNA’s ‘Payment Gateway’ has direct integrations with the world’s leading payment systems and processes payments from all merchant sale points.

“Businesses are becoming global, so we’ve developed our Payment Solutions to accept all payment methods worldwide. You’ve got complete control over payment types you choose to receive, all managed using our Merchant Portal,” it stated further.

Also, the company has all-around data security and fraud analytics protocols set in place, while meeting the global cyber security standards.

The Road Ahead

Having an online payment mechanism, based on tools like card terminals and ‘Points of Sale’, is quickly becoming a must for 21st century businesses.

DNA Payments, through strategic partnerships with Mastercard and Liberis, is already on its way to becoming an industry giant in the digital payment sector. From petrol pumps, departmental stores to pubs and eateries, the start-up has established customised online transaction-related solutions for businesses of all sizes.

However, the real challenge for DNA Payments will be to stay future-proof, as online payment mechanisms are evolving at a much faster pace than anyone’s imagination.

The post Start-up of the Week: DNA Payments is changing Europe’s PoS game appeared first on International Finance.

Since its launch in the US last year, Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking has attracted more than 250 clients, earned $35 billion in deposits and has processed several trillions of dollars through its system.

This latest digital offering aims to make business-to-business (B2B) payments easier and more streamlined for large corporate clients where they will be provided with multiple payment options in one platform.

Dean Henry, executive vice president of Global Commercial Services at American, told the media, “A major pain point for our large commercial card clients is managing multiple platforms and myriad time-consuming, costly and complex processes to make, track, and reconcile thousands of payment transactions every day.

“We are pleased to partner with Goldman Sachs to modernise these outdated legacy B2B payment processes. Together, we are setting a new standard in transaction banking for big business by offering access to faster payments and real-time tracking that can increase efficiency and reduce costs.”

With the increase of fintech companies taking away customers from traditional banking institutions, innovating themselves and keeping up with the market is becoming increasingly important for global firms like American Express and Goldman Sachs. American Express holds relationships with nearly 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies and this collaboration will allow Goldman to tap into that sizable group of Amex business card holders.

The post Goldman Sachs and AmEx debut cloud-based payment service for corporate clients appeared first on International Finance.

Mark Mwongela, CEO of Pesapal told the media, “We are delighted to have this authorisation by the CBK. We will continue to enable payments for merchants and consumers.” Founded in 2009, the company provides a simple, safe and secure way for people and businesses to make and accept payments in Kenya.

The company’s primary objective is to democratise payments by providing affordable, innovative, and customised payment solutions to businesses and consumers alike. Currently, the company operates in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and Rwanda.

Pesapal also brings together local mobile money payment methods, Visa, MasterCard and American Express. By connecting once, customers can have access to all for both online and over the counter payments.

In 2019, Pesapal announced the integration of Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, FitBit Pay and Google Pay payments on its new tap-and-go, contactless Sabi M010 terminals. Since then, a large number of business owners in East Africa have been conveniently accepting digital wallet payments from their customers as more consumers look for cashless options.

The vision of the company is simple. It aims to become Africa’s safest and most convenient way to pay and get paid. In future, the company also intends to lead as a reliable Payment Service Provider in Africa which offers digital financial services to individuals and businesses.

Image credit: Pesapal

The post Kenyan fintech Pesapal receives authorisation from the central bank appeared first on International Finance.

The partnership will also allow American Express Cardholders to use their cards across merchant locations across Nigeria for shopping, travel and various other activities. The international American Express Card holders will have the option to use Access Bank ATMs.

Local merchants can now accept American Express through Access Bank, which will spur merchant business activity, while allowing traveling American Express cardholders the opportunity to transact in accordance with their preferred mode of transaction. 

Mr. Robert Giles of Access Bank, told the media, “The bank was proud to partner American Express to bring some of the best payment solutions in the world to Nigeria. Access Bank has the largest and most accessible ATM network in the country, a leading payments business with over 16 million card holders and a huge acceptance network both online and point of sale. The benefits will be immediate as soon as travel resumes. We expect significant demand for American Express acceptance in the country, and business travellers and tourists from across the globe will now be able to use the card of their choice.” 

The new partnership is anticipated to help Access Bank in further developing its presence on the African continent.

The post American Express, Access Bank join forces in Nigeria appeared first on International Finance.

As society shifts towards a cashless system, it is crucial for bank executives to ensure easy customer on-boarding, seamless payment processing and effective customer complaint handling.

Customer On-boarding

With the increase in consumer spending on cards, competitiveness amongst lenders who offer credit card services also goes up. Consumers have all of the media channels and comparison sites at their disposal to shop for the best deals and finalise transactions. For card issuers, this multichannel environment presents new opportunities for distribution innovation, but also potential threats in the form of emerging models. These models leverage alternative distribution networks to acquire customers and provide superior customer experience. For instance, American Express have released a new range of credit cards that customers can sign up for at their local supermarket, or via an in-app purchase when they sign up for challenger banks, such as simple.com.

Seamless payment processing

Based on the rapid increase in credit card usage, traditional players have to equip themselves with the right technology to ensure speedy payment processing. By automating certain aspects of the process, including customer checks and transaction verification, banks can free up staff members to take on more strategic roles within the bank, including providing a customised experience to customers.

A large part of payment processing includes monitoring suspicious activity. Contactless card fraud is now proving more problematic than cheque fraud, overtaking the latter in the first half of last year and hitting £5.6 million². By making use of the wide variety of technology available, a scalable solution to transaction authentication can be created to detect fraudsters. Automated systems and Artificial Intelligence (AI) programmes can be used to scour previous transactions and customer spending behaviour to single out suspicious activity. To combat fraud, it is not only imperative that banks track customer transactions in order uncover any abnormal activity, but also to have the right resolution processes in place for customers reporting fraud.

Effective customer service

To stay competitive, financial services need to ensure a seamless customer experience across all channels. In the digital age, customers demand more self-service options, anytime, anywhere. Banks and financial institutions can attract and retain customers by providing a compelling omni-channel experience across a number of touch points.

Expanding the service offering to include self-service options, chat-bots and telephone banking will further improve customer satisfaction by ensuring that clients who struggle with technology will still be able to access banking services. The industry can tap into innovations that, for example, recognise different customers’ voices and keywords when they telephone a bank. This enables the bank to predict the purpose of their call and automatically forward them to the most relevant department, streamlining the customer experience and saves them time.

One large retail bank, realising that customers were acquired and served through streams of activity across channels, shifted from its classical “funnel” approach to acquisition to one focused on cross-channel “journeys” that follow customers across multiple interactions. Upon embarking on this change, the bank realised that inconsistencies across channels were making them a difficult institution to work with, as well as increasing operational cost and risk.

As a result, the bank created a cross-functional, front-line-led response to build a unified customer experience across channels, targeting the most common journeys taken by customers during the first 90 days of their banking relationship. The result was a 40 percent increase in products per new account and a 30 percent drop in time to open new accounts.³

If the increasing usage of credit cards is met with a robust response from service providers, the upward demand will gain fast momentum and benefit all. Using the right technology to provide a seamless customer experience, while gaining customer trust through an effective payment processing and fraud prevention system, will give financial services firms a competitive edge in the age of the customer.

The post Customer Experience must be a key priority for banks as card payments rise appeared first on International Finance.

As CEO of American Express Banking Corp., India, I have the good fortune to lead the business in India in one of the most exciting times in our history. We are one of the world’s most recognized and respected brands, and millions of loyal customers who depend on us to have their back.

According to Boston Consulting Group, the digital payments sector in India is estimated to grow to US$500bn by 2020, and representing around 15% of GDP. There is a large untapped market opportunity to move Indians to cashless, as currently mere 9-10% of transactions are conducted electronically. As the world’s largest global payments network, driving more than US$1tn in commerce annually, we believe we are strongly poised to capitalise on this opportunity.

As a CEO, I am responsible for managing the growth of American Express in one of the most dynamic and fast evolving payments market in the world. In addition to the overall success of the business in India, I am also responsible for leading the development and execution of long-term strategies with the goal of increasing shareholder value. I’m committed to continue our growth and expanding our industry leadership.

What are the challenges you face on a daily basis and how do you deal with them?

Coping with a volatile environment is a common challenge to many leaders. War for talent, innovation, and regulatory interventions are some of the challenges that keep me going. It is very important to stay agile and plan to deal with challenges like these. Leaders, who face complex problems need to focus on being enablers and facilitators of nimble, agile teams who experiment with focused interventions, gather lots of feedback, rapidly learn, adapt, build and test out the next iteration. What I am proud of is that American Express has always stood for values. It is important to have strong values because only then can you begin to lead others.

What is your secret mantra to ensure your growth and development as a leader?

The future is about adopting a growth mindset. To succeed in this new age we need to have the courage and the will to change. It is very important that leaders build a culture of growth mindset to drive performance. Over the years I have realized that a leader’s growth and success depend on how he/she manages talent in the organization and helps them grow. For me, the key has been agility, courage, curiosity, inclusiveness and innovation that has held me in good stead throughout my career and helped me develop as a leader.

How do you motivate and inspire your team daily despite hiccups or setbacks?

As a leader, it’s your job to lead your team to greatness. Being the leader of a team is a huge responsibility, regardless of whether you’re the CEO or a department head. Every leader has his/her unique way of motivating the team. Some of the things that I do to motivate my team are:

• Provide a vision and purpose: Creating an inspiring vision gives your team a purpose and something they can look forward to, and something they can work towards.

• Set stretch goals: It is very important to have stretch goals for your teams. That will motivate them to work harder and achieve those goals and help the organisation grow and ensure personal growth.

• Lead by example: Working hard, professional integrity and a can-do attitude are the qualities that always have a positive impact on your team members.

• Trust the team: Leaders, who inspire trust, garner better output, morale, retention, innovation, loyalty, and growth for the company and people. Trust is an important factor in achieving the goals you have outlined for the team.

• Empower team members: When you give team members the power or authority to do something with complete control, this helps to motivate them to achieve the goals or your vision. Constructive feedback from time to time results in an empowered, happier, and more productive team.

• Reward: When you praise one person in from of others, it encourages them to work harder or perform better. When a reward is linked to a performance, individuals will work even harder and will be more committed to their task.

• Having their back: It is very important that you watch out for your team in crisis and ensure that you help them out if they falter. It is equally important to give constructive feedback to help them achieve their goals and that you are there watching out for them.

How do you power through hectic days?

Planning your day is very critical and if you love your work then that will be enough to power through the day very easily. A highly engaged and motivated team also helps you to look forward to the start of the day. Listening to music helps me unwind. Looking forward to the weekend when I can spend time with my family and friends also gives me that extra impetus to do a good job.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your daily stress levels?

Stress levels could be high depending on situations – what is important is not to get fettered by it. I am a diehard optimist and believe that it’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.

What is your pre-work day routine?

I’m a morning person and find it good to get started early — that’s when I’m most focused. The first thing I do in the morning is to go for a walk and try to introspect. I check my mails soon after, just to make sure that there aren’t any major needs or questions or outreach from business partners or colleagues. Then I scan the news, which has become a habit now. I have a relatively long commute to office and that gives me ample time to think. It’s good to be locked up for a while because I get time for myself to do nothing other than reading and I try to organize what I really want to accomplish during the day. I generally try to get into the office by 8:30 AM.

What was the pivotal moment in your career?

I have had a few impediments in my career. One, I vividly recall was 10 years ago when I took a break from corporate life to start my entrepreneurial venture which folded within a year. But the learnings from the failed venture made me more self-aware and developed more resilience in my character. I feel these two traits have been instrumental in defining the next chapter of my career.

Share with us top five tips that make a successful CEO of a bank.

• Quick decision making & dreaming big

• The ability to deal with uncertainty

• Adaptive and high level of curiosity

• Clear purpose and vision

• Empower to succeed

What is your message for business leaders in the making?

Leadership is a precious gift and we must value it. A good leader has to have strong values and leads by example. He/She has to have an eye for detail without losing sight of the big picture. The person should be willing to take challenges. The ability to carry your team along with yourself is a vital leadership trait.

The post ON THE JOB with Manoj Adlakha appeared first on International Finance.

As CEO of American Express Banking Corp., India, I have the good fortune to lead the business in India in one of the most exciting times in our history. We are one of the world’s most recognised and respected brands, and millions of loyal customers depend on us to have their back.

According to Boston Consulting Group, the digital payments sector in India is estimated to grow to US$500bn by 2020, and representing around 15% of GDP. There is a large untapped market opportunity to move Indians to cashless, as currently merely 9-10% of transactions are conducted electronically. As the world’s largest global payments network, driving more than US$1tn in commerce annually, we believe we are strongly poised to capitalise on this opportunity.

As a CEO, I am responsible for managing the growth of American Express in one of the most dynamic and fast evolving payments market in the world. In addition to the overall success of the business in India, I am also responsible for leading the development and execution of long-term strategies with the goal of increasing shareholder value. I’m committed to continue our growth and expanding our industry leadership.

What are the challenges you face on a daily basis and how do you deal with them?

Coping with a volatile environment is a common challenge to many leaders. War for talent, innovation, and regulatory interventions are some of the challenges that keep me going. It is very important to stay agile and plan to deal with challenges like these. Leaders, who face complex problems need to focus on being enablers and facilitators of nimble, agile teams who experiment with focused interventions, gather lots of feedback, rapidly learn, adapt, build and test out the next iteration. What I am proud of is that American Express has always stood for values. It is important to have strong values because only then can you begin to lead others.

What is your secret mantra to ensure your growth and development as a leader?

The future is about adopting a growth mindset. To succeed in this new age we need to have the courage and the will to change. It is very important that leaders build a culture of growth mindset to drive performance. Over the years, I have realized that a leader’s growth and success depend on how he/she manages talent in the organization and helps them grow. For me, the key has been agility, courage, curiosity, inclusiveness and innovation that has held me in good stead throughout my career and helped me develop as a leader.

How do you motivate and inspire your team daily despite hiccups or setbacks?

As a leader, it’s your job to lead your team to greatness. Being the leader of a team is a huge responsibility, regardless of whether you’re the CEO or a department head. Every leader has his/her unique way of motivating the team. Some of the things that I do to motivate my team are:

• Provide a vision and purpose: Creating an inspiring vision gives your team a purpose and something they can look forward to, and something they can work towards.
• Set stretch goals: It is very important to have stretch goals for your teams. That will motivate them to work harder and achieve those goals and help the organisation grow and ensure personal growth.
• Lead by example: Working hard, professional integrity and a can-do attitude are the qualities that always have a positive impact on your team members.
• Trust the team: Leaders, who inspire trust, garner better output, morale, retention, innovation, loyalty, and growth for the company and people. Trust is an important factor in achieving the goals you have outlined for the team.
• Empower team members: When you give team members the power or authority to do something with complete control, this helps to motivate them to achieve the goals or your vision. Constructive feedback from time to time results in an empowered, happier, and more productive team.
• Reward: When you praise one person, it encourages him/her to work harder or perform better. When a reward is linked to a performance, individuals will work even harder and will be more committed to their task.
• Having their back: It is very important that you watch out for your team in crisis and ensure that you help them out if they falter. It is equally important to give constructive feedback to help them achieve their goals and that you are there watching out for them.

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