Pay.UK has appointed the chief operating officer of FinTech firm Modulr as a non-executive director.

Ben Taylor has joined the Pay.UK board as it undergoes a strategic shift designed to make its services more reliable, valuable and efficient.

The organisation runs the UK’s interbank retail payment systems, including Bacs, Faster Payments and cheque clearing.

Pay.UK said appointing Taylor to its board would support its goal of becoming “the most reliable and trusted way to move money in the UK”.

Alongside leading operations at payments automation platform Modulr, Taylor has spent more than two decades working across the financial services and payments sectors.

During his time at Modulr, he has built a detailed understanding of payment operations, financial crime controls and the regulations and policies shaping the industry.

Taylor said he was joining the Pay.UK board at a “pivotal time for payments”, with the sector “rapidly evolving” due to regulatory change, new technology and an expanding cyber crime threat.

He added: “I look forward to sharing my experience as Pay.UK continues to create resilient, responsive and fraud-proof infrastructure for the future.”

His appointment comes during a period of significant change for the organisation and how it operates, including an expansion of its board from 12 to 14 members.

The board now comprises a chair, chief executive and 12 non-executive directors, six drawn from the financial services industry and six independent experts. Pay.UK said that by building a board containing expertise from areas including finance and technology, it aims to improve its understanding of “emerging opportunities and risks”.

Pay.UK is also changing how it engages with stakeholders. It plans to create “structured networks of participant, industry and end-user groups” to strengthen relationships across the ecosystem, replacing the Pay.UK Industry and End User Advisory Councils.

In particular, it wants to deepen relationships with existing stakeholders such as UK Finance, The Payments Association and Innovate Finance, and to build new partnerships with organisations including Money and Mental Health, the Money and Pensions Service, and StepChange.

Mark Hoban, chair at Pay.UK, said: “Ben’s extensive experience in payments and financial services will be invaluable as we navigate the rapidly evolving payment landscape.

“This appointment, alongside our new strategic direction and updated engagement model, will be instrumental in enabling Pay.UK to foster stronger relationships across the ecosystem, drive more insightful decisions and ultimately create a payment infrastructure that is future-ready for end-users and organisations.”

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