Plaid announced appointing Ripsy Bandourian as its first Head of Europe

By Joy Dumasia

Plaid, the open finance data network and payments platform, has appointed Ripsy Bandourian as its first Head of Europe as it continues to rapidly expand across the continent. Based in Amsterdam, Ripsy will lead the business strategy and operations for Plaid’s Europe arm as it moves into its next stage of growth.  

Having spent eight years at Booking.com, leading teams across product, marketing, and partnerships in Amsterdam, Ripsy has extensive experience in technology, operations, and driving consumer experiences at scale. Prior to Booking.com, Ripsy worked on emerging market strategy at Apple in London, was a consultant at McKinsey and began her career as a quantitative analyst at Goldman Sachs.  

Ripsy’s appointment is crucial to growing Plaid’s European businesses and supporting fast-growing FinTech and companies outside of financial services as they respond to changing consumer behaviours in the region. Recent Plaid research found that more than one-third of people make mobile payments where previously they used a credit or debit card, and more people now use FinTech than social media. With digital payment methods and embedded finance becoming more critical, more companies will turn to FinTech to improve their customer experience and drive faster checkouts. Plaid will enable these companies to unlock new opportunities to serve their customers better.     

Ripsy’s appointment follows a period of significant growth for Plaid in Europe, highlighting the demand from customers wanting to use smoother and simpler methods to manage their finances. In the first quarter of 2022, Plaid doubled the number of payments completed on its platform and grew its headcount by 30 per cent. Plaid also recently added open banking payments capabilities for Italy, Ireland, and the Netherlands. In addition, Plaid offers Account Information Services for the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, and Spain and Payment Initiation Services in the UK, France, and Germany.  

Eric Sager, COO of Plaid, said: “As more companies outside of financial services turn to FinTech to create new products that better fit their customer needs, Plaid plays a key role in helping them understand what local customers across different markets want and how FinTech can play a role in better serving them. Ripsy’s background in new market expansion, partnerships, and improving customer experience will help drive Plaid’s continued growth across Europe.”  

Ripsy Bandourian said: “The past two years have created intense shifts in how people in Europe interact with their money. Now, nearly every company with online customers is figuring out how to embed a digital financial service into its product. Having spent most of the last decade working with platforms and marketplaces, I aim to help Plaid harness this huge opportunity for growth and help companies across the region make sense of open banking and how they can leverage it to drive adoption of products and services, as consumers increasingly turn to digital financial tools.”