Visa Europe Names Nicolas Huss As New CEO

By Pete Rizzo, Editor (@pete_rizzo_)

Visa Europe, the U.K.-headquartered payments network, announced that it appointed Nicolas Huss as its next president and CEO on Wednesday, August 7, a Finextra report revealed.

Huss is currently the chief executive of Apollo Group’s Avant credit card business in Spain and Ireland, and was formerly a card business executive for Bank of America, where he led card collections for Europe. Previously, Huss served as the CEO of GE Money’s division in Spain, and held various positions for the company in Europe and Latin America.

Huss will begin serving in his new role on October 1. He replaces former CEO Peter Ayliffe, who has helmed Visa Europe for seven years. Finextra indicated that Ayliffe will seek non-executive roles following his departure.

Huss said he was “delighted” at the opportunity, in part because of what he called the exciting current climate in the payments industry.

“The explosive adoption of smartphones and the relentless growth of eCommerce have created tremendous new opportunities to provide consumers and retailers with even better ways to pay and be paid,” Huss told Finextra.

U.K. magazine Banking Technology noted that Huss speaks English, Spanish and French.

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