First Fed Bank Names FinTech Banking Exec Grandner as Chief Payments Officer

First Fed Bank has announced a new senior vice president and chief payments officer in Ana Liza Grandner, a press release said.

Grandner has over 20 years’ experience in financial services with banks and fintechs, including being VP, Head of Fintech Banking and Head of The Payroll Protection Program at Cross River, which worked with cards, lending and crypto solutions.

Before Cross River, she worked with The Bancorp, and had a portfolio including accounts with Google, Simple, Varo, Bento and more.

Grandner said the company job lined up with her “passions and areas of expertise” in building fintech products and partnerships.

“Ana Liza is a recognized leader in fintech banking, with deep experience in the digital payments ecosystem,” said Matt Deines, President and CEO of First Fed Bank. “We are delighted to have her onboard as we continue to build our offerings and relationships in the banking-as-a-service (BaaS) space.”

Keith Vander Leest, payments director with Cross River, recently talked to PYMNTS about the new surge in popularity for contactless payments and other such digital alternatives for payments.

Read more: Cross River Bank on How Embedded Finance Can Accelerate Payments in Niche Markets

He said they had let in-store and online retailers stay afloat business-wise during the pandemic, and showed how much demand there was for the faster kinds of payment.

He said he’d observed the company’s lending providers and even more generic payment providers “always looking for faster and faster forms of payments.”

He also said it was important for fintechs to support a diverse set of seamless payment and financial tools to give a positive redundancy if one system fails or isn’t accessible to a customer.

Because of that, embedded finance could play a role and add more benefits for businesses.

“Embedded finance allows customers to get more solutions from one provider,” he said. “It helps with retention, [as they can say]: ‘There’s more value I’m getting from this provider, therefore, I’m more likely to stay with them.’ Obviously, there are economic benefits as well.”