Santander Hires Ex-Apple Exec To Head P2P Payments

Banco Santander announced that it has hired Trish Burgess, formerly of Apple, to head up its peer-to-peer (P2P) payments department, according to a release.

Burgess will lead strategy and development of the department, and will bring “new payment services to customers that are fast, simple and safe to use,” per the company.

Burgess will work under Chirag Patel, Santander’s global head of digital payments, and she will become part of the bank’s global payments and digital team. Her co-workers include former employees and executives from Google, Amazon, PayPal, Facebook and Netflix. The team will be spread across Silicon Valley, London and Madrid.

In her role, Burgess will “focus on delivering improved customer experiences and increasing P2P usage across Santander’s expansive footprint to foster an international payment network.”

Last year, Santander said it planned to invest €20 billion over four years into its digital and technology departments, to help it become the “best open financial services platform.” The bank aims to create efficient digital offerings for businesses, customers and merchants worldwide.

“Trish’s appointment as head of P2P highlights our commitment to delivering best-in-class payments solutions for our customers,” Patel said. “We know that innovation is powered by the most talented people, and we welcome Trish’s wealth of payment experience. Her fresh thinking is invaluable to the team as we forge ahead with our ambition to responsibly serve the financial needs of one billion potential customers and businesses in Europe and the Americas.”

At Apple, Burgess provided insight and direction for the Apple Card, working with the engineering, product, marketing and operations teams from both Apple and Goldman Sachs. She also helped to expand Apple Pay into Asia and Europe, enabling the service to be used by thousands of merchants.

Burgess has an MBA from The Wharton School and a Master of Science in Engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.