Wayne Brown has over three decades of experience in the financial services and technology industries, starting as a senior auditor at Irving Bank (acquired by Bank of New York in 1988). Wayne also has a working proficiency in French.
With the rise of ecommerce, Wayne decided to gain an understanding of the impact of technology on financial services, and he began by leveraging his auditing skills and extending his network. From there, Wayne held various positions of increased responsibility at large technology companies and global top-tier banks. There he focused on improving financial and operational controls, by ensuring that department policies and procedures were enforced and that deviations were identified, documented and remediated.
As product manager at MasterCard International, Wayne’s role consisted of helping to build the MasterCard Remittance Presentment Payment Service (RPPS) network by working directly with new customers. RPPS® became the primary gateway for home banking transactions and at its peak, held 98% of the market.
Wayne’s leadership skills were instrumental at MasterCard where he forged and nurtured strong relationships with all of the major banks, One former colleague says that “Wayne was our trusted ‘Voice of the Customer’. I sought Wayne’s input and advice throughout the design phase of our new products and beyond to ensure customer needs were exceeded and that we maximized our competitive advantage. ‘”
Wayne Brown pursued similar opportunities and achieved great success at Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and ACI, where he held senior roles and helped to improve digital channels for the banks’ commercial customers.
For the last eight years, Wayne has focused his advisory practice on collaboration with banks and FinTech companies to identify opportunities for process improvements, the development of new products and/or the identification of new partners. Some of the key challenges banks face are post-acquisition or merger duplication of systems with resulting reconciliation issues. Another challenge is the existence of multiple silos within the banks that do not interact well with one another, further exacerbating the duplication of processes and expenses. Wayne responds to both of these challenges with strategies and solutions accompanied by processes to carry them out, monitor them, and adjust the outcomes.
Banks are also looking to identify the right technologies and fintech partners to take them into the future of banking. Wayne is constantly meeting with, vetting and then working with fintech CEOs, and he has a successful track record in introducing start-ups to key decision makers in the financial services community.
Banks are known for being complex institutions with complex politics and budgets. Employees are driven by their own personal agendas and are often adverse to risk. Wayne is able to go into even the most complicated of these environments and get a consensus, thereby enabling the parties to create real and lasting change.
Wayne is also a public speaker who continues to present on banking and FinTech topics to both bankers and technology professionals. This year he was a speaker at the Electronic Funds Transfer Association’s EPIC event in New York City on the topic of “Marketing Strategies for the FinTech Startup.” He also presented at NACHA’s Council for Electronic Presentment and Payments Committee on the topic of Emerging Alternative Financial Channels for Banks.
For the last fourteen years Wayne has been an active participant in NACHA’s Council Electronic Billing and Payments (CEBP) Council and was one of the authors of the Walk- In Payment Best Practices Guide published by NACHA and released in February 2007. This Guide spearheaded the launch of NACHA’s Walk In Payment Roundtable. In 2011 Wayne launched the Alternative Financial Services Council comprised of interested executives including bankers, payment processors and Walk In Service Providers. He is also a member of NYPAY and he also has a working proficiency in French.
Wayne is married and lives in Laurelton, New York with his wife. His hobbies include landscaping and preparing meals from different cultures based on his travels.