Tyro appoints former PayPal executive as new Head of Product

Tyro Payments Limited (“Tyro”), Australia’s fast growing nextGen bank, today announced the appointment of Kareem Al-Bassam as the company’s new Head of Product.

Mr Al-Bassam has more than 15 years of experience in the global payments industry.

He founded PayPal Credit in Australia, with the launch of SMB Lending product, PayPal Working Capital. In its first two years of operation, PayPal Working Capital originated more than $100 million in loans in Australia.

His experience in the industry is not just limited to Australia, having executed a range of innovation and payments roles in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Mr Al-Bassam will lead the ongoing development of Tyro’s suite of customer-focused banking and payments propositions. Current Head of Product and Engineering, Paul Peterson, will be transitioning into the role of Head of Engineering, to provide more guidance to a rapidly growing engineering team.

This appointment significantly strengthens Tyro’s leadership team following the appointment of new CEO, Gerd Schenkel, last October. Mr Schenkel is no stranger to making waves in the industry, having previously founded Telstra Digital and NAB’s UBank, Australia’s first digital bank.

Mr Schenkel said he was delighted to attract someone of Mr Al-Bassam’s talent to Tyro.

“Kareem brings enormous insight, experience and vision about payments and banking from around the world. He will strengthen our leadership and management team at a time of rapid growth for Tyro,” Mr Schenkel said.

”He knows what it’s like to compete against the established banking sector using technology and an innovative customer-first approach.

“Tyro has ambitious plans to continue our extraordinary growth path, and Kareem will help drive our NextGen banking and payments offering.”

Mr Al-Bassam said he was joining Tyro at a pivotal time in its evolution.

“Tyro has a unique set of assets in mission, technology, culture and scale to disrupt the traditional banking sector for the benefit of Australia’s two million small and medium sized businesses,” he said.

“Tyro’s customer-centred approach means we can identify and address unmet needs. In conjunction with its technology-driven approach, Tyro can meet those needs faster and more effectively than the traditional banks.”

Tyro’s growth and achievements to date have been remarkable. Currently serving more than 16,000 small businesses, Tyro processed $8.6 billion in transactions and generated more than $95 million in revenue in FY16.

In December 2015, Tyro raised about $100 million in fresh growth equity capital from Tiger Global in New York, TDM Asset Management in Australia, and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes.

In August last year, Tyro became the first Australian technology company to be granted a full banking licence by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, allowing it to accept deposits and to advance money to Australian businesses.

Need to know more?

For more about this news story please contact:
Monica Appleby, Head of Corporate Communications on 0466 598 946 or mappleby@tyro.com
Sophie Cotterill, Corporate Communications Manager on 0414 960 292 or scotterill@tyro.com