Banking Circle Appoints Former Mastercard Executive as New CEO

Banking Circle, a commerce-focused fintech platform, announced Monday it has named Kush Saxena as chief executive officer. The appointment brings a veteran payments executive to the helm as the company pursues growth in global payment infrastructure.

Saxena succeeds co-founder Anders la Cour, who will transition to a senior advisory position. Meanwhile, the firm's other co-founder, Laust Bertelsen, will remain CEO of affiliate Banking Circle S.A. for another year before stepping back.

The new chief executive brings more than 20 years of payments and fintech expertise to the role. Most recently, he served as CEO of Getnet, Latin America's largest merchant acquirer and a subsidiary of Santander.

Prior to Getnet, Saxena spent eight years at Mastercard, where he rose to executive vice president of the card network's merchants and acceptance division and sat on its global management committee.

Anders, Laust and the team have built something genuinely unique, a technology-led financial infrastructure platform of real global scale, trusted by some of the most demanding clients in financial services and digital commerce. I am honored to be joining at this exciting moment.

Chairman Ralph Hamer praised the hire, noting Saxena's track record in scaling global payments platforms and his technology-led approach complement the existing board and management team.

The leadership change follows Banking Circle's April launch of stablecoin settlement services after securing a cryptocurrency-asset service provider (CASP) license.

Bertelsen described the CASP license as a significant milestone for both the company and the wider payments ecosystem, noting that stablecoins have rapidly evolved from a niche innovation into essential infrastructure for cross-border settlement, treasury management, and financial inclusion.

The stablecoin market has reached a $293B market capitalisation, with annual payment-related transaction volumes estimated at $387B and monthly on-chain volumes exceeding $9.3T, according to Banking Circle's April announcement.

The company's stablecoin settlement service aims to provide institutions with a fully integrated solution to leverage the speed and efficiency of stablecoin rails as demand for digital-asset payment infrastructure accelerates.