Barclaycard Payments appoints Harshna Cayley as MD, Head of Product Gateway

By Megha Bhattacharya

Barclaycard Payments has announced the appointment of Harshna Cayley as its new MD, Head of Product Gateway. Cayley will be reporting directly to Rob Cameron, CEO, as a member of the Payments Executive Committee, and will be responsible for the strategy, vision and commercial management of Barclaycard Payments’ suite of Gateway products – the technology used by merchants to process debit and credit card payments online, as well as leading the business’ omnichannel terminal strategy.

Rob Cameron, CEO, commented, “I am delighted that Harshna will be joining us to lead our Gateway solutions, which is a cornerstone of our growth strategy in both the short and long term. Harshna brings a proven track record of working in fast-paced environments to drive product innovation, as well as a strong commercial mindset.”

“With the accelerated and lasting trend towards e-commerce and customers’ desire to consolidate their payment needs with one unified provider, Gateway has never been more important. I am confident that Harshna will be a tremendous asset as we look to expand our e-commerce capabilities to better serve our clients.”

Previously, she worked at Worldpay, where she was SVP, Head of Gateway Product, responsible for driving the unified vision for Worldpay’s Gateway and revenue optimisation products, leading a global team spanning the UK, US and India. Additional roles include senior positions at Equiniti and Visa Europe. She joins Barclaycard Payments with around 18 years’ experience in Financial Services, Retail, Loyalty and FMCG.

Harshna Cayley said, “Barclaycard Payments has a long history of payments innovation, which has always impressed me, and I look forward to being part of the next chapter as its new Head of Product Gateway. 2021 is such an exciting time for e-commerce, and I’m thrilled to be joining a leading payments organisation that truly recognises the growth potential of this vital technology.”

Recently, Barclaycard’s new data revealed that contactless technology accounted for 88.6% of all eligible card transactions in 2020. Contactless payments allow consumers to pay without touching card terminals or handling cash, it also helps reduce the volume of people in stores by reducing queue times. Contactless transactions are, on average, seven seconds faster than Chip and PIN, and 15 seconds faster than cash. Barclaycard stated that the total volume of contactless payments fell by 11.8% compared to 2019, while the total transaction value actually rose by 7.0%.