Iliad Solutions Appoints Payments Expert Jill Murtagh to Lead South Africa Expansion

Iliad Solutions has appointed veteran South African payments expert Jill Murtagh to spearhead its expansion within the country’s financial services sector. For fintech professionals, this move signals a heightening demand for sophisticated payment testing technology as South African banks modernise their infrastructure to handle increasingly complex real-time and cross-border transaction volumes in a mature market.

What was announced

Iliad Solutions has named Jill Murtagh as a key hire to drive its growth strategy within South Africa’s financial services landscape. In her new capacity, Murtagh will facilitate the introduction of the company’s payment testing technology to a broad spectrum of clients, including domestic banks, financial institutions, and software developers. Her responsibilities involve navigating local procurement processes and supporting organisations currently engaged in payment modernisation programmes or those seeking to bolster their internal testing capabilities.

Murtagh brings several decades of experience in the South African banking sector to the role. Her career includes tenures at Barclays Bank South Africa, First National Bank, ABSA, and Mercantile Bank. Most notably, she spent over twenty years at Bidvest Bank Limited, where she served as Executive Head of Payments and Banking Operations. During her time at Bidvest, she was instrumental in transitioning the organisation from a bureau de change into a fully licensed bank and led the development of its payment infrastructure for both domestic and cross-border services.

This appointment aligns with a broader international growth plan for Iliad Solutions, as global demand rises for specialist testing across real-time and domestic payment schemes. The company focuses on reducing risk and improving the quality of system delivery for institutions undertaking significant technological shifts.

"Jill has built an exceptional reputation over many years in the banking industry. She's been responsible for delivering payment infrastructure herself, so she understands the operational challenges our customers face every day. Just as importantly, she knows the market, understands how organisations buy technology and has relationships that have been built over decades. That combination makes her an outstanding addition to our team."

Anthony Walton, CEO of Iliad Solutions Ltd.

The companies involved

Iliad Solutions Ltd is a specialist provider of payment testing technology, working with many of the world’s leading financial institutions to mitigate risk and enhance the delivery of payment systems. The firm operates across global payment schemes and financial market infrastructures, focusing on the quality of delivery for real-time and cross-border programmes. Bidvest Bank Limited, where Murtagh held a long-standing leadership role, is a South African institution that evolved from a specialised foreign exchange provider into a full-service bank. Other major players in this market include ABSA, which operates through its website absa.co.za and is linked to the broader Barclays Africa network. First National Bank and Mercantile Bank also represent significant components of the South African financial ecosystem. Mercantile Bank, accessible via mercbank.com, has previously focused on innovation and growth through external technology partnerships. These institutions operate within one of the most mature payments markets on the African continent, characterized by high levels of investment in sophisticated financial technology and a robust regulatory environment for banking operations.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has tracked Iliad Solutions’ steady expansion over the past two years. In October 2025, the publication reported that Iliad Solutions Announces Two Senior Hires, marking an earlier phase of its talent acquisition strategy. The company’s international footprint was also highlighted when Bankart Chooses Iliad Solutions in Multi-year Payment Testing Deal in April 2025, and through its regional partnerships, such as when Iliad Solutions goes East with Enqura partnership in February 2024. Additionally, FF News covered developments regarding Murtagh’s former employer in September 2025, noting that Mercantile Bank Selects Jack Henry for Focus on Innovation and Growth.

What this means

This appointment underscores a critical bottleneck facing the global payments industry: the gap between rapid infrastructure modernisation and the ability to safely test those systems. As South African banks migrate toward ISO 20022 standards and real-time rails, the margin for error in deployment is shrinking. Iliad’s move to hire a practitioner with deep operational experience, rather than just a sales lead, suggests that the "sale" in this sector now requires solving complex procurement and regulatory hurdles. The industry is under pressure to move faster, but without robust testing, the risk of systemic failure in a mature market remains a significant concern for regulators and incumbents alike.