Paysafe Group appoints Peter Smith as Chief Financial Officer

Paysafe Group (“Paysafe”), a leading global payments provider, has appointed Peter Smith as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

A US national, Smith is based in Paysafe’s U.S. office in Houston and reports into President and CEO, Joel Leonoff. He takes over as head of Paysafe’s global finance function which includes treasury, tax, financial planning and analysis, audit, controllership and procurement.

Smith brings to Paysafe a deep knowledge of the global payments industry and a finance career spanning more than 20 years. His extensive leadership experience includes corporate finance, operational performance management, controllership, M&A and strategy.

Joel Leonoff, President and CEO of Paysafe Group, commented: “Peter’s extensive and highly relevant financial leadership experience, combined with his deep-rooted understanding of the payments technology industry, and proven track record of scaling high-growth companies, make him an excellent fit for the CFO role at Paysafe. He is a huge asset to the team as we enter our next phase of growth and continue to redefine global payments for our diverse range of clients across the globe.”

Peter Smith, CFO of Paysafe Group, added: “I’m excited to join such a dynamic business that is leading positive change within the payments technology sector. I look forward to applying my knowledge and experience to the Paysafe finance function and business at large. Paysafe has significant growth opportunities and I look forward to working with Joel and the team to capture these and create value for all of Paysafe’s customers and stakeholders.”

Smith joins Paysafe from Evertec Inc. (“EVTC”), a US public company delivering payments and financial technology solutions to businesses and consumers in Puerto Rico and Latin America. During his time there, he strengthened the company’s relationships with Wall Street, successfully refinanced the company’s credit facility, and oversaw impressive financial performance in the business, improving working capital and cash flow from operations. He also led the successful finance integration of several strategic acquisitions which accelerated Evertec’s Latin America growth.

Prior to Evertec, Smith held a range of senior finance roles at Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS), a leading international provider of financial services technology with over 40,000 employees globally. Before that, he was CFO for the Payments Solutions Group segment of Metavante Corporation, one of the U.S.’s largest FinTech service providers. Prior to Metavante, Smith spent seven years in Silicon Valley working for Openwave Systems Inc. and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Smith assumes the role from former CFO, Brian McArthur-Muscroft. During his time at Paysafe, McArthur-Muscroft led numerous successful Paysafe acquisitions and more recently handled its delisting from the London Stock Exchange and move to new private equity owners, Blackstone and CVC, in December 2017.