Exclusive: ‘Legendary Leader’ – Joanne Dewar, Global Processing Services in “Swashbucklers 2020”

In just seven years, Joanne Dewar went from Head of Implementation of Global Processing Services (GPS) to CEO. Bam. In that time, she took it from a founder-owned start-up to a private-equity backed scale-up. Today it’s a payment processing giant, teaming up with the likes of Revolut, Starling Bank and Curve. Dewar has proved to the world that she can carry a fintech to dizzying new heights. We love her, and we need more like her. So, next to join our brave band of swashbucklers is none other than the incredible Joanne Dewar!

Expanding GPS’ horizons

Let’s be honest. Dewar is a bit of a ledge. So, we were interested to find out more about what she considered to be her best career highlights, her greatest hits. She didn’t disappoint. “One of my greatest achievements is working in an industry that is in an incredible position to change the world for the better by providing solutions and products to help solve the problem of financial exclusion across the globe”, Dewar explains. She told us about how, under her leadership, GPS has been expanding, reaching across the globe to exciting new regions.

“Another key achievement is GPS’ global expansion programme over the last 18 months, where we replicated our European success in the APAC region and opened offices in Singapore and Australia”, Dewar elaborates. “We have already delivered successful programmes including Xinja, a new digital banking experience in Australia and WeLab Bank, the first virtual bank and only domestic neo bank in Hong Kong”. Lordy. Is there no stopping GPS these days? Dewar is a driven leader and that’s why we like her. She knows where she’s going, and she knows how to get there. Go on Dewar!   

Prioritising partnerships

It’s not every day that you get to speak to heavy-duty CEOs like this, so we took the opportunity to ask Dewar about the best lesson she’d ever learnt in fintech. Felt rude not to. “Choose your partners carefully”, Dewar reveals. “Make sure you listen to their experience, and fully understand how that will help navigate where you want to get to”. Now that she’s mentioned it, we’ve noticed that GPS does indeed attract some impressive partners. Visa, sync, Modulr, Revolut, Starling Bank, Razer Fintech, IDEMIA, Currensea… A nice-looking bunch there. And all seemingly future-proof. 

Recently GPS has teamed-up with London-based Millennial and Gen-Z disrupter Lanistar – one to keep an eye on! 

What can we look forward to?

So, what’s next for this legendary leader? “We’ve got lots of exciting plans in the pipeline in terms of our global expansion plans”, Dewar comments. “And [we’re] continuing to provide hyper-personalised user experiences for our customers. Our ability to launch products to any market, with ongoing agility to evolve with the payments landscape, will become more prevalent, and ultimately, there is no limit to what we will be able to do”. Woah. Strong statement there! We love it. Keep a hold of that strapping confidence Dewar and hop aboard our ship, you’ll fit right in. 

We’re proud to name the legend that is Joanne Dewar as one of our fierce swashbucklers for 2020. Keep on smashing it Dewar!

This article was published in Swashbucklers 2020, Page 22