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Neil Weeks
Chief Commercial Of cer, Global Processing services
companies & people
Smartest People in Payments
Financing geothermal and o -shore drilling earlier in his career not only took Neil
Weeks to some very exotic locales, it’s also where he learned he had a talent for developing and delivering e ective sales and marketing strat- egies for clients. Weeks would eventually take his talents to Pay Awards Breakout Company of the Year winner Global Processing Services, where he is chief com- mercial o cer.
Weeks, however, began his career in the industry when he was hired by friend and mentor Daniel Spier, managing director of Gibraltar- based processor IDT Financial Services. At the time, IDT had one card program: the IDT Prime Card. “Dani and I learned a lot about the industry, spending a lot of time travelling Europe, meeting prospec- tive new clients and presenting our services,” Weeks says. “I am very grateful to Dani for giving me the opportunity to be part of this great industry and mentoring me.” Now an eight-year payments veteran, Weeks has signed more than 130 program managers between his days at IDT Financial and GPS.
Weeks’ greatest achievement was rebranding GPS. He had been given free rein from founders Craig Dewar and Tony Kerr to rebrand the company from its logo to the company ethos, which is to be the biggest and best at what they do, and growing GPS from one of the
smallest processors in prepaid to possibly one of the three biggest within a few years. He won’t take full honors, though, crediting GPS’s management team.
He also balks at being considered one of the smartest people in pay- ments, instead bestowing the hon- ors to Dewar and Kerr, who have built and grown two of the largest payment companies in Europe in di erent verticals with Flex-e-card and GPS. “Their ability to make you believe in their vision makes you want to be part of what they are trying to achieve,” Weeks says.
Weeks and GPS certainly are a driving force in the growth of payments and, for that trend to continue, Weeks sees ntech playing a prominent role. “Prepaid is all about solving problems and, as technology develops, more problems are able to be solved,” he says. For example, companies like Mondo Bank that don’t have
a brick-and-mortar presence are taking on Tier 1 retail banks.
Or there’s Revolut’s money app competing with the big FX compa- nies. “I foresee other industries following suit and problems being solved by ntech,” he says.
With U.K. voters opting in June
to leave the EU, Weeks says if the U.K. loses its ability to passport its e-money licenses this will impact the U.K. payments industry, but this may well not happen. GPS has had
the Best idea in payments
“GPS. The feedback from clients that have used some of the legacy platforms that now use GPS is fantastic, as we believe we are the only processor globally that has been built by a program manager. I’ll have to settle
for being part of the team that grew it.”
clients inquiring about obtaining licenses in Berlin or Dublin. “We will have to wait and see what happens.” But, as a global proces- sor, he doesn’t foresee many changes for GPS because it isn’t bound by such licenses. “I have no doubt the U.K. payments industry will successfully navigate through these turbulent times and will show why it has been the leading force not only in Europe but globally,” Weeks notes.
And as for all those points on the globe his career has taken him, his favorite place to conduct business? “Nashville, Tenn., is by far the most fun,” Weeks says. “The people, cul- ture and environment make it a very friendly place to visit. I have made some great friends and business partners there, and now we even take family vacations there.”
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