Dive Brief:
- Payments firm Payoneer has hired Webster Bank’s chief innovation officer, Bea Ordonez, as its deputy CFO. Ordonez began Monday, with the expectation she would succeed the company’s CFO, Michael Levine, who steps down from his role in March, according to a Wednesday press release.
- Levine, an 11-year Payoneer veteran, will stay on at the company to assist with the transition until Jan. 1, 2024, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
- Ordonez came to Webster when it acquired Sterling Bank in early 2022. She had served as Sterling’s CFO for about a year before the tie-up closed, according to he LinkedIn profile.
Dive Insight:
“Payoneer is in a strong position, as reflected in our publicly shared earnings, and the goal is for Bea to take it to the next level,” Payoneer co-CEO John Caplan told CFO Dive in a statement. “Her expertise leading enterprise fintech companies will be incredibly valuable for Payoneer as we execute our strategy for our next leg of growth.”
The deputy CFO position will report to Caplan, whom Payoneer named co-CEO last year, along with Scott Galit. Caplan is poised to become sole CEO at the end of 2023.
The CFO swap comes as other payment players are making large-scale acquisition plans. Montreal-based fintech Nuvei announced this month it would acquire payments firm Paya for $1.3 billion.
Analysts pointed to Payoneer, and other payment companies such as Toast, Flywire and Lightspeed, as possible acquisition targets in 2023, according to a recent report by Payments Dive.
Bea Ordonez
Permission granted by Payoneer
Payoneer, which has a market cap of about $2.06 billion, could be an attractive target for a company such as Global Payments due to the “B2B aspect that Payoneer has,” Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Dominick Gabriele told Payments Dive.
Caplan declined to comment Wednesday on M&A speculation.
“I am thrilled to be joining Payoneer — a values-driven, innovative company that is delivering solutions that truly power global digital commerce,” Ordonez said Wednesday in a release. “The Payoneer team has built a digital platform with impressive global reach and scale, and I look forward to working with the team to continue to build on the company’s impressive track record.”
Payoneer, which provides a payment platform to cross-border businesses, raised its full-year guidance to between $605 million and $615 million in revenue, with adjusted EBITDA of $40 million to $43 million, according to its earnings results.
Payoneer also reported $158.9 million in revenue for its third quarter, a 30% bump year-over-year. The payments company will report its fourth quarter and full-year 2022 earnings Feb. 28.
Levine said he is leaving the company with the “utmost confidence in management’s ability to drive growth and profitability.”
“Payoneer is in a strong position and now is the right time for me to pursue other personal interests following a smooth transition of responsibilities,” he said.
Levine, who has served as CFO since October 2011, will receive a $400,000 lump-sum cash severance payment, as well as salary continuation payments equal to the sum of his annual base salary until January, according to the SEC filing.
