Icon Solutions, the independent IT payment specialist technology provider and consultancy, has today announced the appointment of a strategic senior hire in the US.  James Methe, previously Capgemini’s Senior Director, North American Payments & Transaction Banking Practice Leader, has recently joined Icon as Senior Vice President, Americas Business Development.

Outstanding European growth has facilitated Icon’s move into the US market, further establishing its international reputation for real time payments expertise via its innovative Instant Payments Framework (IPF) product.
 
Tom Kelleher, Icon Solutions Commercial Director “We’re delighted to welcome James to the Icon team. His depth of experience in the payments industry globally is unparalleled and will strengthen our Global Payments Practice and the positioning of our flagship product - IPF. James will bring to Icon clients in the Americas a leading-edge approach to product innovation linked with his deep understanding of the latest technologies in payments, Open APIs, Bank-Fintech Integration and Orchestration needs. We believe that Open API innovation, paired with immediate clearing and settlement, will be the highest priority for US banks in the foreseeable future and Icon is well placed to advise and assist with these challenges.  

James has over a decade of experience in international and domestic payments solutions, having previously led the North America Payments Practice at Capgemini and globally for IBM, and has directly led the sales, pre-sale and staffing of a multitude of major payments hub projects across the globe. Clearly James brings an unparalleled understating and experience of US and global payments technology, trends and innovations in the payments market to our clients and we are very excited to have him on board.”
 
James commented, “I am delighted to be joining such a dynamic and innovative team with a proven, cutting edge integration and orchestration product at a time of tremendous change and opportunity in the payments sector. Icon has already established its world-class expertise around instant payments solution deployment in Europe and I am looking forward to introducing IPF to the Americas.  In this time of Fintech explosion, Open APIs and the need for instant payments fulfilment services, banks will be required to implement real time payment solutions rapidly, with high micro service reuse and the highest security able to handle previously unimaginable transaction volumes. IPF is a proven low cost/low risk/low resource, open source, agile delivery product, specifically designed for a real-time payments world, even when a bank's legacy account and processing support systems are designed for batch processing. Icon and IPF are perfectly positioned to accelerate bank growth in this strategically differentiating area.”