A Q&A with Volker Steinle on Nium Payments and Fintech

As Nium continues to scale and strengthen our global payments infrastructure worldwide, we’re pleased to have Volker Steinle join us as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Americas. Based out of our San Francisco HQ, Volker’s expertise as a veteran in the payments space accelerating sales, revenue, and customer engagement is a valuable addition to support our growth strategy, regionally and internationally.

We sat down with Volker for a quick chat to learn more about payments trends, the fintech industry, and his vision for delivering top customer experiences.

Q. What parts of our mission at Nium do you connect with the most?

The part of Nium’s mission that I connect with the most is the global aspect of it. Having a background in payments, I know how difficult global payments are, and what companies usually struggle with. Nium’s mission is to take the friction out of cross-border payments, and that's the one I identify with the most.

We have a great offering as a global company with one platform and in-house technology. But as a partner, you’re also investing in a future-proof solution that will constantly evolve and offer more features, making it even easier to move money.

Q. How has the fintech industry evolved since you began your career in payments?

When I started my career, no one had heard of fintech. The evolution of fintech has changed the way businesses accept, process, and transfer payments.

Think about what you as a consumer do these days – what kind of payment methods you use when you go into a store. Apple Pay was not around a couple of years back, and with the general proliferation of phones, it's everywhere.

Q. What are some key payment trends shaping 2023?

The payment trends shaping 2023 and the future is real-time payments required to move money at a fast pace around the world. In our experience, we're still talking to many businesses that are having a massive delay in their payments, which leads to a lot of inquiries by their merchants and their customers. The other major trend is the surfacing of regulatory requirements and compliance, especially due to the huge growth in the gig economy in recent years.

Q. As a Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Americas, how do you define customer experience?

Customer experience is at the core of Nium. We invest a lot of time, resources, and technology to make our customers as happy as possible. Happiness is a very open-ended term; what we define by happiness is that we want to be the most reliable partner they have in their network of payment partners.

The other major part of our customer experience is that it's a partnership, and our merchants see us as partners. We have the rails, the connections, and the licenses, and we need to explain exactly how certain things work in a global economy regarding money transfers.

Q. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

There's a lot to do in San Francisco, including cycling and running. When I have time, I really enjoy the adventure. Before I started at Nium, I took the time and cycled down the west coast of the U.S.; that was a big challenge. There were a lot of tough days, but I also learned not to give up, and you’ll reach your goal. And that’s what I like about Nium and my role – I want to be that person that is there for the customer and will bring it to an end.