10 Things You Didn’t Know about Anabel Perez
Anabel Perez is one of the two co-founders of NovoPayment. She has a very important role at the company, as shown by how she is both the President and the CEO. NovoPayment’s name is seeing mention in business news in recent times because of the reveal that it has raised its first venture round in 15 years for the purpose of expanding its API platform.
1. Has a Banking Background
Apparently, Perez was trained as a lawyer. After which, she went into banking. This makes sense because Perez’s company is involved in banking-as-a-service, meaning that a banking background would presumably be very useful for its top leadership.
2. Has a Strong Interest in Tech
Speaking of which, it should come as no surprise to learn that Perez has a strong interest in tech. Currently, there are numerous companies changing the way that banking works through the use of tech, with NovoPayment being one of them. It would be very strange for Perez to be running such a company if she didn’t have a strong interest in tech. Never mind the fact that she is one of the two co-founders.
3. Isn’t Shy About Sharing Her Opinions
There are some CEOs who have either no or next-to-no interest in making their opinions about the latest trends in their industry known. In contrast, others are much more willing to talk about these things, which can provide interested individuals with insight into what these CEOs are thinking if nothing else. Perez is very much an example of the latter rather than the former. She has outright stated that she enjoys being a part of the conversation about how tech is transforming banking, which to be fair, is an important one that is worth having because of its widespread consequences.
4. Is Involved in Open Banking
Perez’s company is involved in open banking. For those who are unfamiliar, it refers to the practice of sharing financial information through secure electronic means under conditions that meet with the consumer’s approval. Open banking is supposed to have major benefits for both consumers and other stakeholders. Still, it is important to note that the existence of tech that enables open banking doesn’t automatically provide interested parties with the ability to use that tech well. Instead, that ability is something that must be brought into existence.
5. Said That Latin America Shouldn’t Wait On Open Banking
NovoPayment is a very international company. In particular, it takes a strong interest in Latin America. Perez has said in the past that said region shouldn’t wait to see how open banking turns out in other regions before implementing said practice. Instead, Latin America should be doing exactly what it has been doing, which is to say, push ahead like everyone else because of the need to build up real expertise and experience while convincing skeptics to change their mind.
6. Said That the COVID-19 Crisis Highlighted Existing Issues in Payment Systems
The COVID-19 crisis forced a lot of people to reexamine a lot of things. In Perez’s opinion, it highlighted some of the existing issues in payment systems. For example, she pointed to some merchants’ refusal to take cash, which to be fair, was grounded in the fact that cash tends to be extremely dirty because of how often it exchanges hands. Similarly, she pointed to the government’s idea of giving out money by giving out checks, which to be fair, are quite old-fashioned from the perspective of a lot of people.
7. Believed That the COVID-19 Crisis Would Serve As a Catalyst For Change
Perez voiced the opinion that the COVID-19 crisis would serve as a catalyst for change. Something that has been voiced by a wide range of people regarding a wide range of topics. Under normal circumstances, change can be inhibited by numerous factors. One example would be how change is expensive. Another example would be how the need for change doesn’t seem quite as pressing when everything is running in a more-or-less normal fashion for most people. Crises have a way of convincing people of the need for change by sweeping those things out of the door. Change is expensive. However, not changing is even more expensive. Similarly, what seems bearable under normal circumstances becomes much less so when the system is clearly shuddering because of the stress being placed upon it.
8. Believed That People Shouldn’t Need Anything Other Than Their Mobile Device to Either Pay Or Be Paid
Interestingly, Perez voiced the opinion that people shouldn’t need anything other than their mobile device to either make payments or receive payments. Having said that, it is clear that she is also aware that this isn’t something that can be brought about with a snap of the fingers, which makes sense considering her position in her industry.
9. This Is Her Company’s First Venture Round
Perez’s company has been around for more than a decade’s time. However, it is interesting in that it hasn’t been going after venture funding again and again. Instead, Perez’s company had an initial seed round from its own co-founders. After which, it didn’t go for its first venture round until earlier in 2022.
10. Her Company Seems to Be in a Good Position
NovoPayment’s leadership hasn’t revealed a lot of in-depth information about the company. Still, what Perez and the rest of the leadership have revealed suggests that it is in a good position. For example, just 15 percent of its customers are based in the United States. Meanwhile, the others are situated throughout Latin America. Apparently, a lot of them are operating in more than one market, which is presumably one of the factors that make them interested in a solution that can help them operate under such conditions with increased ease. As such, NovoPayment saw a 40 percent increase in its customer count in 2021 and is expecting to see a similar increase in the same measurement in 2022.
