GLASTONBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Payrailz, a digital payments company offering smarter, predictive, proactive and more engaging payment experiences to banks and credit unions, recently announced that its VP of Product Strategy and Innovation, Orlando Santos, was named vice chairman of Afinis Interoperability Standards’ inaugural board of directors and officers.

Afinis Interoperability Standards is a member-led organization supported by NACHA that seeks to bring together a diverse group of collaborators to build and test solutions, develop implementable and portable standards, and provide thought leadership on the shared goals of advancing efficiency, surety and security, and interoperability for financial services. Launched in September 2018, Afinis has appointed its board to help guide the strategic direction of the organization as they seek to advance financial industry standards.

As vice chairperson, Santos will serve alongside individuals from large and small financial institutions, fintechs, software/solution providers and businesses, creating a group representative of the larger financial services ecosystem. Serving with Santos on the board will be:

• Jay Como, Chief Data Officer, Barclays, Afinis Chairman
• Murray Heldon, Chief Solution Architect, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Afinis Secretary
• George Throckmorton, Executive Director, Afinis Interoperability Standards
• Frederique Slevin, Senior Principal Product Manager, ACI Worldwide
• Alex Yang, Director, Global Head of API Strategy and Enablement, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Vivek Vijayakumar, SVP, Manager of Business and Application Architecture, BB&T Corporation
• Roy Taylor, VP and Chief Architect, Commerce Bank
• Christina McGeorge, VP, Solutions Consulting & Product Marketing, D3 Technology, Inc.
• David Chance, VP, Product Strategy & Innovation, Fiserv
• Anita Brady, Vice President, Oracle Corporation
• Neelesh Prabhu, SVP, Director of Application Development and Delivery, TD Bank
• Mark Schaffer, Vice President, Systems Architect, Wells Fargo

“We are proud any time we see one of our leaders also taking the lead in guiding the industry,” said Fran Duggan, CEO of Payrailz. “The work that Afinis does is incredibly important in advancing industry standards and we know that Orlando will be a strong advocate for innovation. We look forward to seeing what Afinis is able to accomplish with this new board of talented professionals like Orlando.”

“Standards drive adoption and adoption drives ubiquity and I am honored to be named to the Afinis board and be given the opportunity to advocate for change in the industry,” said Santos. “It is an honor be to be able to serve alongside so many other talented and passionate financial services professionals in this capacity.”

About Afinis Interoperability Standards

Afinis is a membership-based governance organization supported by NACHA that brings together diverse collaborators – through innovative and agile processes – to develop implementable, interoperable, and portable financial services standards across operating environments and platforms. Afinis brings together thought leaders and leading technologists from financial institutions, fintechs and solution providers, businesses, governments, and nonprofit organizations to rapidly develop API products through use of Afinis’ platform for standardized API product discovery, application testing, and developer collaboration. For more information and to learn how to join, visit Afinis.

About NACHA

NACHA is a nonprofit organization that convenes hundreds of diverse organizations to enhance and enable electronic payments and financial data exchange within the U.S. and across geographies. Through development of rules, standards, governance, education, advocacy, and in support of innovation, NACHA’s efforts benefit the providers and users of those systems. NACHA leads groups focused on API standardization, authors the Quest Operating Rules for EBT and is the steward of the ACH Network, a payment system that universally connects all U.S. bank accounts and facilitates the movement of money and information. In 2018, 23 billion ACH payments valued at more than $51 trillion moved across the ACH Network. Visit nacha.org for more information, and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

About Payrailz™

Payrailz is a digital payments company offering advanced bill payment and money transfer solutions to banks and credit unions. In a society that increasingly has become focused on a “do it for me” culture, Payrailz’ smart technology makes the difference. Payrailz creates smarter payment experiences for the financial services industry that are predictive and more engaging than currently available alternatives. Financial institutions can confidently embrace Payrailz’ cloud-based technology engine, including AI, dynamic workflow, open data exchange, and a robust SDK to offer unique payment solutions to their customers. Payrailz helps financial institutions meet the payment expectations of today and the payment innovation needs of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.payrailz.com, follow them on Twitter @Payrailz, Facebook or LinkedIn.