Splitit Names Fiserv Exec Nandan Sheth as CEO

Splitit Payments, which works in buy now, pay later (BNPL) payments, has appointed Nandan Sheth as its new CEO, effective Feb. 28, 2022, according to a press release emailed to PYMNTS.

Sheth has experience as a payments industry executive and has worked with large payment companies, major banks, Fortune 100 companies and “disruptive technology startups” in both North America and Europe, including Fiserv.

He worked on co-founding and scaling companies in the past before they were sold, including Harbor Payments, which was sold in American Express in 2006, and Acculynk, which was sold to First Data in 2017.

Meanwhile, Splitit has announced that John Harper, interim CEO since August last year, will continue serving for a period of time to make sure the transition is a smooth one.

Splitit works as a credit-card based installment solution and lets consumers “spend smarter” by making larger purchases into BNPL payments. The platform also utilizes benefits and rewards for the cards.

“I’m honoured to join this disruptive FinTech company at an inflection point that is showing strong and growing demand for a payment option that lets consumers use their existing credit, rather than new financing, for spreading out large purchases,” Sheth said in the announcement.

“Additionally, Splitit is the most merchant-friendly BNPL platform in the market,” Sheth continued. “Splitit uniquely allows merchants to maintain a direct relationship with their customers. The global opportunity for Splitit is tremendous, and I’m excited to be part of the journey that impacts consumers, merchants and shareholders.”

PYMNTS recently wrote that as BNPL has grown, it has also increased the threat of fraud. Around 25% of American merchants accept BNPL as payment, and another 46% have plans to adopt it later on.

Read more: As BNPL Grows, So Does Threat of Fraud

The report goes on to note that some of the bigger BNPL companies have seen increasing amounts of fraud, with some incidents involving individual fraudsters and others with organized crime networks.

The fraud targets a lot of the usual features that make BNPL a popular payments option, including loose authentication and less friction. Fraudsters make fake accounts and exploit default lines of credit, and can make purchases with stolen credit card information.