Wonders with Worldpay

"The listing was a significant milestone for Worldpay and one that every single employee worked hard to achieve over the last five years since our divestment from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS),” remarked Rohinton Kalifa, former chief executive officer and currently vice chairman of Worldpay, referring to the payments processing giant entering the Financial Times Stock Exchange as one of the top 100 companies in the UK in October 2015.
"On a typical day, we process 31 million mobile, online and in-store transactions – that’s about 360 a second. In 2014 we handled around 11.5 bn transactions with a total value of around £ 370 bn and an average transaction value of £ 32.24. We supported around 400,000 merchants in 126 currencies across 146 countries, offering over 300 payment methods. We are the leader in payments in the UK where we process approximately 42% of all transactions…The majority of our 4,500 staff are located in the UK, the US, India and Canada but we are also present in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Japan, China, Sweden, the Netherlands and Singapore,” states their website.

Rohinton Kalifa: payment pickup

"Innovation is really at the heart of what we do at Worldpay and it has led to the development of a range of exciting products that are changing the way payments are being made across the industry. For example, only today I was able to pay for my breakfast using my finger as part of a biometric technology trial running in our offices,” conveyed Kalifa. Their studies have revealed that nearly 63% of shoppers now use multiple channels when making orders over £ 100 with 67% starting their shopping on one device and ending the journey on another.
To explain how cash is being overtaken by new payment methods, Kalifa stated, "Already this year digital payments have accounted for nearly half of all global transactions, a figure which is quickly rising. What this means is that particularly in the UK, cash will eventually become the exception not the norm. Would you believe that it now takes 26 hours for the average person to report a lost wallet but just 68 minutes to report a lost phone?”
Expecting "wearable technology” to make great strides in the future, Kalifa expounded, "These concepts may sound crazy but having a device such as a cuff- link that unlocks your car or a watch with a tap-to-pay capability means we no longer need to reach for our wallets to make a payment.”
In his 37 years of professional life Kalifa has worked in senior leadership roles across the globe in NatWest and the RBS Group. He is also a member of Visa Europe board of directors and a director of UK Cards Association. Four years ago Kalifa was named the "Industry Personality of the Year” at The Card and Payments Awards (see "Ace in cards,” Zoroastrians Abroad, Parsiana, June 7, 2011) and been given credit for steering Worldpay to twice qualify for the Queen’s Award for Innovation.
"It’s still early days for the FinTech (financial technology) journey,” mentions Kalifa. Only two months ago Worldpay introduced UK’s first master’s degree in International Payments in collaboration with the University of Middlesex.
Fifty-four-year-old Bombay born Kalifa had completed his primary education from St Mary’s School before migrating to the UK with his parents Minoo and Nargis. He subsequently studied in the UK and received his executive education at the Harvard Business School. Rohinton and his wife Gillian have a 19-year-old son Ryan.
"The Parsi community is renowned for its hard work, humility and generosity in equal measure, thinking of others first before themselves. The mantra of good thoughts, good words and good deeds has been a set of principles that many continue to live by,” notes Kalifa. "The community is by its nature small, and that also makes it somewhat conservative. Change is a constant in the social fabric of our societies and the need to embrace that and stay relevant in this rapidly evolving world is a quality that has to endure and be championed in order to help shape the next generations,” he adds.