Chris Hamilton, the long-serving chief executive officer of the Australian Payments Clearing Association, the payments sector's peak body, is to leave the organisation "in early May" this year.Rob Craig, APCA chairman, made the surprise announcement yesterday via a media release, confirming that Hamilton would be leaving the organisation after ten years in the role. He said Hamilton (pictured, right - source: LinkedIn) would be moving to take on the role of chief executive of BankservAfrica, the largest payments clearing house on the African continent, a business undergoing growing pains as it expands its low cost electronic funds systems into nearby countries."In the last ten years, Australian payments have evolved in fundamental ways, such that Australia is now seen as enjoying one of the most advanced payments systems in the world," Craig said.
Although Hamilton's departure comes as the sector is gearing up for the introduction of the New Payments Platform, along with threats from "outsiders" such as dominant phone companies Apple and Samsung pushing to have their own payment systems adopted, Craig claimed APCA was in good shape."The recent reorganisation has expanded our executive capabilities, with the appointment of two general managers, while retaining APCA's already high levels of payments expertise and market knowledge," he said.The process of finding APCA's next CEO has commenced, according to the association's website. "The Board has established a selection panel with delegated authority to progress the recruitment process and bring recommendations back to the Board," said Craig.