VP, Merchant Payment Operations Manager - Korn Ferry : Job Details

About The Company

The client is a financial holding company headquartered in Jericho, New York, with one branch office in Jericho, New York and an administrative office in Boca Raton, Florida. Its wholly owned subsidiary is a full-service commercial bank dedicated to serving the financial needs of the litigation industry and small businesses nationally, as well as commercial and retail clients in the New York metropolitan area. The Bank offers tailored financial and payment processing solutions to the litigation community and their clients as well as dynamic and flexible payment processing solutions to small business owners.

While the financial services industry has faced many unique challenges in 2023, our client's steadfast focus of building long-term stakeholder value has made us one of the top performing financial institutions in the country over the past several years, including 2023. While some companies lose their clarity and purpose in the pursuit of short-term growth and earnings, our strategic path has remained very clear. We have always believed that a strong and fortified balance sheet (excess capital, solid credit quality, strong liquidity, and thoughtful interest rate risk management) anchored by outstanding client relationships will consistently generate long term (safe and sound) growth, industry leading performance metrics, and continued success into the future. Our consistent investment in resources clearly demonstrate the untapped potential growth in both the litigation and payment verticals nationally, ensures that we remain focused on strong risk management, and that we remain steadfast in our pursuit of “excellence in client service.”

About our Payments Business

We provide payment processing as an acquiring bank primarily through the third-party or ISO business model in which we process and clear credit and debit card transactions on behalf of merchants. This model is designed to mitigate the risks associated with merchant losses resulting from chargebacks, fraud, noncompliance issues or even ISO or merchant insolvency. In an ISO model, the bank and the ISO jointly enter into the merchant agreement with each merchant. To date, our client has not incurred any losses from its payment processing activities.

We entered into the payment processing business as an acquiring bank in 2012 in an effort to increase our noninterest income revenue and to provide cross selling opportunities for other business banking products and services. For the year ended December 31, 2023, payment processing revenues were approximately $22.3 million, which was 20.0% of our total revenue. At December 31, 2023, we had 27 active ISOs, servicing approximately 84,000 merchants, and for the year ended December 31, 2023, we processed $33.0 billion in card volume.

The payment processing (merchant acquiring) market has also been and will continue to be a significant growth opportunity for our Company, as we offer focused and tailored products and services to small businesses nationally. The payment industry grew 8.7% from 2019 to 2022 with payment volumes or TAM of $10.3 trillion according to company records on U.S. payment industry trends. Couple this with the fact that there are less than 100 acquiring financial institutions in the U.S., this vertical represents a significant growth opportunity for our Company.

About the Role of Vice President – Merchant Payments Operations Manager

As the management continues buildout our merchant services platform, we understand the value in hiring strong candidates in the accounting and operations functions ensuring we have appropriate internal controls as well as challenge and enhance our current processes. Our client is a smaller banking institution and dynamic environment where the successful candidate will be exposed to all elements of the bank allowing for a great opportunity to expand his or her professional skill set.

Payment Processor Utilities Supported by our platform: Global Payments (i.e. TSYS), FiSERV (i.e. First Data), Repay (i.e. Trisource)

Key Responsibilities:

• Key Independent Sales Organization (ISO) client treasury management contact who is also a key interface with processors & card brands
• Review proposed contracts, participate in sales negotiations, and assist in the onboarding of new relationships
• Lead and/or participate in projects including automation of existing processes as well as implementation of new products / businesses
• Manage the continued development of functional policies, procedures, operational controls, data management and information technology initiative
• Liaise with internal departments within the firm (e.g. Bank Operations, Compliance, Corporate Accounting, Merchant Sales and Underwriting, Merchant Risk, Retail Branch)
• Interact with internal and external auditors and assist in the coordination audits and reviews
• Manage an operations and settlement team of 5-7 that is responsible for:
• Daily clearance and settlement reconciliation and balancing processes including:
• DDA account reconciliations,
• Reconciling processor data vs cash movements,
• Clearance of reconciling items including chargebacks, ACH returns, and fees; and
• Posting of accounting entries
• Allocation of pass-through expenses to ISOs and quarterly card brand reporting
• Reconciliation and management of ISO and Merchant Reserves
• Monthly Internal Reporting – Statistical data / reserve analysis / Budget to Actual Performance
• Revenue recognition and preparation of monthly ISO residual invoicing
• Prepare and record monthly general ledger entries including, but not limited to, revenue recognition and related balance sheet movements for the business
• Reconcile, review and analyze balance sheet and income statement accounts on a monthly and quarterly basis as well as present the results to senior management
• Assist in the preparation of internal, external financial (SEC) and regulatory reporting

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance or Accounting preferred
• Minimum 10 years' combined experience in financial services or public accounting
• Payments industry treasury experience (ISOs / Processors / Card brands) highly preferred
• Strong Management Ability including, but not limited to:
• Strong interpersonal and team-building skills required
• Articulate with excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Attention to detail and time management are essential skills for this role
• Ability to multi-task, prioritize and work in a fast-paced environment

SE# 510667891