Temasek’s blockchain payments platform Partior to open India R&D Centre, announces senior hires

BLOCKCHAIN-BASED payments platform Partior said it would open a research and development (R&D) centre in India as part of its line-up of international offices amid its global expansion plans.

Partior – founded by JPMorgan, DBS and Temasek in 2021 – was created through the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Ubin initiative, and is a blockchain-based peer-to-peer interbank clearing and settlement network.

Called the Hyderabad Development Centre, the R&D centre in India will “serve as a Web 3.0 centre of excellence, scaling the production and delivery of its technology”, as the company prepares the fourth-generation of its product this year, it said in a statement on Tuesday (Jun 21).

The company also announced additional hires for its executive leadership team.

This includes Stella Lim as chief operating officer, where she will be in charge of strategic global partnerships and strengthening the company’s organisational capabilities. Lim was most recently managing director of Asia-Pacific for Swift.

It also appointed Atul Bhuchar as head of product to formulate and execute the company’s global product strategy. Bhuchar was previously group payments head in global transaction services at DBS.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

Saxon Bartrop, who was previously group domain architecture head for wholesale banking (payments and channels) at UOB, will join as head of architecture, design and innovation to oversee the company’s innovation development.

The company also appointed Angie Ong – formerly head of product legal overseeing Meta’s Financial Technologies – as its general counsel, and Abhinava Kumar Singh as the technology head for the Hyderabad Development Centre. He was previously the director and engineering practice head for payments of banking and insurance company NatWest Group.

Partior chief executive Jason Thompson noted that the company’s high calibre senior talent is “testament to the transformational capabilities we bring to the financial sector”.

“Together with our new Hyderabad Development Centre, this marks a pivotal moment for Partior as we double down on growing our network and scaling our core services worldwide,” he said.

Partior said it is currently in advanced engagements with leading banks, central banks and fintech companies across 15 countries, adding that it will offer 8 global currencies – including the US dollar, euro and Japanese yen – on its platform by the end of 2022, with more by 2023.