Founding Faculty
Lucy Underwood: Payments Partnerships, Product & Commercial Strategy Expert
Founding Faculty · Payment Faculty
Lucy Underwood is a senior payments professional with more than three decades of experience spanning banking, merchant acquiring, payment technology, gateways, software partnerships and commercial payments strategy.
Her career has included senior partnership and commercial roles across banking, fintech and payments technology, working with acquirers, gateways, software companies and major payment partners.
At a glance
- 30+ years in payments
- Banking, acquiring & fintech
- Payments partnerships
- Product & commercial strategy
- Software & ISV partnerships
- Merchant acquiring
About Lucy Underwood
Lucy has worked across the payments industry for more than 30 years, building experience across banking, merchant acquiring, payment technology, software and strategic partnerships.
Her career has involved helping organisations develop payment propositions, build commercial partnerships, work with acquiring and gateway providers, integrate payments into software platforms and take payment products to market.
She brings particular experience at the point where payments, technology and commercial strategy meet. She helps organisations understand not only how a payment proposition should work technically, but how the provider, partnership and commercial model should fit around it.
Lucy has worked with organisations ranging from established banks and global payment businesses to fintechs, software providers and emerging payments companies.
As a member of the Founding Faculty at Payment Faculty, Lucy helps support the quality and commercial relevance of the Faculty and provides expertise across partnerships, acquiring, payment technology and go-to-market strategy.
Areas of payments expertise
Payments partnerships
Developing commercial and strategic relationships between banks, acquirers, gateways, fintechs, software companies and other participants in the payments ecosystem.
Product & commercial strategy
Reviewing payment propositions, commercial models, routes to market and the relationships required to make payment products commercially viable.
Merchant acquiring
Experience across merchant acquiring, acquiring partnerships and the commercial structures surrounding card acceptance and payment processing.
Gateways & payment orchestration
Understanding gateway models, payment technology, provider ecosystems and how merchants or software businesses can structure multi-provider payment propositions.
Software & ISV partnerships
Helping software businesses, ISVs and payment providers develop integrated payment relationships and embed payments within wider technology propositions.
Go-to-market & provider strategy
Helping organisations assess payment partners, build propositions, develop routes to market and make commercially informed provider and partnership decisions.
Payments career
2026 to present
Independent Payments Advisory
Lucy moved into independent payments advisory work following her corporate payments career, focusing on areas including acquiring, gateways, software vendors, partnerships and payment strategy.
2023 to 2025
Lloyds Banking Group / Lloyds Bank Cardnet
Payments partnerships
Lucy worked within the Lloyds / Cardnet payments partnership environment, supporting strategic relationships across payments and integrated technology.
Her public industry activity during this period included payment partnerships and integrated-payments relationships.
2022 to 2023
Monek
Director of Partnerships
Payment partnerships, gateway relationships, integrated payments and commercial development.
2021 to 2022
APEXX Global
Head of Partnerships
Lucy joined payment orchestration platform APEXX Global as Head of Partnerships.
Her role focused on developing the partnership ecosystem around APEXX's global payments proposition.
2020 to 2021
Finastra
Strategic Partnership Director
Lucy worked within Finastra on strategic partnerships, including responsibility for a major technology partnership.
2014 to 2020
Sage / Sage Pay
Lucy spent approximately six years within Sage and Sage Pay in senior commercial and partnership roles.
Her work involved relationships with major payment organisations and supporting payment technology across Sage's software ecosystem.
- Strategic relationships
- Payments and banking partnerships
- Commercial development
- Software and payments
- Global payment partners
Global Payments / HSBC Merchant Services
Lucy held a number of payments and commercial roles within the Global Payments / HSBC Merchant Services environment.
Her experience included merchant acquiring, commercial development and payment services.
2005 to 2008
HSBC
Product Manager, International Acquiring
Lucy worked on international merchant acquiring and payment propositions.
From 1989
Midland Bank / HSBC
Lucy began her banking career with Midland Bank / HSBC and subsequently developed her career into merchant services and payments.
This early banking experience provides the foundation for a payments career spanning more than three decades.
Recognition
- 2009Global Payments Circle of ExcellenceRecognised as a high achiever.
- 2011Global Payments Circle of ExcellenceRecognised as a high achiever.
- 2011HSBC Merchant Services Innovation Award
Experience across the payments ecosystem
- Banking
- Merchant acquiring
- Payment gateways
- Payment orchestration
- Fintech
- SaaS / software
- ISVs
- Strategic partnerships
- Integrated payments
- Commercial strategy
- Provider relationships
- Go-to-market
This breadth gives Lucy experience of payments from several sides of the ecosystem: bank, acquirer, technology provider, software partner and commercial partnership.
Practical payments experience
Payments decisions rarely sit neatly within a single area. A provider decision can affect technology, commercial terms, customer experience, partnerships and long-term strategy.
Lucy's career across acquiring, banking, payment technology and software partnerships gives her the ability to consider those elements together rather than looking at payments purely as a product or procurement decision.
Lucy's role at Payment Faculty
As Founding Faculty, Lucy helps shape the professional standards and commercial relevance of Payment Faculty.
Her role can include:
- Supporting Faculty member assessment
- Contributing payments-industry expertise
- Helping review relevant project requirements
- Supporting quality standards
- Contributing to Payment Faculty content and industry guidance
- Helping ensure the Faculty remains grounded in current payments practice
Payments industry involvement
Lucy remains actively involved in the payments industry through:
- Payments events
- Professional networks
- Industry discussions
- Partnerships
- Fintech and payments community activity
- Ongoing professional engagement
External profiles & references
Lucy Underwood is a member of the Founding Faculty at Payment Faculty. Her profile describes professional experience and areas of payments expertise. Payment Faculty is not a law firm, accountancy practice or regulated legal adviser, and specialist legal, regulatory or tax advice should be obtained where required.
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