Rich Wagner

Rich Wagner is an innovative and entrepreneurial senior executive with 30 years of successful payment experience in US and UK financial services.

An alum of the University of Southern California, Rich is an expert in launching and managing high growth financial services businesses internationally. He has spent the last decade at the helm of APS financial, the trading name of Advanced Payment Solutions Ltd (APS), transforming the UK’s banking landscape and empowering small businesses to thrive in our economy.

APS financial was born out of very real frustration with traditional banks. When Rich set up APS, he spent half a day filling out paperwork to open a business bank account and then had to wait a further four weeks for a decision. Like any small business, he needed something simple, fast and smart, from a service provider that understood his demand for immediacy.

In the decade that’s followed since APS opened for business and offered an alternative to the traditional banks, the firm has served nearly one million UK customers, including 900,000 individuals and 70,000 UK start-ups and small businesses disenchanted with high street banks.
Although APS is not a bank, Rich and his team know banks very well – and know how they operate.

This knowledge has enabled them to launch products and services that have seen 60% year-on-year growth in demand since APS was founded. In the last full financial year, APS processed nearly £1.7 billion of funds loaded or ‘deposited’ by customers into their accounts. This is a 54% growth on the previous financial year and over seven times the volume that we were processing just five years ago.
Rich, Chair of the Emerging Payments Association, and his experienced team have created one of the most awarded digital and mobile banking solutions in the industry.
Some of the results APS has delivered under Rich’s leadership include:

• Five years of profitability, a period in which turnover has increased by almost threefold
• £4.1 million EBITDA profit in year ended March 2016, reflecting a CAGR of 69% over the last 4 years
• £25.3 million in revenue in year ended March 2016, reflecting a CAGR of 29% over the last 4 years
• 61% CAGR in revenue on SME services since 2014
• 172% CAGR in revenue for our consumer credit card since we actively started to serve this market
• 80% gross margin across the APS Group (excluding interest costs on credit funding)

A self-confessed foodie, wine buff and anglophile, US born Rich lives in London and is a huge fan of the Great British Bake-Off. He was recently voted CEO of the Year in the 2016 Wealth & Finance International Awards.