Andrew Hocking, CEO, Tribe Payments
Today we're meeting Andrew Hocking, Chief Executive Officer at Tribe Payments. They specialise in issuer and acquirer processing.
Over to you Andrew - my questions are in bold:
Who are you and what's your background?
I've always been fascinated by the mechanics of finance and the transformative power of strategy. After earning a degree in Economics from Aberystwyth University in 1997, I spent a decade sharpening my skills in analyst and strategy roles at organisations including West Bromwich Building Society, Nelson Thornes, and eventually Barclaycard. That's where my journey into payments truly began, leading strategy, planning, and integration projects across both Barclays Group and Absa.
During that time, I returned to academia and completed an MBA at Warwick Business School in 2007, which helped me deepen my leadership capabilities and broaden my understanding of organisational growth. Since then, I've held senior roles at Elavon, Network International, and Pay.com, gaining global experience across the payments ecosystem.
In 2023, I joined Tribe as Chief Strategy Officer, and a year later, I stepped up as CEO. It's felt like a natural evolution – bringing together everything I've learned in fintech, strategy, and leadership to help shape the future of payments.
What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?
I'm the CEO of Tribe Payments. My role is to lead the business through its next stage of growth and innovation. That includes driving our global expansion, securing new investment, and ensuring our platform continues to meet the evolving needs of fintechs, banks, and merchants.
Day to day, I work closely with our leadership team to identify strategic opportunities, assess new markets, and ensure we're staying agile – something that's been a big part of Tribe's DNA from day one.
Can you give us an overview of your business?
Tribe Payments is a leading digital payments and infrastructure orchestrator specialising in issuer and acquirer processing. We're powering the next generation of banking and payments. We provide the backend infrastructure behind some of the world's most innovative fintechs and banks, enabling them to launch and scale cutting-edge payment products.
We were the first certified processor in Europe to support issuing and acquiring across Visa, Mastercard, and UnionPay, and our platform was built cloud-native and modular from the ground up. That means clients can mix and match the capabilities they need – without risking downtime or disruption – and scale at their own pace. Our offering spans issuer and acquirer processing, over 250 customisable APIs, and value-added services like real-time fraud monitoring and compliance tools.
The flexibility of our platform is what sets us apart – it's designed for changemakers who need to move fast without compromising on security or performance. Put simply: we're not just a technology provider; we're a strategic partner helping clients innovate confidently in a complex payments landscape.
Tell us how you are funded?
Founder funded.
What's the origin story? Why did you start the company? To solve what problems?
Tribe was founded in 2018 in response to the frustrations caused by outdated, inflexible payment infrastructure. Our founder experienced firsthand how legacy systems were holding back innovation, especially for emerging fintechs that needed scalable, agile solutions. Tribe set out to change that – with a fully cloud-native, modular platform built to deliver flexibility, interoperability, and speed from the outset.
We were among the first processors to make Open Banking capabilities accessible, empowering even the smallest players to compete. Born from a genuine customer pain point, Tribe remains rooted in solving real-world challenges – enabling ambitious businesses to break free from legacy constraints and shape the future of finance.
Who are your target customers? What's your revenue model?
Our core customers include fintech startups, digital banks, crypto platforms, and embedded finance providers – essentially, any organisation looking to build and scale payments quickly and securely.
We operate a usage-based revenue model, where clients pay for the services that they use, such as transaction processing, card issuing, and value-added tools like compliance and risk management.
One great example is Orenda Finance, who partnered with us to launch issuer processing capabilities. They issued 10,000 cards in under two months, with added benefits from our real-time risk monitoring tools, ensuring robust compliance and fraud prevention from the start.
If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?
I'd reduce the fragmentation in the payments ecosystem. As new technologies emerge, the landscape becomes more complex – not just for consumers, but for businesses trying to integrate and scale.
This fragmentation leads to duplicated efforts, inconsistent standards, and a slower pace of innovation. Too often, businesses are stuck managing infrastructure rather than building great customer experiences.
A move towards greater interoperability and standardisation would accelerate progress across the board, allowing companies to focus on innovation instead of integration.
What is your message for the larger players in the Financial Services marketplace?
Customer expectations are no longer shaped just by other financial institutions – they're shaped by tech giants and other online, transactional experiences. People expect speed, transparency, and personalisation as standard. But many traditional institutions are still constrained by legacy systems, silos, and slow innovation cycles.
The challenge isn't to "catch up" to fintechs, it's to think differently. That means embracing partnerships, adopting modular infrastructure, and building for adaptability. Those willing to change how they build and deliver services will be the ones who stay relevant and thrive in this new landscape.
Finally, let's talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?
We're entering a new phase of optimisation in payments. One key trend is the rise of cost-efficient alternatives like pay-by-bank, as merchants seek to reduce the high fees associated with card payments.
We'll see more businesses incentivising customers to use these lower-cost options at checkout. Strategic partnerships will also continue to shape the market – think Stripe with Uber or Plaid with Adyen. These collaborations enhance functionality and accelerate innovation.
We'll also see more investment in biller solutions – J.P. Morgan's work with Mastercard to streamline pay-by-bank is a good example. All of this points to an industry focused on improving efficiency, enabling flexibility, and elevating the end-user experience.
Thank you very much, Andrew!
Read more about Andrew on LinkedIn and find out more about Tribe Payments at www.tribepayments.com.