MARK CARNEY, the former Governor of the Bank of England, has joined the board of global technology internet payments platform Stripe.
The Irish-founded company provides the technology for processing payments and enabling internet operations for more than one million businesses, including Zoom, Amazon, Shopify and Deliveroo.
Based in San Francisco and Dublin, Stripe was set up and continues to be steered by brothers Patrick, 30, and John Collison, 32.
Now living in California, they were born in Limerick but raised in the village of Dromineer, Co. Tipperary.
The brothers, already multi-billionaires, are set to increase their fortunes substantially as the company gears up for a funding round that could value the firm at $100billion.
A funding round is common in venture capitalism whereby successful companies attract investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors.
This is used to develop new technologies to add to existing platforms.
Patrick Collison, who founded Stripe with his brother John in 2010"Regulated in multiple jurisdictions and partnering with several dozen financial institutions around the world, Stripe will benefit from Mark Carney's extensive experience of global financial systems and governance,” the company’s website has announced.
In a statement, Mr Carney said: “The very nature of commerce has changed over the past decade.
“Stripe has been at the forefront of enabling this new digital economy, providing innovative and resilient global payment solutions to businesses large and small.
“In the process, Stripe has been breaking down barriers to global trade and accelerating economic output.
“I look forward to supporting Stripe over the coming years as they build the global infrastructure that enables the internet to become the engine for strong and inclusive economic growth.”
Mr Carney, an Irish passport holder as well as a Canadian citizen, has distant Irish relatives in Liverpool.
He has generally been viewed as a very successful Governor of the Bank of England.
John Collison, who lives in California, and his brother were born in Limerick but raised in TipperaryJohn Collison, president of the family-run company said: “As Stripe enters its second decade, Mark’s unparalleled experience of the highest levels of financial services and central banking will be of enormous benefit as we work to grow the GDP of the internet.
“From his desire to see faster settlement systems to his commitment to climate change mitigation, Mark’s values align with ours. We’re delighted he’s joining our Board of Directors.”
Stripe has proved itself one of the world’s most adept payments platforms in financial technology.
In November 2016, the Collison brothers became the world's youngest self-made billionaires after an investment in Stripe from CapitalG and General Catalyst valued the company at $9.2 billion.
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