Technology leaders in financial services are no longer just responsible for uptime and infrastructure. As the payments landscape becomes a key battleground for customer experience and competitive advantage, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) has emerged as a strategic force, shaping systems and business outcomes while getting closer to the customer and the coalface.
In this blog, we explore how CTOs are approaching payment transformation, the cross-functional impact of payments infrastructure, and what matters when selecting the right technology partner.
We’ll be exploring the capabilities of a CTO, how their impact is measured and their strategy is implemented, asking how they can step forward confidently, whatever might be around the corner – because we all know that when it comes to technology, change is coming.
In this blog, we'll be looking at:
- Taking payments from function to business fuel
- Function and focus
- Leading across organisations
- Measuring what matters
- Being in charge of change
- The CTO as payments champion
Taking payments from function to business fuel
In contrast to their executive peers in Chief Information Officer (CIO) posts, CTOs tend to focus externally, on customers, products, and technological growth. While CTOs may be technical experts with deep experience in technology, when it comes to IT infrastructure, data security and cost, typically, that’s a CIO remit.
It would be easy, then, to assume that payments fell squarely into the CIO’s lap. Not so.
That’s because, like many commercially driven C-Suite roles, the modern CTO increasingly manages payments not as a cost centre but as a platform for value creation, sitting at the heart of the CTO’s customer-focused agenda.
With the right approach, payments can underpin smarter decision-making, unlock new revenue streams, and enhance the customer experience.
That’s hardly news for experienced executives, but when it comes to the strategic impact of radically improved UX and smooth, integrated, data-rich transactions, a successful embedded payment strategy becomes something many CTOs want to personally ensure their business gets right.
Function and focus
For CTOs already juggling bug fixes, product sprints and the intricacies of software SLAs, it’s no small task to get hands-on with their company’s payments. However, few other leaders have the particular skills to untangle fragmented and opaque legacy payments infrastructure and critically assess the business impacts around of how customers pay and suppliers get paid.
Where company ROI and cost control may be the focus for the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) (another important C-Suite peer), for CTOs the bigger question is a solution’s scalability, integration, resilience and alignment with long-term architecture.
It’s a multidimensional challenge that calls for technical fluency with commercial vision – blending an embedded payments platform that not only works for the business, but also simply works, reliably and for the long-term.
Batch processing, manual oversight and complex internal reconciliations are par for the course in many old payment structures. A CTO’s experience in maintaining uptime through change could hardly prepare them better for the task.
And in evaluating their payments, a forward-looking CTO will assess how platforms integrate, protect, and scale. Does it plug cleanly into their existing architecture? Are its APIs developer-friendly and well-documented? Can it adapt to open banking use cases and future innovation?
Modular, API-first platforms are replacing monolithic systems. Real-time visibility, continuous compliance, and embedded fraud controls are becoming baseline expectations when it comes to tech. These platforms don't just make operations more efficient – they enable entirely new experiences.
Quite what those experiences will be is a key question for CTOs to answer.
One Modulr client recently transitioned to an integrated embedded payments service, saving half the salary of a full-time employee in reconciliation costs alone. Another client has been able to transform its customer offering, disbursing loans within 90 seconds of an approved request thanks to integration with the UK’s Faster Payments scheme – something impossible without embedded payments.
Leading across organisations
Modern payments infrastructure touches every part of the business, and CTOs must now operate beyond their traditional domain.
Security is non-negotiable and dangers to all businesses are persistent and real. Payments infrastructure needs to protect against sophisticated threats, meet evolving data protection standards and offer clear monitoring and controls. Technology, product, finance and a variety of other functions must be brought together and led by a genuine executive sponsor – CTOs can be best placed to be that leader.
A strong relationship with the CFO is critical. While CTOs prioritise flexibility and resilience, CFOs are focused on costs and risk. The most effective CTOs can translate technical benefits into financial value – for example, how instant settlement can improve working capital or reduce operational overhead, or how card issuance in local currencies can bring down FX costs when paying international suppliers.
Operational leaders, meanwhile, need confidence that new systems won’t disrupt day-to-day processes. Successful CTOs navigate this by managing change through phased rollouts, clear communication and robust fallback plans.
When done right, payments infrastructure becomes a platform for innovation. It enables frictionless journeys, creates operational agility, and unlocks new commercial opportunities.
Take the vehicle marketplace Motorway as an example. The UK’s fastest growing used-car marketplace has brought the final stage of its customer journey online through embedded payments, gaining visibility of ‘the last mile’ of sales and unlocking a wide range of sales, operational, marketing, security and technology rewards in the process.
Measuring what matters
The most effective CTOs focus on business outcomes, not just technical metrics. That might mean reducing checkout abandonment, shortening reconciliation cycles, or enabling entry into new markets through multi-currency support. It might mean assessing fraud detection performance without compromising the customer experience.
What matters is clarity: setting the right KPIs early and aligning teams around shared goals.
Great infrastructure is only part of the equation. CTOs are also investing in the right people. That means building teams with specific expertise in payments protocols, compliance frameworks and customer expectations – talent that goes beyond the capabilities of a generalist developers and into engineers focused on the widest possible impact of their work.
Rolling out new payments infrastructure is about more than signing a contract and connecting an API. It takes careful planning, alignment, and staged delivery.
With cross-functional collaboration key to a payment transformation in a business, it is essential to have leader able to rally product managers, compliance leads and commercial analysts together behind smarter, customer-first experiences.
Being in charge of change
Effective CTOs start by understanding their current setup – what’s working, where the pain points are, and what needs to change. They bring other departments into the decision-making process early, making sure technical ambitions are matched by operational readiness. And when it’s time to go live, they phase the rollout and stress-test for resilience.
Payments are subject to constant regulatory evolution. But CTOs who build with flexibility and foresight don’t just stay compliant – they turn regulation into a competitive advantage.
From Strong Customer Authentication and AML requirements to the promise of open banking and VRP, infrastructure should support secure, compliant execution by default. Adaptability matters too: regulation evolves, and CTOs need to build systems that evolve with it.
The CTO as payments champion
Payments aren’t just plumbing anymore – they’re strategy builders for businesses smart enough to harness them. Payments affect how quickly your business moves, how well it serves customers, and how effectively it grows.
CTOs who lead on payments are positioning themselves at the heart of business transformation. And with the right partner, they can deliver that change without the legacy burden.
If you’re looking to modernise your payments infrastructure, we’d love to help.
Speak to Modulr today to find out what’s possible through payments.
