Named-Account Sales · US Payments

A bank can modernize every rail and still fail to modernize payments.

Finastra's installed base presents a distinct commercial challenge: identify where fragmentation compounds cost, quantify it with the client, and build a joint expansion roadmap. That's the account motion I would bring to Finastra.

120%
Of quota at Intuit — complex software to SMB and mid-market buyers
$500K → $1M+
Book-of-business growth over 18 months as primary revenue producer at EBS
14 Years
Full-cycle B2B sales across merchant payments, embedded infrastructure, and vertical SaaS

Fragmentation compounds. Modernization doesn't fix it by default.

The strategic case for Finastra's payments hub isn't only speed or compliance. It's commercial optionality — and most banks haven't priced the cost of not having it.

A bank can modernize every rail and still fail to modernize payments.

Upgrading ACH, FedNow, RTP, wire, and cross-border as separate projects can leave a bank with newer components and the same fragmented operating model. More vendors. More interfaces. More exception queues. More future integration work arriving with every new requirement. A collection of modern rails is not a modern payments operation — it's the same architectural debt with newer labels on the boxes.

The Fragmentation Cost

Each rail added as an isolated project multiplies the interfaces, operating procedures, and exception-handling workloads a bank must maintain. That cost compounds invisibly — until a new regulatory requirement, a fraud event, or a corporate client RFP makes it visible all at once.

The Consolidation Opportunity

A common payments foundation — Global PAYplus processing multiple rails through one configurable layer — doesn't just reduce interfaces. It creates an expansion path: new rails faster, AI-assisted exception handling via OperatorAssist, real-time fraud controls, and differentiated corporate connectivity without rebuilding the operating model each time.

Many ROIs, Not One

Instant payments affect cost-to-serve, retention, wallet share, new fee services, corporate cash management, reconciliation, competitive positioning, and time to revenue — not merely transaction speed. The account conversation that opens with one ROI leaves six others on the table.

Fraud as an Expansion Wedge

Real-time settlement sharply compresses the available intervention window. Finastra's AI-driven fraud-prevention capability, available to Financial Messaging customers, creates a concrete cross-sell conversation — not a vague "AI transformation" pitch. The urgency is built into the rail.

An account seller who maps fragmentation before pitching a solution

My experience spans merchant payments, embedded-payment ecosystems, and complex financial operations. I would bring that commercial foundation to Finastra while developing deeper fluency in bank payment hubs, financial messaging, and real-time rails.

Named-Account Discipline

I map accounts before I work them — current capabilities owned, where rail, messaging, fraud, and exception-handling remain fragmented, and which gaps carry the most quantifiable cost. The account plan shapes the conversation before the first call.

Payments Infrastructure Fluency

14 years spanning merchant acquiring, ISO operations, embedded payments infrastructure, and vertical SaaS payments ecosystems. I speak the operating layer — not just the product layer — which is the difference between a vendor conversation and a strategic one.

Multi-Stakeholder Navigation

Finastra's account motion requires trust across business and IT. I build multi-threaded relationships deliberately — mapping who controls budget, who owns operations, and who has the political capital to move a joint roadmap through internal approval.

Expansion Through Quantification

The strongest expansion conversation isn't a product demo — it's a cost model the client's own operations and finance stakeholders helped build. I would work with those teams to quantify fragmentation costs in terms their CFO can act on and sequence into a roadmap the CTO can own.

A repeatable expansion methodology for the installed base

Named-account growth requires a different motion than new-logo hunting. The entry point is already established — the question is what's costing the client money that Finastra already has a solution for.

1

Capability Audit

Determine which Finastra capabilities the account already owns, how they're deployed, and where adjacent solutions — Global PAYplus, OperatorAssist, Financial Messaging, fraud tooling — are absent or handled by a competing vendor.

2

Fragmentation Mapping

Map where rail, messaging, exception handling, and corporate connectivity remain fragmented across the account's current operating model. Quantify — in operational terms — what maintaining that fragmentation costs per year.

3

Multi-ROI Framing

Identify every dimension where consolidation delivers return: cost-to-serve reduction, STP improvement, fraud loss mitigation, new corporate fee services, faster rail adoption, reduced vendor management overhead. Price the full stack — not one ROI.

4

Joint Roadmap Construction

Build a sequenced expansion plan with the account — prioritizing the next agreed capability or modernization priority that delivers both immediate ROI and future optionality. A joint roadmap converts a vendor relationship into a strategic partnership that survives leadership changes.

5

Executive Alignment and Close

Bring the commercial case to the right level — business and IT, operations and finance. Coordinate internal Finastra stakeholders (senior management, solutions consulting, implementation) to advance the pursuit from intent to signed expansion.

The thinking that informed this perspective

This perspective draws on Finastra's recent thinking across payment-hub modernization, instant payments, operational AI, fraud prevention, and API-enabled banking.

Map the accounts before moving the accounts

Days 1–30

Learn & Audit

  • Deep-dive into Finastra's US Payments product suite — Global PAYplus, OperatorAssist, Financial Messaging, fraud tooling, open-banking APIs — at the operating and commercial level.
  • Review all assigned accounts: current capabilities owned, deployment status, contract renewals, known friction points, and existing relationships.
  • Build initial fragmentation hypotheses per account — where is the operating model costing money that Finastra already solves?
  • Identify the internal Finastra stakeholders — senior management, solutions consulting, implementation — and establish working relationships.
Days 31–60

Validate & Map

  • Run structured discovery with each named account: validate or kill the fragmentation hypotheses built in month one.
  • Identify multi-stakeholder coverage gaps — who in each account controls budget, owns operations, and has the authority to advance a joint roadmap.
  • Translate operational friction into quantified cost models the account's own finance and operations teams can validate.
  • Build account-specific expansion narratives connecting Finastra capabilities to measurable client outcomes — STP improvement, fraud loss reduction, fee revenue creation, vendor consolidation savings.
Days 61–90

Activate & Advance

  • Present joint roadmap proposals to the right stakeholder levels — framed as strategic partnership documents, not product proposals.
  • Coordinate Finastra internal resources to advance the highest-priority opportunities through executive alignment and defined commercial next steps.
  • Establish pipeline reporting by account, capability, deal stage, and projected revenue — with forecasting data maintained in CRM.
  • Identify the next tier of expansion conversations inside each account based on roadmap sequencing, validated priorities, and expected ROI.

Complex accounts grow when operational friction becomes a commercial roadmap.

I bring 14 years of full-cycle B2B sales across payments, embedded infrastructure, and vertical SaaS, with a record of learning complex products quickly and translating them into business outcomes. At Finastra, I would apply that discipline to named US Payments accounts: understand what each institution owns, uncover where fragmentation still creates cost or limits growth, and coordinate the right teams to advance a credible expansion strategy.

Thomas Jennings
Named-Account Sales · Payments Infrastructure · Fintech · SaaS
913-405-4551 tjennings.payments@gmail.com linkedin.com/in/lithomas-jennings-saas