RITESH T. — Co-Founder

With 14 years in fintech and banking, I’m a C-suite product leader passionate about building secure, scalable financial infrastructure that powers global commerce. I specialize in launching and scaling digital payment products, delivering strategic growth, and driving platform innovation. As Chief Product Officer at Castler, I’ve led the creation of India’s first escrow-connected banking platform, integrated with 14+ leading banks. This platform supports 2,000+ transactions per second, includes UPI and E-Nach, and serves lending, marketplace, and SaaS clients with real-time control over funds. We’ve achieved PCI DSS Level 1, SOC2, and ISO 27001 certifications, cementing our commitment to security and compliance. Previously at Visa, I was the Product Lead for Tokenization and Click to Pay across the UK and Ireland. I managed strategic partnerships with merchants like M&S, Adyen, and Stripe, and banks like HSBC and Lloyds—driving a multi-million-dollar revenue stream and significantly reducing fraud via tokenization. These efforts enhanced user experience, payment security, and merchant success across the region. My product expertise spans Open Banking, Card Issuing, Real-Time Payments, Cross-Border Transactions, and API-first ecosystems, with hands-on collaboration with Mastercard, CurrencyCloud, Western Union, and major banks. I blend strategic thinking with execution, focusing on secure architecture, customer-centric design, and agile delivery. Recognized under the UK Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visa, I’m driven by the vision of a borderless financial system—where secure, instant, and trusted digital payments are accessible to all.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Fintech expert with a focus on secure digital payment solutions and product innovation.

Experience: 13 yrs 10 mos

Skills

Product Strategy
Payments
Tokenization
Go-to-market Strategy

Career Highlights

Pioneered India's first escrow-connected banking platform.
Led multi-million dollar revenue growth at Visa through tokenization.
Recognized under the UK Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visa.

Work Experience

Stealth Mode Fintech Startup

Founder (4 mos)

Castler

Co-Founder - Chief Product Officer (2 yrs 3 mos)

Visa

Product Lead Tokenisation - UK & Ireland (1 yr 5 mos)

ParentPay

Group Head- Payments & Banking Product (2 yrs 4 mos)

OMNIO

Head- Digital Payment Products (3 yrs 6 mos)

Barclays

Senior Consultant (2 yrs 7 mos)

Bupa Global

Consultant (2 yrs 4 mos)

Education

Master of Business Administration - MBA at Indian Institute of Management Raipur

Business Strategy at Harvard Business School

Post Graduation Diploma in Business Analytics at Aegis School of Business, Data Science & Telecommunication

B.TECH at GAUTAM BUDDH TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

RITESH T.

Co-Founder

United Kingdom13 yrs 10 mos experience

Key Highlights

Pioneered India's first escrow-connected banking platform.
Led multi-million dollar revenue growth at Visa through tokenization.
Recognized under the UK Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visa.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Fintech expert with a focus on secure digital payment solutions and product innovation.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Product StrategyPaymentsTokenizationGo-to-market Strategy

Other Skills

Problem SolvingProduct DeliveryOpen BankingTokenization (Card-on-File, VTS)Business RequirementsDemosTechnical Product ManagementProduct LaunchAgile MethodologiesProduct DevelopmentBankingRequirements AnalysisRegression TestingWeb ApplicationsScrum

About

Experience

13 yrs 10 mos

Total Experience

2 yrs 4 mos

Average Tenure

4 mos

Current Experience

Stealth mode fintech startup

Founder

Jan 2026 – Present · 4 mos

Castler

Co-Founder - Chief Product Officer

Oct 2023 – Jan 2026 · 2 yrs 3 mos · On-site

Scaled Castler's transaction banking infrastructure to 2,500+ TPS, serving 12+ banks including ICICI, IDFC FIRST, Axis Bank, and Standard Chartered
Launched India’s first cloud-native source code escrow platform – setting a new standard for BCP and compliance with RBI mandates.
Acquired India’s first IFSCA license for escrow PSP services and account issuance in GIFT City
Designed and launched a cross-border transaction platform leveraging PSP capabilities in Singapore
Delivered end-to-end B2B payout integration for Pine Labs’ commercial card product
Opened and scaled a dedicated Noida tech delivery center – tripled product and tech team in under 12 months
Led ISO 27001 and PCI-DSS Level 1 compliance implementation to support enterprise-grade security
Successfully launched Castler Pro – a GTM-focused escrow transaction platform for high-throughput clients
Shaped connected banking stack with Axis Bank Open Banking – one of only three fintechs in India to do so

Problem SolvingProduct DeliveryProduct StrategyPayments

Visa

Product Lead Tokenisation - UK & Ireland

May 2022 – Oct 2023 · 1 yr 5 mos

Led Visa Token Service (VTS) and Account Updater Suite for top-tier acquirers and enterprise merchants across the UK & Ireland, ensuring secure, seamless card-on-file and credential update experiences
Held direct responsibility for a double-digit million GBP annual revenue target for Visa’s network tokenization and digital credentials suite in the region
Successfully drove 2.4% month-on-month growth in token penetration — exceeding scorecard KPIs by over 9%
Developed and executed a comprehensive 18-month GTM roadmap focused on revenue, CX, acquirer onboarding, and product quality enhancements
Played a hands-on role in helping global acquirers like Stripe, Adyen, and Worldpay successfully migrate to tokenized card-on-file infrastructure, supporting solution architecture, testing, and go-live readiness
Collaborated with Visa’s global product delivery and engineering teams to lead feature enhancements and troubleshoot complex integration scenarios
Selected for the UK & Ireland Leadership Group,

Problem SolvingProduct DeliveryOpen BankingTokenization (Card-on-File, VTS)Go-to-Market StrategyTokenization

Parentpay

Group Head- Payments & Banking Product

Jan 2020 – May 2022 · 2 yrs 4 mos

Headed the entire Payments & Banking Product Solutions portfolio across ParentPay Group, covering Card Payments, ClicktoPay, BACs, Direct Debit mandates, PayPoint collections, QR-based payments, and the Nimbl Teenage Account (Mastercard).
Directed a global team across Europe & Asia, managing payments for 4.7M+ payers and 20,000+ schools across the UK, Netherlands, and Germany.
Worked closely with the Senior Management and Montagu Private Equity partners during the acquisition of SIMS (Capita’s Education Software Solutions), contributing to due diligence, integration, and investment planning in one of the UK’s largest EdTech transactions.
Key member in the acquisition of BlueRunner (corporate meal ordering platform), expanding ParentPay’s ecosystem into enterprise catering and meal management.
Supported international expansion into the Nordics by partnering with Mollie Payments, opening up new growth markets for ParentPay.
Delivered regulatory compliance projects well ahead of deadlines, including 3DSv2 and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) under UK Finance.
Successfully launched Click to Pay with Visa and Mastercard, enabling seamless, secure digital checkout for millions of parents.
Championed Open Banking API integrations with leading UK banks and global card schemes, keeping ParentPay at the forefront of fintech innovation.
Scaled bank transfer adoption to 40% across the group, optimising costs and improving reliability of payment processing.
Expanded the Nimbl Card proposition with new features and SCA-compliant card offerings, supporting financial education and inclusion for young people.