Worldpay poaches Santander executive Jackson to lead UK arm

A top executive at Banco Santander (Amsterdam: 817651.AS - news) is leaving the Spanish lender to head the UK operations of Worldpay, the FTSE-100 payments group.

Sky News understands that Peter Jackson, a former chief executive of Travelex, the foreign currency provider, will be named on Thursday as the new managing director of Worldpay UK.

Mr Jackson, who also serves as a non-executive director of Santander UK (LSE: 44RS.L - news) , Britain's fifth-biggest bank, will replace Dave Hobday, who resigned from Worldpay in December to become chief executive of the RAC (Taiwan OTC: 2237.TWO - news) , the breakdown recovery service.

He has headed Santander's group innovation function since the beginning of last year‎, where he has been responsible for spearheading initiatives to anticipate technological changes in global banking.

Mr Jackson is also a board member of Paddy Power Betfair (Other OTC: PDYPF - news) , the betting group.

His new appointment will come just hours after the former private equity backers of Worldpay sold their last-remaining shares in the company.

Advent International and Bain Capital offloaded roughly 11% of the payments group in a transaction that generated about £600m.

Worldpay shares closed on Wednesday up slightly at 287.7p, giving the company a market value of £5.72bn.

Since its listing last year, the payments processing technology company has announced plans to launch in a number of overseas markets, including Australia and Canada.

Led by Philip Jansen, its chief executive, Worldpay was previously owned by Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) , which was ordered to sell the business under the terms of its state aid agreement in 2009.

By joining one of the newest financial services companies in London's leading ‎share index, Mr Jackson will place himself among the contenders to eventually succeed Mr Jansen.

‎Worldpay's other senior executives - Kim Goodman, who runs its US operations, and Shane Happach, who heads its global e-commerce division - are also likely to be candidates for the top job, although Mr Jansen is unlikely to move on for several years.

Worldpay and Santander, which is expected to look externally for Mr Jackson's successor, declined to comment on Wednesday.