Boudewijn Schenkels and Paul Alfing join Payments Advisory Group
Payments Advisory Group, a Netherlands-based consultancy specialised in payments and financial transactions, has in recent months added two new senior consultants to its ranks: Boudewijn Schenkels and Paul Alfing.
Boudewijn Schenkels has over 30 years' experience in banking and the consulting industry. He spent more than 25 years working for Rabobank, where he held a range of management, sales and account management roles. In 2010 Schenkels left the Dutch bank to work as an independent interim manager / consultant. His freelancing move took him to back familiar terrain however – over the past six years Schenkels delivered several engagements at Rabobank, including supporting a SEPA migration, providing advice to the bank's Proposal Desk and a project management role within a large technology transformation.
Per June 1st, Schenkels has affiliated with Payments Advisory Group, an Amsterdam-based consulting firm that specialises in payments advisory and execution. The firm was founded in 2011 by former Interpay managers Eddy Ouwendijk and Taco de Vries and today is run by four partners – besides the co-founders the firm's leadership also consists of Fred Bär (since 2013) and Paul van der Valk (joined earlier this year).
Schenkels brings extensive migration-, product- and implementation experience in the field of payments and savings to the consultancy, a feat which, according to Managing Partner Ouwendijk, will be of strong added value to Payments Advisory Group's service portfolio. "With his broad and deep banking experience in payments extending from SEPA, international payments and instant payments to financial logistics and trade finance, Boudewijn is a valuable addition to our team," comments Ouwendijk.
Paul Alfing will join Payments Advisory Group starting in January 2017 as a senior consultant, focussing primarily on the retail segment and online payments. Alfing currently works for Thuiswinkel.org, a Netherlands-based association for the Dutch retail sector, as a senior advisor Payments. In the capacity, Alfing is also chairman of the e-Payments committee of Ecommerce Europe*, a Brussels' based association co-founded by among others Thuiswinkel.org that represents 25.000+ companies selling products and/or services online to consumers in Europe.
Earlier in his career, Alfing worked for the Federation for the Dutch Food and Grocery Industry (FNLI) and security company Trigion (at the time operating as ICTS-NAS). Commenting on the addition of Alfing, Managing Partner de Vries says, "We are very pleased that Paul is joining our firm. With his experience, network, specific expertise and energy we're sure that Paul will contribute greatly to the further development of our business, especially in the dynamic environment of ecommerce and online payments."
According to a recent report by BCG, the global payments industry is set to hit $2 trillion by 2025, with emerging economies leading the growth.
* Ecommerce Europe regularly conducts research into trends and developments in the retail and e-commerce space. One of the researches was recently featured by Consultancy.uk – see the article 'European B2C e-commerce market breaks through €500 billion mark' for more details.
