A chat with Peter
Connective Payments, October 2020
With some 35 years of experience in Payments, Peter van der Hart is well known within the industry. In full battle dress you could easily mistake him for a pitman, and in some ways he is just that – always busy implementing, solving technical issues for companies like Visa, Allego and many more.
In three sentences, who is Peter van der Hart?
I am married with Rixta, have 3 children (Max, Tatum, Loïs) and live in Bussum, The Netherlands.
I have a passion for payments that started back in 1985, at Eurocard, Rotterdam.
I love to co-create, implementing tangible results, I am pragmatic, technical and commercial oriented, and I like working in an international environment.
How does the Payments industry appeal to you?
Since I started to work I always wanted to learn, so I changed jobs on a regular basis and at one point became a consultant. I created my own company in 2011 called Hart4Change.
Nice name.
I love change because change brings you new insights and makes you see new possibilities. So the last few years within the Payments industry have been very exciting.
New solutions, capabilities, initiatives, fintech… working for a mobile payments provider on QR based payments also made me aware that time to market, smart marketing and consumer adoption are key.
Why did you choose Connective Payments?
I knew Ward and Jeroen from Eurocard/Interpay and when they asked me to join, at first I was too busy, but later on said yes.
The team has evolved since then and Ronald and Eppo have done an excellent job of attracting new talent and charting a new course. Being part of this team is fun, I mean working together, sharing knowledge, helping each other.
What is your specialism?
I am a Subject Matter Expert on Payments and currently working as a Technical Lead Visa Debit for Visa. I am always looking at the End-to-End flow, apart from the happy flow there is an unhappy flow too. You could say I’m always looking for ways to improve products and processes, solve issues and meet technical challenges.
Which results are you most proud of?
I am proud of many results, but the latest was an EV charging (EMV) NFC solution for Allego. With this solution, EV drivers can pay their charging session with their contactless debit- or creditcard, NFC device or RFID token.
Furthermore, receipts can be downloaded and flexible pricing is possible for the CPO. Very innovative and co-created together with Ward Hagenaar, Payter, EMSPay, Visa, Allego and Shell UK. And a successful roll out together with Eppo Heemstra.
How do you keep up with all the developments in Payment services?
I follow different channels, blogs, social media like LinkedIn and discuss developments within Connective Payments, my network.
What are currently interesting developments in Payments ?
Payments are mostly seen as a commodity by the general public, but there is so much more to it than just tapping your card or NFC device to a contactless terminal. Currently developments are going faster than ever and adoption is going much quicker than before, by both consumers and merchants.
To choose the most interesting from the abundance of developments is difficult, but I would say SoftPOS (SoftWare POS), the focus on digital solutions and probably EPI.