Onboarding, risk & compliance: a chat with Niek
Connective Payments team interview, februari 2021
Introduction
Niek Röselaers joined Connective Payments in 2018 as an Associate Partner. Trained as a Risk & Compliance professional, Niek has developed a special interest in the fields of FinTech and RegTech. Having worked for multiple Payment Service Providers, he specialised in optimising and automating digital onboarding and transaction monitoring processes. He focuses on matching AML legislation and guidelines with the fast innovation that characterises the FinTech branch. Time for a chat.
Who is Niek Röselaers?
“Do you always start with the most difficult question? Let’s see. My love Bibi and I live in the rural suburbs of the Great Metropole of Dirkshorn. In other words, in the middle of nowhere and out in nature, no offence to Dirkshorn of course. Professionally, I am known for my positive energy, drive to push innovation and risk awareness. In my spare time, I enjoy going out into nature, to exercise, to read about history and economics, and to further enhance my skills as a software developer.”
Payments
How did you get involved in the Payments industry?
“Back in 2012, I was lucky to be one of the first dozen people employed at Mollie. I shared responsibility for all finance related activities, such as reporting, auditing, monitoring and optimising automated financial processes. Not long after, I advanced to become Mollie’s first Compliance & Risk Officer to build the foundation for future growth.
Working at Payments companies like Mollie and later EMS, ING and Payvision, I experienced that I enjoy getting deeper and deeper into the Payments matter. The more you know about a subject, the more you’re aware of what you still don’t know – and are eager to find out. I think Payments is pre-eminently a field of expertise in which this desire to keep digging is satisfied.”
Digital Onboarding
Risk and Compliance is one of your areas of expertise. Can you elaborate a bit more?
“The amount of innovative legislation in the area of payments is staggering. There is so much to explore in this field… At Mollie, I became intrigued by the digital onboarding process. The challenge was to onboard new merchants within a 15 minute timeframe, whilst adhering to strict AML legislation and the company’s risk appetite. We developed a fully automated process that is still operational today. It remains one of Mollie’s important success factors. After Mollie, I worked at EMS as a Risk & Compliance Business Analyst, closely connected to the IT supplier. Our project team delivered a digital onboarding solution to provide for future strategic competitiveness. At the moment, my role as a Policy House Alignment Lead at Payvision is to act as a linking pin between the ING and Payvision organisation, ensuring the quality of the policy house adoption process.”
What are you most proud of?
“To be part of teams designing and implementing digital processes from scratch, that prove to be fully scalable in a risk controlled environment such as digital onboarding processes, transaction monitoring and alert handling.”
Podcast success
Another initiative you must be proud of is “Compliance Adviseert”, a Dutch podcast which you started a year ago, together with Erik Reissenweber. It has become a popular platform among compliance experts.
“I want to emphasise that if anyone deserves the credits for “Compliance Adviseert”, it is Erik Reissenweber. He’s the driving force. I helped him set up the podcast and am currently working on a website and mailing list. But my role is modest compared to Erik. Yet you are right that the success of “Compliance Adviseert” is remarkable. The reach grew rapidly from the start. Now, after 33 podcasts, we have 250 listeners per podcast on average. The number of followers on LinkedIn is 650+ and continuously increasing, which is astonishing for such a niche subject. Moreover, the loyal listeners are mostly seniors from the risk and compliance world.
A few weeks ago, Erik received the Compliance Award of the Dutch Compliance Institute (NCI) for his achievements with Compliance Adviseert. Such an honour.”
Connective Payments
Why did you chose for Connective Payments?
“I met some of my Connective Payments colleagues at EMS and realised that we have one thing in common: an entrepreneurial spirit. We share the mindset and skills to think AND act, to not only design business strategies but also implement them on a tactical as well as an operational level. That drive and hands-on mentality appeals to me. I also like the informal communication between peers: in addition to the fortnightly work meetings, we regularly have knowledge sharing sessions and social events.”
Connect with Niek Röselaers:
+31 621 520 349
niek.roselaers@connectivepayments.com