Brite Payments hires Klarna’s George Parks Davie for Open Banking knowledge

Instant bank payments provider Brite Payments has appointed George Parks Davie as vice president, product, citing his more than 15 years of experience in account-to-account (A2A) payments and Open Banking.

Davie joins Stockholm-based Brite Payments from Klarna, where he was product director, responsible for overseeing the development of its Open Banking platform, Klarna Kosma, and “championed” the use of Open Banking within the company.

He was also involved in PSD2 through the European Banking Association’s Working Group on APIs under PSD2.

George Parks Davie, VP, product at Brite Payments

In his new role, Davie will help expand Brite’s product offering across new and existing geographies and, in addition, will lead the newly-created ‘Payments Domain’ within Brite.

He has particular knowledge of the German market, given his role in the development of Sofort’s A2A payments product, before the company was acquired by Klarna in 2014.

Last year, Brite launched in Germany, where it rolled out its full solution, with the launch of both instant A2A payments and payouts, making the country its most significant market expansion at the time.

Brite’s own research, conducted with YouGov, found that 67% of Germans are already familiar with Pay by Bank or A2A payments, and that 40% of Germans are willing to try new forms of online payment.

“I have been following Brite Payments for some time, and with an ever-growing number of use cases for Open Banking payments, now is the perfect time to join and play a part in creating customer-centric payment products that deliver real value for merchants,” said Davie.

“I’m excited to help Brite deliver on its promise of becoming Europe’s leading provider of instant payments and payouts, drawing upon my experience in building product teams that are closely aligned with the company’s strategic direction, and setting them up to succeed during rapid growth.”

Lena Hackelöer, founder and CEO of Brite Payments

Lena Hackelöer, founder and chief executive officer of Brite Payments, said: “George combines deep expertise and technical knowledge of Open Banking with a very user-centric approach to product development.

“He’s been at the forefront of account-to-account payments in Europe and his product leadership will be enormously valuable to our team as we continue to scale rapidly.”

She added: “We’re thrilled to have George on board, and with his specific knowledge of the German market, we are in a strong position to take advantage of the opportunities in Europe’s largest economy.”

Davie called 2025 an “important year” for Open Banking in Europe, adding that the instant payments regulation is opening up new opportunities and will be a catalyst for A2A payment adoption, “while PSD3 is taking shape and promising to bring improved standardisation”.

Further reading: Brite Payments reveals drivers of European Pay by Bank adoption