ANZ Worldline's new CEO says metaverse efforts is a “developing and experimental space”

ANZ Worldline’s newly appointed CEO, Steve Aliferis has said its work within the Metaverse is still emerging.

The payments company, a joint venture between ANZ Banking Group and French multinational payment and transactional services Worldline, announced the appointment of Aliferis on Thursday.

ANZ Worldline hosted its first Australian customer in the Worldline showroom in Decentraland back in 2022.

It's customer, Naked Life Beverages, had its products on display with advertising and promotions in Worldline’s showroom throughout September 2022.

Decentraland’s Metaverse virtual showroom offers a marketplace for merchants to engage with consumers.

Aliferis told Digital Nation, “Our customers want the world’s best payment solutions tailored for their needs, and being part of the global Worldline network means we have access to a strong pipeline of product innovation and investment.”

“Worldline’s Metaverse offering is an example of this, and the group continues to invest in its exploration of the space.

“Worldline now has a presence in two metaverses with our Australian customer, Naked Life Beverages, represented in both.

“It’s still a developing and experimental space and we’ll continue to offer our advice to local businesses who are interested,” Aliferis said.

Aliferis will officially join the ANZ Worldline Payment Solutions office on 11 June 2024, taking over the top spot from Petr Ryska, who held the role for roughly three years.

Aliferis told Digital Nation his new chief executive role will see him “build on the strong momentum ANZ Worldline has in this market since launching in April 2022”.

“I’ll assess the business and based on that, look at the longer-term strategy and growth opportunities.”

“For example, there’s still lots of untapped potential in Australia’s SMB segment. In a market of over 2.5 million businesses, several hundreds of thousands still don’t have merchant services.

Aliferis added this is” partly because they could get by without it in the past – but now, more need to be online, so they need an e-commerce solution at a minimum.” 

“SMBs are fronting up every day in very challenging economic conditions with their operating costs going up and consumer spending going down.

“To grow in this area, we need to stay as close as possible to SMBs to make sure we’re serving them on their terms.

“That means talking to them at a time that suits them, providing a simple and reliable service and using our insights on how consumers want to pay, to help them grow their businesses.”

He said more broadly, there are new entrants in the payments market, highlighting “why being trusted matters.”

 “Locally that means continuing to leverage the partnership between Worldline and ANZ, and the global insights and capabilities that come from being part of a global network,” Aliferis said.