Key points at a glance:

  • Fintech platform Adyen announced in a press release on Wednesday that Hwa Tsao, Senior Vice President of Group Finance, will serve as interim Chief Financial Officer, succeeding the finance chief who will step down on August 31.Ethan Tandowsky。
  • Adyen also announced that Gayathri Rajan, Global Head of Product, will assume the role of Chief Product Officer, effective immediately. These two leadership changes were announced alongside the payment processor's completion of two acquisitions—loyalty and incentive platform Talon.One and enterprise billing service Orb.
  • The company said Tsao has "been responsible for Adyen's core financial operations" in his current role, "ensuring organizational stability and continuity during this transition." Both Tsao and Rajan will report to Adyen's co-CEOs Ingo Uytdehaage and Peter van der Does, but will not formally join the management board.

In-depth analysis:

The Amsterdam-based company announced in May that Tandowsky would leave after approximately three years in the role to join a pre-IPO company. At the time, Payments Dive, a sister publication of CFO Dive, reported on this.

According to Wednesday's press release, Adyen's board said the search for Tandowsky's permanent successor is "progressing as planned" and is supported by an external executive search firm.

According to Tsao's LinkedIn profile, he joined Adyen in November as Senior Vice President of Group Finance. Before joining Adyen, he spent six years at ServiceNow, holding roles such as Vice President of Strategic Finance and Head of Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis. Previously, he spent five years at HP, serving as Director of Investor Relations, among other positions, and was a Vice President in M&A at Citigroup.

The company said Wednesday that the two appointments will help the Dutch payment processor "retain dedicated leadership during a critical operational period," as co-CEO Uytdehaage personally oversees the integration phase of Talon.One and Orb.

Adyen announced on April 23 that it would acquire Talon.One for €750 million (approximately $857 million), funded from its additional cash reserves. On June 11, it announced it would acquire San Francisco-based Orb for $335 million, funded entirely from its cash reserves. Both acquisitions were formally completed on July 1.

The leadership changes and acquisitions come as the payment processor works to achieve its fiscal 2026 growth targets, despite slowing consumer spending and intense competition in key markets such as North America. In another move, Adyen last month appointed insider Shepherd Smith as President of North America, a role Smith confirmed in a LinkedIn post at the time.

The North American market remains strong for the Dutch payment processor, contributing approximately 27% of its roughly €2.4 billion (about $2.8 billion) in revenue for fiscal 2025, according to the company's H2 shareholder letter released in February.

For 2026, Adyen targets full-year net revenue growth of 20% to 22%, and plans to expand EBITDA margin to above 55% by 2028, as mentioned in its first-quarter business update released in May.

Adyen reiterated its financial targets in Wednesday's press release.