Lara Oyesanya

Contis

A thought leader in more ways than one, Lara Oyesanya is at the sharp end in the challenging, rocket-paced world of fintech payments. Joining the C-suite at Contis last year as general counsel and chief risk officer after roles at Klarna and Barclays, Oyesanya has arrived at a time of intense media and regulatory scrutiny on the industry following Wirecard.

Covid-related challenges included supporting the business and restaurant sector as lockdown eased in the summer, but the job also required a keen anticipation of European regulatory movements.
Oyesanya’s work in 2020 included oversight of Contis’s project to move its entire EEA client base to its European entity ahead of Brexit; migrating customers to cloud-based data centres in London and Amsterdam; and an important partnership with Mastercard as a principal issuing member, through which Contis can deliver a comprehensive platform.

And if that wasn’t enough, Oyesanya also took on a demanding advisory role outside the day job when she was co-opted by the University of Cambridge to join its Benefactions and External Legal Affairs Committee.