Worldpay has promoted Ruwan De Soyza to group general counsel following the exit of Mark Edwards after two years in the role.
De Soyza (pictured) was previously general counsel of global eCommerce at the fintech company and has also held roles as interim head of franchise development and management. He will lead Worldpay’s 35 strong legal team.
Clifford Chance-trained De Soyza has also held roles at Accenture and Standard Chartered Bank and has almost 20 years of legal experience.
Edwards, who trained at Simmons & Simmons, joined Worldpay from Barclays in 2014 where he was general counsel for global retail and business banking.
Worldpay would not comment on what Edwards next move was but said in a statement: ‘Mark has now stepped down from the business having led the team through the successful IPO at the end of 2015.’
The legal head change comes amid a senior leadership reshuffle at Worldpay. Before the Christmas break, managing director Dave Hobday resigned and a successor with significant board level experience has been appointed and is expected to be announced in the next few months.
The payments company also created a new chief operating officer role for Ruth Prior, who was deputy chief financial officer.
Worldpay made headlines in 2015 with its £2.2bn float on the London Stock Exchange. Allen & Overy (A&O), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Weil, Gotshal & Manges all scored roles as it sold 51% of its outstanding shares, raising £2.16bn with Worldpay receiving about £947.8m.
Another recent in-house move has also come in the fintech arena, with Barclays lead legal counsel for client and customer experience Dean Nash joining start-up Monzo as head of compliance.
Meanwhile, Waste management firm Biffa has hired a new general counsel and company secretary, taking on GlaxoSmithKline’s interim assistant company secretary Rachael Hambrook.
victoria.young@legalease.co.uk
