Paysafe Group (Paysafe) has appointed Ismail (“Izzy”) Dawood as its new group chief financial officer. Based in the U.S., Dawood will report into Paysafe CEO, Philip McHugh, when he joins the company on September 28.

Dawood brings to Paysafe a proven track record of over 25 years in financial leadership and has previously held CFO positions in both public and private organizations.  His extensive experience includes corporate finance, treasury, investor relations, tax, financial planning and analysis, operational performance management, controllership, M&A and strategy.

Dawood joins Paysafe from Branch International, a financial services organization targeting the mobile generation, where he was their CFO.  Before that, he was CFO for WageWorks, who administer consumer-directed benefits (CBDs), and prior to that he held CFO roles at Santander Consumer USA and BNY Mellon.  Earlier in his career, he spent 14 years in a range of finance and corporate leadership roles at Wells Fargo, a leading financial services company.

“Izzy is a talented finance executive with a proven track record in strategic thinking and driving impressive results,” said McHugh. “I know he will be a real asset to our team as we continue our path to become the world’s leading specialized payments platform.”

“Paysafe has a very diversified and highly relevant payments offering and never before has the digital payments industry felt more exciting,” said Dawood. “I very much look forward to being part of this ambitious company’s future growth story.”

Dawood replaces former CFO, Peter Smith.