Cloud-based payment services company Modo Payments has given itself an early Christmas present this year, appointing former CEO of Klarna North America Brian Billingsley as Chief Revenue Officer.

Billingsley’s payments background will play an integral role in expanding Modo’s capabilities. “All I wanted for Christmas was for Brian to join the team, and Santa really came through for this lucky #paymentsgeek this year. He’s honestly the best Christmas present I could’ve asked for,” said Modo CEO Bruce Parker.

Parker and Billingsley have worked together before. In October the two companies teamed up to integrate Modo’s Checkout Event payment service to help Klarna accelerate implementation of its checkout solution for merchants.

Billingsley said he was “blown away” by Modo’s tech when Klarna implemented it. “Modo has incredible talent and technology, and I believe Modo will revolutionize payments over the next few years making complex payments function as we experience email today – it just works,” he added. Billingsley will officially join the Modo team next month.

Founded in 2010, Modo exchanges payment data across platforms on behalf of banks, payment networks, and providers, enabling them to store, share, and track payment event data. The company presented at FinovateFall 2016, where it showcased its Modo Digital Payments Hub. In addition to a partnership with Klarna last month, Modo also teamed up with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Alliance Data, FIS, and Verifone to boost user engagement by creating Payout, Checkout, and Loyalty Events for online retailers.

Cloud-based payment services company Modo partnered with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Alliance Data, FIS, Verifone, and Klarna, last week. The companies have teamed up to boost user engagement by creating Payout, Checkout, and Loyalty Events for online retailers.

Sheryl McKenzie, VP of products and capabilities for Alliance Data’s card services said that the benefit of adding marketing offers and rewards is to “deepen the customer’s connection with the brand and simplify the experience of card-based loyalty programs.”

The three types of user engagement events include:

• Payout Events
  Helps banks disburse funds across the globe to any endpoint. Fund sources can range from a traditional bank account to a digital wallet. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is among the first to implement Payout Events.
• Checkout Events
  Enables users to checkout anywhere with any method of payment, including the use of loyalty points, gift cards, and vouchers. Klarna and Verifone are among the first piloting this technology.
• Loyalty Events
  Allows shoppers to combine multiple rewards and loyalty programs to make a purchase without having to share and manage sensitive identity and payment data. FIS, Verifone, and Alliance Data are among the first to implement this solution.

“We can leverage Modo’s service to seamlessly exchange payment event data across disparate retail systems in store, online and through the mobile channel,” McKenzie stated. “At Alliance Data, we are bringing together the breadth of a large marketing-focused corporation with the agility of a startup partner to accelerate the delivery of innovative payment and loyalty capabilities.”

Founded in 2010, Modo exchanges payment data across platforms on behalf of banks, payment networks, and providers, enabling them to store, share, and track payment event data. The company presented at FinovateFall 2016, where it showcased its Modo Digital Payments Hub. This announcement is the first marketing effort in a long time for the Austin-based company, which just emerged from a two-month “reverse stealth” period last week. Before the quiet spell, Parker was interviewed by Dallas News, revealing his thoughts on the future of payments.