Interview: Boku CEO Stuart Neal on why the UK needs a Mastercard, Visa rival

“This is a pivotal moment for the UK to escape a 50-year payments infrastructure and do the ‘card scheme’ job better,” says Stuart Neal.

The CEO of AIM-listed London payments company Boku says that the transformation in payments began with Open Banking but was never designed around everyday consumer payments. Moreover, the 50‑year‑old technology comes with its own set of limitations. 

RBI editor Douglas Blakey speaks with Stuart Neal, CEO of Boku

UK can learn from India, Brazil

And he highlights the world class payments initiatives in countries like India and Brazil to prove what is possible with Pix in Brazil, UPI in India and most recently EthSwitch in Ethiopia. 

Modern payment methods are being used for the majority of everyday commerce in those markets, entirely by-passing traditional card schemes, says Neal.

He adds that these mobile‑first, AI-enabled initiatives are aligned to how people actually want to pay. Something along those lines in the UK would mean less reliance on existing card networks and would be genuinely better for governments, merchants and most importantly consumers. 

Stuart Neal speaks with the authority of more than 20 years of payments, banking and innovation leadership experience and a deep understanding of the payments ecosystem. Past senior roles include leadership positions at Barclaycard, Featurespace, VocaLink, GlaxoSmithKline, and Virgin Media.     

About Boku   

Founded in 2008, Boku is headquartered in London with offices across North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin America.  The firm connects global merchants to local payment methods through a unified platform supporting 200+ payment options including digital wallets, direct carrier billing, and real-time bank transfers. The company’s infrastructure reaches over 7.5 billion consumer payment accounts across 60+ countries, serving merchants including Spotify, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, and Tencent.   

The cost of implementing a more modern alternative to the cards platforms is often advanced by those advancing the argument: ‘if it isn’t broken there is nothing to fix’.

Neal has a strong argument in response.

The current infrastructure is expensive-costs ultimately borne by consumers

“It is no longer necessary to have all this infrastructure, which, frankly, is expensive. It gets priced into interchange fees that get passed on to merchants and then ultimately passed on to consumers. Looking ahead at the next 10 years, it would be advisable to start thinking about how the payments ecosystem evolves.

“That’s happening organically on the Eastern side of the planet. But as you come further West, Western Europe, the UK and the US in particular: People are still habitually wedded to their bits of plastic.”

Neal concedes that the initial cost to merchants and to businesses, represents a potential challenge but is on strong ground to flag up the favourable running costs of the mobile-first systems in markets such as India.

“All of that is happening with technology that is already in place. There’s no additional investment required. And so there is a better model that is more mobile centric, that is, just as secure, if not more secure. It is a lot cheaper, both to the merchant and obviously, ultimately, to the consumer. Because, at the end of the day, the consumer pays in the form of higher prices. The technology exists and the cost to implement is relatively low, because it’s really a matter of adapting what’s in place and allowing people to scan a QR.

Put it at its simplest level: scanning a QR takes you into your mobile banking app and you send that money.

There is an incentive for merchants to want to do that, because at the moment, they have a choice of Visa or Mastercard or nothing. A third rail that is on top of the existing banking infrastructure, without further investment would be welcomed by merchants.”

FY25 results highlight strength and quality of Boku’s financial performance

Revenue increased 30% to $128.8m, adjusted EBITDA increased 36% to $41.3m, and adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 32.1% for the 12 months to end December 2025. The company also continued to grow platform scale, with monthly active users up 31% to 114.4m and total payment volume up 27% to $15.7bn.
Neal says that the firm is in a strong financial position which provides it with the flexibility to continue investing in the business to support scalability, product development and further future expansion.

“We had a really strong year 2025 and I think what makes us different is that we’re growing fast, whilst we’re also continuing to invest in the business. Normally, companies are either fast growing or they’re profitable, but they don’t typically manage to do both. We’re really happy with that. We have over $100m of cash at the end of the year of our own money in the bank, and we have zero debt. The business is in a really strong shape. We would reaffirm our guidance to the markets and are very happy with where we’re at and with the potential for the company going forward.”