Personal Info
Payments & Banking Technology Leader with 17+ years of proven technical and operational experience across card payment and banking platforms. I specialize in large-scale migrations, implementations, and production support—delivering robust, compliant, and highly available payment solutions that meet regulatory and network requirements.
Highlights
- PowerCard: 13+ years of experience in PowerCard V3 migrations, V2/V3 support and implementations.
- Core platforms: Hands-on experience with Tieto TransMaster, Oracle FLEXCUBE/UBS, ACI Postilion, Temenos T24, BASE24, IRIS, Avanza, and Intellect.
- Payment network & certification: Led Payment Card Network certifications and integrations for VISA, Mastercard, DCI, AMEX, UPI, National Payment Switches (NPS/NFS), and SID interfaces with TPPs, networks, and core banking switches.
- Card products & modules: Deep knowledge of Issuing, Acquiring, ATM Switch, POS/MPOS, Smart POS, Interchange, Fraud & Risk, Chargeback & Settlement, ISO 8583, and card types (Debit, Credit, Prepaid, Corporate).
- Testing & simulators: Practical experience with VTS, MAS, MDFS, FIME and UL testing tools and simulators.
- Operations & reconciliation: Strong background in card reconciliation, network non-compliance resolution, and approval-rate improvement.
- Software development & administration: 10+ years in software development, implementation, system administration and ongoing maintenance.
I am a results-oriented leader who sets high standards, mentors teams, and drives projects to successful completion. I focus on precision in technical design and execution to achieve organizational goals and consistently exceed stakeholder expectations.
Career Guidelines
As a payments and banking technology leader with 17+ years in card platforms, migrations and operations, here are practical, no-nonsense guidelines I follow and recommend to anyone building a career in payments, banking technology, or enterprise fintech.
1. Build deep domain knowledge first
Why: Payments is highly regulated and technically specific.
Do: Learn card lifecycle (issuing → processing → settlement), ISO 8583 messaging, interchange rules, and common certification steps (VISA/Mastercard/UPI/NPS). Read network integration guides and exam specifications.
2. Master one core platform, then broaden
Why: Employers value deep product expertise plus cross-platform experience.
Do: Become an expert in one switch or core (e.g., PowerCard, Postilion, FLEXCUBE). After 2–3 years, add familiarity with 1–2 other platforms to increase versatility.
3. Learn both development and operations
Why: Troubleshooting production issues requires code-level thinking plus ops awareness.
Do: Spend time coding (APIs, message parsers, reconciliation scripts) and learn Linux, middleware, database tuning and monitoring tools.
4. Understand certifications & compliance end-to-end
Why: Certification (VISA/Mastercard/NPS) is often a project gate — success depends on technical, process, and stakeholder coordination.
Do: Get hands-on with test suites, simulators (VTS/MDFS/etc.), and document flows; practice preparing test plans and evidence packages.
5. Prioritize testing and automation
Why: Manual testing is slow and error-prone in high-volume payments systems.
Do: Automate functional and regression tests, use simulators, and build reconciliation checks to catch edge cases early.
6. Cultivate strong troubleshooting skills
Why: Production incidents are inevitable; fast, accurate remediation preserves trust.
Do: Learn to read logs, trace ISO 8583/JSON flows, reproduce issues in sandboxes, and perform root-cause analysis with clear postmortems.
7. Communicate clearly with non-technical stakeholders
Why: Projects succeed when business, ops, and vendors align.
Do: Practice concise status reports, risk/impact summaries, and stakeholder-specific technical explanations.
8. Lead by enabling others
Why: Leadership is about developing reliable teams and transferable knowledge.
Do: Document runbooks, mentor juniors, delegate ownership, and run regular knowledge-sharing sessions.
9. Focus on reliability & security from day one
Why: Availability and security are business priorities in payments.
Do: Apply best practices for redundancy, monitoring, encryption, PCI awareness, and secure change control.
10. Keep up with network and market changes
Why: New payment rails, tokenization, and regulations change integration patterns.
Do: Follow network advisories, attend webinars, and review release notes of the platforms you work with.
11. Measure and improve operational KPIs
Why: Metrics (approval rate, reconciliation variance, MTTR) show the health of services.
Do: Define KPIs, build dashboards, set improvement targets, and report progress to leadership.
12. Be methodical during migrations and upgrades
Why: Migrations are high-risk but high-impact.
Do: Use phased rollouts, parallel testing, rollback plans, and exhaustive cutover checklists. Simulate failures and rehearse cutover steps.
13. Network with peers and vendors
Why: Contacts accelerate problem-solving and open opportunities.
Do: Join industry forums, LinkedIn groups, and vendor communities; share case studies and lessons learned.
14. Invest in continuous learning and certifications
Why: Credibility grows with demonstrable skills.
Do: Pursue relevant vendor certifications, security/PCI training, and courses on payments architecture and ISO standards.
15. Balance breadth with a clear career narrative
Why: Employers want specialists who can also integrate across systems.
Do: Frame your CV and LinkedIn around a core strength (e.g., switch migrations, card certification) supported by complementary skills (devops, compliance, leadership).
A K Mahmudur Rahman
“At FinTech Point, we have successfully established collaborations with over 30 banks and financial institutions, facilitated through our valued subsidiary, ICPS Ltd, a proud member of the HPS Group. Our mission is simple yet profound — to elevate card payment services by leveraging the wealth of talent that Bangladesh has to offer. In Bangladesh, we are privileged to have a pool of bright, talented, and skilled IT professionals who are the backbone of our operations. Thank you for considering FinTech Point as your trusted partner. We look forward to embarking on a journey of innovation and success together.