New Delhi, July 27 (IANS) Leading merchant commerce platform Pine Labs on Monday announced the appointment of Nitish Asthana as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Currently helping process payments of more than $30 billion per year, Pine Labs serves more than 1.5 lakh merchants in 3,700 cities with over 4.5 lakh merchant touchpoints.

Asthana is tasked with accelerating the company's efforts towards technology innovation and increasing digital payment acceptance among merchants across India and Southeast Asia, the company said in a statement.

"At Pine Labs, we are on a mission to re-define merchant payments and commerce and Asthana's diverse knowledge and insights will play a pivotal role in accelerating innovation within the company and ensure operational excellence," said B Amrish Rau, CEO, Pine Labs.

Rau replaced Vicky Bindra in March who, after a two-year successful stint as CEO, moved back to San Francisco.

With more than two decades of experience in senior executive roles across payments, fintech and finance areas, Asthana served as Managing Director, India and Sri Lanka for Fiserv, Inc. a global provider of financial services technology, before joining Pine Labs.

"With a spike in digital payments adoption post Covid-19, the environment is right to take innovative fintech products to the remotest corners of the country and accelerate the Digital India vision," said Asthana.

Pine Labs recently invested in Fave, a leading fintech company in Southeast Asia.

Its key investors include Sequoia India, Mastercard, Actis Capital, Temasek, PayPal and Sofina.

--IANS na/