Jason Mugford, President and CEO of Ascendant is our special guest this week on episode 130 of the Leaders in Payments podcast.  Jason is a Toronto native and loyal fintech supporter. He talks with me about his journey in the industry and how he went from an aspiring Lacrosse player to a seasoned payments professional.

 Ascendant is an international accounts payable and receivable business that facilitates foreign payments for companies on a global scale. 

 One of their most notable services is reducing the vertical fraud and risk investigation potential for their international customers and tracking payments from release to remittance. According to Jason, this not only adds more transparency to the industry but also reduces investigations from an average of 20% to less than 1%. 

 As for the future of our industry, Jason predicts that both sides of the transaction will eventually come together as a network, enabling us to expedite the movement of money in a more seamless fashion.

And can you believe all this started with a childhood affinity for Thomas Cook travelers checks?