Dive Brief:

• Alstom veteran Srikanth Seshadri took on the role of CFO for payment services provider Worldline effective Sept. 8, succeeding finance chief Gregory Lambertie who has departed to pursue other opportunities, the company said Monday in a press release.
• The move, previously announced as part of a series of executive leadership shifts by the Paris-based company in late July, comes as Worldline aims to bolster its cash flow and focus on its core payments business, according to a release at that time. Among other moves, Worldline in July also appointed Uber and Ubisoft alum Anika Grant as its chief people officer effective Sept.1, and tapped Madalena Cascais Tomé as its head of financial services effective Oct.1. The two executives, alongside Seshadri, will also join Worldline’s executive committee.
• The three new leaders are all joining to “deliver on one mandate: transform Worldline with the same sentiment of urgency to put it back on track for growth and cash flow generation and achieve our ambition to be the European partner of choice in payments,” CEO Pierre-Antoine Vacheron said in a statement included in the July 30 release. Vacheron took the top executive seat in February, replacing interim CEO Marc-Henri Desportes, according to a press release at the time.

Dive Insight:

Seshadri’s predecessor Lambertie served as Worldline’s CFO for more than three years, appointed to the role after the company’s acquisition of Ingenico Group — where Lambertie served as SVP, corporate strategy and development — in 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile.

For his part, Seshadri is joining the Paris-based payment services provider after a 23-year career at transportation equipment manufacturer Alstom, where he most recently served as its vice president of treasury and financing, according to his LinkedIn profile. His background in the audit industry — Seshadri began his career as an auditor at Arthur Andersen — as well as his leadership experience in “complex international environments at Alstom, will be key to driving transformation & streamlining efforts at Worldline,” the company said in the Sept. 15 release.

The CFO and other executive leadership shifts come as Worldline is refocusing on its core payments business and moving to divest certain assets, after numerous challenges, including the evolution of the European payments market, led to a dip in free cash flow for the first half of 2025. On July 29, the payment services company announced that it had entered into exclusive talks with Magellan Partners for the divestment of its Mobility & e-Transactional Services (“MeTS”) Business Line. The transaction would lead to a proposed enterprise value of €410 million and is expected to close by H1 2026, according to an announcement.

As well as streamlining its focus on core payments, Worldline’s newly reformed executive team is focused on “boosting short-term momentum while engaging the transformation required to unleash Worldline’s growth and cash flow potential,” Vecheron said in a statement included in Worldline’s H1 2025 results released July 30. Economic challenges prompted the company to report a more than 50% plunge in its free cash flow year-over-year — slumping to €40 million from €82 million in the prior year period, according to its H1 report.

As such, cash and cost control has been “a key area of focus” for Worldline, then-CFO Lambertie said during the company’s H1 2025 call according to a transcript on Seeking Alpha. The payment services provider is being “ruthless” in terms of cost control, he said, targeting an additional €50 million in cost savings by the end of the year.

Citing its under-performance for the first half of the year, along with a change in the European payment market the company believe is “long-lasting,” Worldline also recognized a €4.1 billion impairment on goodwill for its H1, according to the report.

The company exclusively attributed that impairment to its merchant services activity, which saw a 2.3% drop in revenue alongside a 19.5% drop in adjusted EBITDA year-over-year. While the impairment does not affect its cash position, it had a direct impact on its net group income, which fell 42% YoY to negative €4.2 billion.

Worldline did not immediately respond to requests for comment.