Maria Roscoe
Head of Partner Banking
Valley Bank
Biography
Maria Roscoe is an accomplished professional in the payments industry, with over seven years of experience driving innovation and growth in digital payments, treasury services, and product management. She currently serves as the Head of Partner Banking at Valley Bank, where she oversees the Partner Banking program in building and maintaining fintech relationships for payment sponsorship. Her expertise spans ACH, wire transfers, check processing, card issuance, and embedded banking, positioning her as a key player in the rapidly evolving payments sector. Maria has a Masters in Computer and Information Technology from University of Pennsylvania, which has fueled her passion for innovation in the infrastructure supporting payments today. At Valley Bank, she has held pivotal roles in digital payments, including leading product development for solutions such as Zelle, External Transfers, and ACH. In her earlier tenure at BNY Mellon as a VP, Product Manager, she focused on the development of white-label payment solutions for other financial institutions, including RTP and Zelle, further igniting transformation within the bank ecosystem. Maria’s contributions to global payments began at Citi, where she played an integral role in advancing payment tracking and visibility tools, including leveraging SWIFT GPI for end-to-end payment tracking. Additionally, she managed API integrations and ERP-connected solutions, ensuring seamless client experiences and operational efficiency, which was where her passion for computer science began. With a comprehensive understanding of the payments ecosystem, Maria’s career highlights her dedication to shaping innovative solutions for both banks and fintechs to improve the delivery of payment services.
How is the nominee propelling the industry forward?
Strong leaders in the payments industry must prioritize compliance, collaboration, and innovation to foster progress while ensuring stability and trust. Maria’s unwavering commitment to these pillars has made her one of the youngest yet most influential professionals shaping the future of the industry. Over the past two years, Maria has driven the creation and development of Partner Banking by fostering a culture of growth grounded in compliance. Through collaboration with Valley’s second line of defense, she has integrated risk compliance into product design and operations, enabling the program to expand while minimizing risk and building continuous trust with stakeholders. This trust has established a unique relationship between Maria’s team and their fintech partners, setting a new industry standard for relationship management. This approach allows her team to provide tailored support and guidance to each partner even while maintaining a standardized product offering to grow a sustainable line of business from the ground up. Maria consistently prioritizes innovation, staying ahead of the latest technologies and trends while leading her team with an open-minded approach. Her embrace of new ideas has empowered her team to approach the payments industry with confidence and creativity, improving operational efficiency, enhancing customer experiences, and expanding market accessibility while ensuring regulatory compliance. Maria’s vision and strategic direction ensure the payments landscape evolves responsibly and innovatively. Amid ever-changing industry standards, her leadership has set a new benchmark for payment programs, combining the forward-thinking mindset of their fintech partners with the reliability and financial expertise of trusted American banks.
Where do you see the nominee succeeding in the future?
Maria's expertise in the payments industry and passion for learning and education is set to make her an extremely vital member of the payments industry. Maria's background in payments technology and computer science will prove vital when creating payments infrastructures in the future, whether that is for a bank at scale or solution designing a fintech program. With the evolution of software, technology and AI, a new generation of thinkers will be required to marry together the juxtaposing worlds of traditional finance and innovative technology. While Maria built her career within the world of traditional finance, her education in computer science and intellectual curiosity have always allowed her to understand and resonate with the quickly growing world of fintech. Maria's multifaceted background will allow her to be one of the early adaptors of the new financial industry--an industry that is set to evolve into a more customer-centric environment, where traditional financial practices will be easily adapted with technology in order to provide a seamlessly tailored experience for any type of client. Much of Maria’s success is due to the strength of her relationships with colleagues and other industry leaders. By supporting her peers across the bank and empowering her team, she has fostered a culture of mutual respect and shared success. Her commitment to others’ growth and well-being inspires ambition, paves the way for future leaders, and drives further progress in the financial industry.