The Issuer Academy: Innovate. Scale. Impact
Smarter Cards, Simpler Stacks: Innovating at the Infrastructure Layer
July 1, 2025
In this episode of The Issuer Academy podcast, host Merusha Naidu is joined by Carl Raven, Head of Issuer Enablers at Visa, and Thomas Benjaminsen Normann, Product Director of Digital Services at Paymentology. Together, they dive into what it really means to innovate in issuing, from AI agents and tokenization to flex cards, cloud-first infrastructure, subscription managers, and ecosystem partnerships.
In this episode of The Issuer Academy podcast, host Merusha Naidu is joined by Carl Raven, Head of Issuer Enablers at Visa, and Thomas Benjaminsen Normann, Product Director of Digital Services at Paymentology. Together, they dive into what it really means to innovate in issuing, from AI agents and tokenization to flex cards, cloud-first infrastructure, subscription managers, and ecosystem partnerships.

What You’ll Learn:

Carl Raven is Head of Issuer Enablers at Visa, specializing in ecosystem partnerships and payment innovation. With vast experience in financial technology, he focuses on helping issuers navigate the evolving landscape of digital payments and cloud infrastructure.

Thomas Benjaminsen Normann serves as Product Director of Digital Services at Paymentology and CPO at MeaWallet, bringing dual expertise in processing and digital wallet solutions. Based in Oslo, he has been key in developing tokenization strategies and mobile payment solutions since 2012.

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