# Former Mastercard exec to lead Ripple’s European Expansion

The Ripple and XRP community has been long-betting on mainstream adoption growth rather than its market price. In this continued effort, Ripple has announced the appointment of Sendi Young as managing director of its European operations. 

Strengthening Ripple’s vision to rule the cross-border payments landscape, Sendi brings over 15 years of fintech experience to “oversee strategy and champion the expansion of Ripple’s global financial network technology, RippleNet.” 

Most recently Young worked at Mastercard where she spent five years in “strategy, commercialization, bank-fintech partnerships and business development.”

RippleNet general manager Asheesh Birla said, “Sendi’s appointment represents a huge opportunity for our European operations given her leadership experience, deep understanding of the payments landscape, and knowledge of how to grow and scale a network business.”

The increased focus on the European market can be attributed to the fact that around 25% of Ripple customers are represented by the European demographic. 

According to Ripple’s press release, “Year to date, European On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) transactions grew by 250% in comparison to 2020, making up over 40% of all ODL transactions year to date.” Considering years of partnerships with financial institutions across the globe, the company seems to have maintained its upward trajectory in terms of XRP adoption. 

Europe currently stands at the frontier of crypto adoption, driven by the stringent General Data Protection Regulation. By following the various compliance requirements put in place by the European government, RippleNet continues to bridge payment corridors around the world with partners such as Paydek, Xbaht, Lemonway and MoneyNetint.