As Australia’s real-time payments ecosystem continues to evolve, resilience has never been more critical.
Zepto has announced the creation of a new executive role, Chief Business Resilience Officer (CBRO), and the promotion of Mariana Paun to lead it effective 23 February 2026.
The role brings together Zepto’s Information Security, Operations, and Risk & Compliance functions under unified executive leadership — reinforcing the company’s long-standing commitment to governance, protections for businesses and their customers, and operational excellence as it continues to scale.
Strengthening resilience at a pivotal moment for the industry
The appointment comes at a critical time for the payments sector, with major industry and regulatory initiatives underway, including the introduction of the Scam Prevention Framework and the evolution of PayTo liability settings.
These reforms are reshaping how responsibility for fraud, scams and payment protections is shared across the ecosystem, requiring deeper coordination across technology, operations, risk and compliance.
Zepto Co-founder and CEO Matt Cheers said the creation of the Chief Business Resilience Officer role reflects the company’s proactive approach to these changes and reinforces its belief that resilience is embedded at the core of its business.
“As Zepto continues to scale and power mission-critical payments, resilience and trust are fundamental to everything we do,” Matt said.
“The payments landscape is entering a new era, with initiatives like the Scam Prevention Framework and PayTo liability reforms raising the bar for the entire ecosystem. We’ve created this role to ensure we continue to lead from the front — bringing together the capabilities needed to manage risk holistically, strengthen protections for businesses and their customers, and support the long-term resilience of Australia’s real-time payments infrastructure.”
“Mariana has been instrumental in building our security and operational foundations, and she is a deeply respected leader across the organisation. Her experience and leadership make her the ideal person to step into this role, and I’m delighted to welcome her to the executive team. Her journey also reflects the kind of culture we’re building at Zepto — one where leaders grow with the company and help shape its future”
Matt Cheers
A natural leader for a critical role
Mariana has been an integral part of Zepto for more than three and a half years, joining as the company’s first dedicated security hire, and building its security function from the ground up. She later expanded her remit to lead Operations, overseeing service delivery, disputes and incident management.
Prior to Zepto, Mariana held senior security governance, risk and compliance leadership roles at Afterpay, Block and Littlepay, where she helped scale critical infrastructure and security capabilities during periods of rapid global growth.
Her appointment also reflects Zepto’s strong culture of developing internal talent and empowering leaders to grow alongside the business. Mariana’s progression from Zepto’s first security hire to Chief Business Resilience Officer demonstrates the company’s commitment to recognising leadership from within and embedding resilience into its strategy, operations and culture.
As Chief Business Resilience Officer, Mariana will now oversee Information Security, Operations, and Risk & Compliance, bringing these critical disciplines together under a unified strategy.
Mariana said she is excited to help strengthen Zepto’s foundations at an important time for the industry.
“Resilience is not just about managing risk — it’s about enabling innovation safely and maintaining trust with customers, partners and the broader ecosystem,” Mariana said.
“Frameworks like the Scam Prevention Framework and PayTo liability reforms represent an important step forward for our industry and reinforce the need for strong, coordinated approaches to protecting customers.”
“At Zepto, security and compliance aren’t just obligations — they’re fundamental to how we build trust and deliver value to our customers. Strong security foundations are essential to supporting payments infrastructure and protecting the flow of client funds — and that’s non-negotiable.”
Mariana Paun
Supporting the future of real-time payments
Zepto has established itself as a pioneer in Australia’s account-to-account payments ecosystem, helping power real-time payments and bringing innovative capabilities such as PayTo to market.
As payments become faster and more seamless, the role of identity, verification and fraud prevention is becoming increasingly critical. Solutions such as Zepto Validate — that uses Confirmation of Payee — are bringing payments and identity closer together, helping prevent scams before they occur and strengthening trust across the ecosystem.
The creation of the Chief Business Resilience Officer role reflects Zepto’s commitment to leading in this new environment — ensuring resilience is embedded not only in its payments infrastructure, but across the broader trust and identity capabilities that underpin it.
Mariana said building trust through security and resilience has always been central to Zepto’s approach.
“As payments and identity become more closely connected, resilience becomes even more critical,” she said.
“This role ensures we continue to embed security, risk management and operational excellence into everything we build.”
Mariana Paun
As the regulatory landscape evolves and payments and identity become increasingly interconnected, Zepto’s leadership structure ensures the company is well positioned to continue strengthening trust across the ecosystem.
This appointment reflects Zepto’s belief that resilience — across payments, identity and trust — will define the next generation of financial infrastructure.