Sokin expands Australian team with two senior hires

Sokin has expanded its Australian leadership team, with Mark Brown leading the region as General Manager, APAC, and Jason Rohloff appointed Head of Compliance Australia and MLRO. The move comes as the business looks to grow its presence in Australia and target companies trading across Asia Pacific.

Brown joined the payments company earlier this year and is leading its regional expansion from Australia. Rohloff also joined this year and is responsible for compliance in the local market, marking a second senior appointment as Sokin builds out its on-the-ground team.

Sokin is focusing on Australian businesses involved in cross-border trade and facing pressure from foreign exchange costs, settlement delays and fee uncertainty. It offers services that let customers hold and manage multiple currencies, receive funds through local and international account details, and send payments in more than 70 currencies across over 170 countries.

Brown brings about 15 years of experience in business-to-business foreign exchange, derivatives and payments. His previous roles include Managing Director at Argentex Australia, Head of FX, Sales and Dealing at Moneytech, Vice President and Sales Director at Cambridge Global Payments, and Head of Sales at American Express.

Rohloff has more than 25 years of experience in financial services and payments, including 15 years in risk and compliance roles in Australia. Before joining Sokin, he was Chief Risk Officer and MLRO at Monoova. He has also held senior positions at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, OFX, Macquarie Bank and Westpac.

Australia focus

The appointments underline Australia's importance in the company's wider regional plans. Sokin, founded in 2019 and headquartered in the United Kingdom, has offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

In Australia, the company is targeting cross-border commerce, where many businesses still rely on correspondent banking networks and legacy payment rails for international transfers. Providers in the market are competing on cost, settlement times, currency access and transaction visibility.

Brown said many Australian businesses are still using systems that were not built for frequent international trade.

"Australian businesses trade across Asia Pacific every day, but the payment systems they rely on were not designed to cross borders," said Mark Brown, General Manager, APAC, Sokin. "They are paying too much for foreign exchange services and waiting days for settlement, often without any visibility of where their funds have gone. We have put a senior team on the ground here to change that, with people who know this market inside and out."

Competitive market

Australia's business payments market is crowded, with banks, foreign exchange specialists and fintech firms all competing for companies involved in imports, exports and regional supply chains. That makes local leadership and regulatory depth important for providers seeking to win larger business customers and broaden product coverage.

Rohloff's appointment reflects that compliance focus. Beyond transaction execution and foreign exchange services, firms in the sector must meet anti-money laundering obligations and licensing requirements while handling increasing scrutiny of cross-border flows.

Australian customers can hold supported currencies, receive funds through local and international account details, convert currencies and make payments internationally. Sokin also provides local currency accounts and multi-currency IBAN services for business clients in other markets.

The group works directly with business customers and also provides payment infrastructure to organisations that want to offer cross-border payment services to their own clients. That places it in both the direct business payments market and the embedded finance segment, where specialist providers supply regulated payment functions behind third-party offerings.

Regional trade

In Australia, the emphasis on Asia Pacific reflects the country's trade links across the region and the needs of companies managing payments to suppliers, partners and customers in multiple jurisdictions. Businesses trading across borders often want access to local receiving accounts, a broader range of currencies, and more predictable settlement and fee structures.

Chief Executive Officer and Founder Vroon Modgill said the company saw an opening in Australia because domestic payment systems had advanced faster than international ones.

"Legacy payment systems cannot keep pace with the speed of innovation that today's businesses demand. For a globally connected market like Australia, that gap has become a real barrier to growth," said Vroon Modgill, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Sokin. "Australia has a strong, outward-looking economy built on trade across the region, and domestic payment infrastructure to match. Its international payments have been left behind. With a senior team in Australia, we can build for this market directly."