01 · Payments & Fintech
Infrastructure-grade payments fluency.
Underwriting merchants and PayFacs at the scale where settlement risk, chargeback economics, and platform structure decide the outcome.
Credit · Risk · Payments — Montreal
Acreditoperatorwithanon-linearedge.
I underwrite, structure and lead credit across payments infrastructure, alternative lending and corporate finance. Currently overseeing $275M+ in exposure across $15B in annual processing volume at Global Payments.
Profile
James Roche
Credit, Risk & Financial Analysis Across Payments, Lending, and Corporate Finance
I'm a credit and risk professional with a background spanning payments infrastructure, alternative lending, and corporate financial analysis. My experience combines merchant underwriting, risk management, financial statement analysis, and credit structuring across multiple sectors of financial services.
Currently, I serve as Principal Analyst at Global Payments, overseeing more than $275M in credit exposure across $15B in annual processing volume. My work includes large-exposure merchant underwriting, PayFac risk structuring, portfolio oversight, and credit strategy development.
Throughout my career, I have worked across payments, lending, corporate finance, and financial analysis, building a broad understanding of how businesses create, preserve, and lose value across different capital structures and operating environments.
$275M+
Credit Exposure Overseen
$15B+
Annual Processing Volume
75%
Reduction in Credit Review Cycle Time
CFA
Charterholder
Four lensesWhat he brings to the table
02 · Credit & Risk Leadership
Large-exposure judgment under pressure.
Sizing, structuring, and defending credit across the capital stack — and leading recovery when distressed accounts move fast.
03 · Private Credit & Analysis
Fundamentals built on real underwriting reps.
Cash-flow lending, covenant logic, and valuation work refined through high-velocity alternative credit and cross-border financial analysis.
04 · Operational Finance
Grounded in how businesses actually run.
Controller-seat experience — cash, close, controls — that translates directly into reading an operator's numbers before trusting them.
In his words
Credit is a discipline of paying attention — to structure, to cash, to the details that quietly determine outcomes.
A decade of credit, structured.
Roles spanning payments infrastructure, alternative lending, and corporate finance — each one widening the lens on risk.
Dossier · 01 / 04
PresentActive
Global Payments
Principal Analyst — Credit & Risk
Montréal·2021 —
Large-exposure underwriting & distressed recovery at scale.
01
$275M+
Exposure overseen
02
$15B
Annual volume
03
75%
Cycle reduction
- Oversee $275M+ in credit exposure across $15B in annual processing volume.
- Large-exposure merchant underwriting and PayFac risk structuring.
- Lead distressed-account workouts with receivers, trustees, and legal counsel.
- Led national rollout of automated credit review platform — 75% cycle time reduction.
James Roche · Credit DossierVerified record
Case studies & analyses.
Selected work showing how I frame risk, structure deals, and pressure-test assumptions across credit verticals.
Case Study
№ 01 · Forthcoming
01
Risk Structuring
Underwriting a $40M PayFac exposure
Layered reserves, dynamic holdback, and stress testing.
Layered reserves, dynamic holdback, and merchant-cohort stress testing kept losses below 12 bps through a Q3 chargeback spike.
12 bps
Loss ceiling
Analysis
№ 02 · Draft
02
Market View
What private credit gets wrong about payments risk
Why processing volume is not cash-flow durability.
A note on conflating processing volume with cash-flow durability — and the underwriting frame that corrects for it.
Vol ≠ Cash
Core thesis
Memo
№ 03 · Forthcoming
03
Operations
Automating credit review at scale
Scoring logic, exception routing, and what to keep manual.
Field notes from a 75% cycle-time reduction: scoring logic, exception routing, and the parts you should never automate.
−75%
Cycle time
What I do when I'm not underwriting.
Endurance racing is where I sharpen the same discipline I bring to credit — patience, pacing, and stress under load.
- 2024Run
Marathon de Montréal
Sub-4 finish — disciplined negative split.
42.2km
- 2023Run
Boston Qualifier Attempt
Build cycle, 80 km/wk peak mileage.
42.2km
- 2023Triathlon
Mont-Tremblant 70.3
Half-Ironman — open water swim, hilly bike leg.
113km
- 2022Run
Ottawa Marathon
First sub-4:30 — disciplined pacing block.
42.2km
- 2022Run
Demi-Marathon de Québec
Through the old city — fast tempo race.
21.1km
- 2021Cycle
Gran Fondo Mont-Tremblant
Road cycling — long climbs, group pacing.
125km
Get in touch
Let's talk
credit.
Actively targeting senior credit, risk, and analytical roles in U.S. fintech, payments, and private credit. Open to conversations with hiring managers, recruiters and operators.
Available — Q3 2026
Email
thejamesroche@gmail.com
LinkedIn
in/james-roche-finance
Based In
Montréal, QC
Bilingual EN / FR
Targeting
U.S. Fintech
Payments · Private Credit
Direct LineSend me a note