Boston, Oct. 5, 2009 -- Bob Landry has joined Mercator Advisory Group to expand the company's payments industry research services into retail banking. Landry brings more than 30 years experience in the financial services industry including an eleven year tenure with TowerGroup where Landry held a variety of positions including chief research officer.



"Bob has a rare understanding of both the business drivers and technology in the banking industry," said Robert Misasi, president of Mercator Advisory Group. "That knowledge base coupled with his proven expertise in founding and successfully growing practices in advisory organizations make him the ideal candidate to drive our banking expansion."



Landry joined Mercator from CGI, a global diversified supplier of end to end IT and business process services with over $4 billion in annual revenues where he served as partner, director of banking and financial markets strategy. While at CGI, Landry lead CGI's US based banking and investment strategy group and served as a senior executive consultant.



Before CGI, Landry worked for the TowerGroup from 1995 until 2006 where he was charged with building several research practices covering core systems, customer strategies, delivery channels, consumer lending, retail payments, emerging technologies, financial services strategies and IT spending. Landry has held positions at Software Services of America, Henco Software, Honeywell Information Systems and RCA Computer Systems.



Landry, vice president, Banking Group Services, said, "It's a rare opportunity to join a research organization of this caliber and be tasked with expanding its core competencies into new areas. I've spent over 30 years understanding and analyzing how technology is used in retail banking. I'm looking forward to applying that knowledge at Mercator."



Landry has spoken frequently at events held by major industry associations, including Bank Administration Institute, American Bankers Association, and European Financial Management and Marketing Association.



About Mercator Advisory Group



Mercator Advisory Group is the leading independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We deliver pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help our clients uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs. Our clients range from the world's largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and associations to leading technology providers and investors.



Please visit us online at http://www.mercatoradvisorygroup.com .



Source: Company press release.