U.K.-based mobile banking and payment technology provider Monitise has hired former Visa Inc. executive Elizabeth Buse to co-run the company as co-CEO, according to Reuters.

The company is pursuing a sevenfold increase in the number of customers using its mobile banking and payment systems, Reuters said, and shares of the company gained as much as 7.1 percent on Wednesday after it made the announcement.

The 53-year-old former Visa exec, spent 16 years at Visa and was at one time a leading candidate for the company's top job before the 2012 hiring of a JPMorgan exec, The Wall Street Journal reported then, according to Reuters. She will work with Monitise founder and current CEO Alastair Lukies. Buse will oversee the company's day-to-day operations and its technology, sales and marketing, while Lukies will focus on corporate development and partner and shareholder relationships, Reuters reported.