Square's losing a major strategic architect

Square CFO Sarah Friar is leaving the company to become CEO of Nextdoor, a social network for local neighborhoods.

Square CEO Jack Dorsey praised Friar, noting she helped take Square public in 2015, and oversaw the mobile point of sale company's deeper moves into financial services.

The company most recently debuted a consumer lending product, the latest in a series of moves to diversify beyond payment acceptance for micromerchants.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Square recently announced support for Google Pay, added a connector for iOS devices to improve in-store staff mobility, and partnered with eBay to expand its merchant credit business

These moves follow a series of rollouts over the past several years aiming to make Square an alternative to traditional banks and a competitor to payment fintechs such as Stripe and PayPal.

CNBC reports Friar was interested in seeing the company push deeper into traditional banking, adding that Square's stock rose more than 130 percent this year, though it fell more than 8 percent on Wednesday afternoon following news of Friar's move.

At Nextdoor, Friar will replace Nirav Tolia, who announced his resignation in July.