Leaders In Payments

Payments look like pure software until you move countries, get hit with fraud, or watch a “guaranteed” settlement date slip. That's where the real story starts, and it's why I loved talking with Kristin Reischel, Senior Director of Solutions and Partner Marketing at Rapyd, for our Women Leaders in Payments Month series sponsored by Payroc.Kristin shares a refreshingly honest career path: Boulder, Colorado roots, a fine art degree, a pivot into computer science, then early years at IBM where every hour was billable and accountability was immediate. From there, she follows what energizes her most, working closer to customers, shaping stories, and eventually landing in payment product marketing. We talk about what product marketing means in fintech and how it connects product teams, partners, and real business needs, from local payment methods to faster money movement.Our theme is “the future is human,” and Kristin makes it real. Automation, AI, and embedded payments keep expanding, but trust is still built by people who test systems, respond when things break, and make judgment calls when fraud and risk show up. She also unpacks the cultural side of global payments, comparing credit habits in the US with the UK's banking realities, Germany's cash preference, and the mobile payments leadership seen across Africa and parts of Southeast Asia.We close with what she's watching next: stablecoins, crypto adoption on familiar card rails, and the convergence of AI with agentic commerce and microtransactions. If you care about the future of payments, fintech trust, and practical leadership lessons, this conversation delivers. 

Payments don't fail as an abstract metric. They fail for a freelancer waiting to get paid, a small business trying to accept the locally normal method, or a customer who gets told “we don't support how you pay.” That's why our conversation with Clarice Lehman, Alternative Payments Operations Lead at DLocal, keeps landing on one theme: the future of payments has to stay human, even as the industry gets more automated, embedded, and AI-driven. We start with Clarice's journey from Uruguay to fintech, including a pivotal dinner-party moment that redirected her MBA path to MIT, followed by consulting at BCG, and a return to DLocal to lead strategy and operations across alternative payment methods. We unpack what “APMs” really include (instant payments, wallets, cash-based options, BNPL operations, card-present initiatives, and crypto operations) and why delivering a consistent cross-border payments experience is hard when every market's infrastructure looks different underneath. Then we get practical about leadership and trust: why smarter systems can't mean more exclusion, what transparency should look like when AI makes decisions, and why reliability and accountability are non-negotiable when downtime or a wrong decline hits. Clarice also shares the trend she's most excited about: AI-driven credit and underwriting using alternative data, and how that can expand access to capital for consumers and SMBs that traditional credit bureaus overlook. If you care about emerging markets, payments strategy, fintech leadership, and building products that actually include people, this one is for you. 

Payments are getting smarter and more automated, but the real question is simpler: are we making life easier for the humans behind every transaction? For Women Leaders in Payments Month, we're joined by Kimling Lam, Chief Marketing Officer at Fortis, to talk about what “the future is human” actually looks like inside fintech, embedded payments, and modern go-to-market teams. Special thanks to Payroc for sponsoring this year's series and supporting the advancement of women across the payments industry. Kimling shares her career journey from Wellesley and broadcast journalism to TV news reporting, software sales, and leadership roles across major payments brands before stepping into her current CMO role. Along the way, we dig into how strong storytelling becomes a growth advantage in fintech marketing, why CEO sponsorship and networks can change a career trajectory, and what it really takes to turn ambiguity into strategy that drives pipeline and revenue. We also explore the practical impact of generative AI and large language models on marketing workflows. Kimling explains why marketers are shifting from writing everything manually to orchestrating faster, more scalable work streams while protecting brand voice and applying human judgment. From there, we zoom out to B2B payments and accounts receivable, including the pain of “swivel chair accounting,” the importance of human-centered design, and why trust in payments feels invisible until something breaks. If you care about customer experience, embedded finance, women in fintech leadership, and where AI helps or hurts, you'll get a lot from this conversation. 

Payments are getting faster and more automated, but the hardest part still isn't the tech. It's trust. We talk with Rachel Costello, VP of Platform Growth at Maverick, about why the future of payments is human and how leaders can keep empathy, judgment, and real partnership at the center while AI and automation reshape everything around us.Rachel shares her career path into fintech, from early work in ad tech and e-commerce to revenue operations and growth roles, and why payments became the perfect place to combine strategy, go-to-market, and customer impact. We also dig into what she's building today: strategic partnerships, embedded payment strategy, and the infrastructure that helps software platforms deliver seamless commerce experiences.A big theme is embedded payments and embedded finance, and what it actually means when a software platform becomes a commerce platform. We break down the customer journey, preferred payment methods, and the practical outcomes businesses want: less friction, faster scaling, and simpler ways to get paid. Along the way, Rachel makes the case for fundamentals, customers don't buy buzzwords like AI or APIs, they buy the results those tools deliver.We wrap with leadership lessons, mentorship, and advice for the next generation of women in payments: raise your hand before you feel ready, get comfortable being uncomfortable, and choose a culture that fits how you work and grow.

A failed payment is never just a technical error. It's a customer stuck at checkout, a merchant losing revenue, and a moment where trust is either reinforced or broken. We sit down with Alexandra Dolia, co-founder and COO of Akurateco, to talk about what payments leadership looks like when you refuse to treat the industry like a black box and you build teams that can explain what's happening end to end.Alexandra shares her path from Ukraine to a formative year in the United States as a teenage exchange student, then into fintech almost by accident through a contact center role. That early frontline experience shaped how she thinks about customer support, payment failures, and operational details that quietly define the client experience. We also unpack the leadership philosophy that came from working in a culture where knowledge is shared, not guarded, and how she's applied it by developing people through structured internal education.From there, we get practical about the future of payments: embedded checkout, automation, and why “the future is human” isn't anti-technology. It's a reminder that technology should sharpen judgment, not replace it. Alexandra breaks down how companies earn trust through transparency, honesty when things go wrong, and consistency over time, then points to a major shift reshaping global commerce: the fast-growing mix of alternative payment methods, from wallets to account-to-account and local rails, and the rising need for payment orchestration.

Payments look instant and invisible until something goes wrong. That's when you find out whether you're working with a faceless system or a team you can actually trust. We sit down with Alex McCandless, EVP of Marketing and Training at Payroc, to get specific about what “people powered” really means in fintech and why transparency and access to real decision makers still matter in a world of automated transactions. Alex shares her career journey from the agency world into payment processing, plus what she learned scaling from a scrappy startup environment into a platform shaped by 27 acquisitions. We talk about the challenge of bringing many brands under one Payroc umbrella without forcing a one-size-fits-all playbook, and how culture integration requires real discovery, humility, and a willingness to borrow the best tools and processes from every team. We also dig into the future of payments and the role of AI in fintech. Alex makes the case for AI-assisted operations, not AI-powered relationships, and connects that to embedded finance, SaaS, and the push toward more holistic experiences across card-present and card-not-present payments. On trust and security, she explains why “secure” should be baseline, why trust is earned one transaction at a time, and how the 1% edge cases can define your reputation. We close with what she's watching next, including agentic commerce, machine-to-machine payments, and how marketing teams are adapting for LLM search and more qualified inbound leads. 

Payments are getting smarter, faster, and more automated, but the stakes are still deeply human. I sit down with Gunita Bindra, CRO of Paymode New Business Development at Bottomline, to talk about what it takes to lead in fintech when AI is reshaping how decisions get made and how money moves. Along the way, Ganita shares her path from computer science in India to roles in software engineering, solution consulting, product management, and now leading sales and partnerships in the B2B payments world. We explore what “the future is human” means when technology can feel like it's in the driver's seat. Gunita lays out why leaders in payments need to embrace change while building for enduring excellence, not just short-term success. We also get practical about the customer experience behind every transaction: how product-minded empathy shows up in sales conversations, why understanding small business payment pain matters, and how transparency turns into trust when your platform can clearly explain where a payment is, why it's there, and what happens next. Then we look forward at agentic commerce and the idea of payments that can route themselves with humans still in the loop. Gunita offers a grounded take on job evolution, the skills that stay valuable, and the mindset shift leaders need right now. We close with direct advice for women entering payments and fintech: network early, ask for what you want, build a business case, and learn negotiation without apology. 

In this milestone 500th episode of the Leaders in Payments Podcast, I bring together seven respected leaders from across the payments ecosystem for a special look at the state of the industry.Rather than a traditional one-on-one interview, this episode features perspectives from Jim Oberman, CEO of Payroc; Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, President of SoFi Tech Solutions at SoFi; Greg Cohen, CEO of Fortis; Alex Shtilman, CEO and Co-Founder of Rapyd; Steve Pinado, CEO of NMI; Jess Houlgrave, CEO of WalletConnect; and Derek Dean, CEO of Flute.Each guest shares their view on three important questions: what shift they are seeing in payments right now, what is still harder than it should be, and what the industry should be preparing for over the next three to five years.The conversation covers the continued rise of embedded payments, the role of software in reshaping distribution, the growing importance of stablecoins and real-time money movement, the impact of AI and agentic commerce, and the ongoing need to simplify the merchant experience. Guests also discuss the friction that still exists behind the scenes, from onboarding and reconciliation to fraud, false declines, global commerce, regulation, and legacy infrastructure.Episode 500 is both a celebration of the first 500 conversations on the podcast and a forward-looking discussion about where payments is headed. It reflects how much the industry has changed, how much complexity still needs to be solved, and how much opportunity remains ahead for payments leaders, fintech innovators, software platforms, banks, and the broader commerce ecosystem.A special "thank you" to all who have listened, watched and participated over the last 5+ years. And now on to the next 500! 

Checks still power a shocking amount of insurance money movement, and that single fact creates slow claims, higher operating costs, and an open door for fraud. Greg Myers sits down with Ian Drysdale, CEO of One Inc, to talk about what it really takes to drag property and casualty insurance payments into a modern digital payments era without breaking the workflows carriers rely on.We unpack how One Inc handles both sides of the insurance payments stack: premium payments (inbound merchant acquiring) and claims payouts (outbound disbursements). Ian shares what “scale” looks like in this vertical, from a huge vendor network that already includes the auto body shops, doctors, and lawyers insurers pay every day, to the complex edge cases that traditional payment processors rarely touch. Think mortgage endorsements after major home damage, lienholder payoffs on total-loss auto claims, and the growing need for insurer-to-insurer settlement use cases like subrogation.Fraud is a different beast in insurance, too. The risks aren't about someone buying a TV with a stolen card; they're about claims fraud, identity fraud, account takeovers, and payments getting intercepted or redirected. Ian explains how data, controls, and hands-on investigation work together to make sure claims payouts land with the right person or business, especially when payouts can run through PayPal, Venmo, push to debit, Visa Direct, and Mastercard Send.We also zoom in on the premium payment experience gap. Policyholders, especially younger ones, expect Apple Pay, Google Pay, flexible billing dates, and a frictionless mobile flow, and network tokens help reduce failed payments by keeping card credentials current behind the scenes. You'll leave with one blunt question Ian wants the industry to face: when will insurers write their last check?

Mailing checks to pay off a credit card in 2026 sounds like a joke, but it is still a real debt consolidation workflow at scale. Greg Myers sits down with Jose Bethancourt, Co-Founder and CEO of Method, to unpack why liability payments are uniquely messy and what it takes to make them feel as seamless as modern fintech promises.Jose shares his path from growing up in South Texas near the Mexico border to building products at UT Austin, then turning a personal problem into a company. GradJoy started as a way to help new graduates understand student loan debt, interest rates, and payoff strategies, but it quickly revealed a deeper issue: people often cannot even locate their liabilities, and credential-based financial data access is brittle. Method tackles that with an identity-based financial connectivity API that, with consent, can find student loans, credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, and personal loans, then enable two-way flows that support both reading data and sending payments to creditors.We also get into what this unlocks for underwriting, personalization, and better customer outcomes, plus how it can reduce errors and fraud compared to manual PAN entry and back-office check operations. Jose lays out a forward-looking view of AI in payments, agentic payments, and a world where an AI agent can securely analyze your debt, shop for a better APR, and execute payoffs. Finally, we step back to discuss consumer demand for speed, why ACH still shapes reality, and how RTP and FedNow may push expectations even further.

Fraud doesn't usually announce itself with a flashing warning sign. It shows up as a chargeback, a fake account that looks “normal,” or an account takeover that slips through the exact same checkout flow your best customers use. Greg Myers sits down with Tamas Kadar, Co-Founder and CEO of SEON, to unpack how modern fraud actually works and how digital businesses can protect revenue without burying users under friction.Tamas shares the origin story that started with a real loss: a crypto checkout experiment that got hit by fraud almost immediately. That experience turned into years of studying how fraudsters operate and, eventually, into SEON's mission: help businesses prevent fraud, verify identities, and stay compliant in real time using the minimum data points companies already collect, like an email address or phone number, plus hard-to-fake device and digital footprint signals. We dig into when step-up verification makes sense, how to reduce false positives, and why trust and safety teams deserve to be seen as revenue drivers, not cost centers.The conversation goes deep on AI in fraud prevention beyond the buzzwords. Tamas explains where classic machine learning helps, where it breaks, and how LLMs can speed up investigations by summarizing cases, surfacing patterns earlier, and reducing the “five tabs per investigation” problem. We also explore the shift toward headless software, where analysts can ask questions in natural language and get answers from the system of record without clicking through a UI, while still keeping decisions explainable with human-readable rules.We close with what's next: synthetic identities, deepfakes, account takeover, stablecoins and changing payment rails, plus the rise of agentic commerce where good agents and bad bots can blend into the same traffic.

A “successful” card payment can still leave merchants waiting days to actually access their money, paying layers of fees along the way, and carrying fraud risk that never truly goes away. That gap between authorization and settlement is where cash flow gets squeezed, reconciliation gets messy, and margins get quietly taxed, especially as more commerce shifts to e-commerce and other card-not-present channels.We sit down with Marshall Greenwald, Founder and CEO of IoniaPay, to talk about changing the infrastructure behind merchant payments. Marshall walks us through how IoniaPay moves funds from a consumer's card to a merchant's bank account in real time, why that matters more than ever, and how collapsing a fragmented chain of 6 to 10 parties can reduce cost and complexity. He also explains the fraud angle: instead of relying on tools that “guess,” merchants want stronger certainty that a transaction is truly authorized by the cardholder.We also get practical about where this fits best right now. Marshall shares why iGaming, travel, and healthcare see outsized value, how instant settlement can unlock meaningful working capital that would otherwise sit in float, and how the company goes to market through a mix of direct enterprise relationships and a broad reseller network. From there, we zoom out to the future of payments: multi-channel commerce, orchestration, interoperability challenges across a massive US ecosystem, and the broader shift from top-layer UX innovation to foundational payment infrastructure.If you care about real-time payments, merchant cash flow, fraud prevention, and what “modern rails” should actually look like for everyday commerce, this conversation will give you a few sharp questions to bring back to your team. 

A $400,000 B2B card payment sounds simple until a processor flags it, the finance team cannot reconcile it, and the invoice sits open while DSO creeps up. That gap between delivering product and collecting cash is where B2B payments either become a growth engine or a constant operational headache.I sits down with Thomas Cecil, Co-Founder of PAYRA, to unpack how modern accounts receivable automation actually works when you have real scale like thousands of invoices per month and customers paying by card, ACH, wire, or check. We talk through PAYRA's approach to the invoice-to-cash cycle, why deep ERP integrations matter more than glossy dashboards, and how automated payment reconciliation into the general ledger eliminates the manual posting that blocks adoption. Thomas also explains the practical details finance teams care about, like handling surcharging and posting to multiple GL entries without breaking the books.We also zoom out to where B2B payments is headed: partnering with ISOs instead of trying to replace them, using AI agents to pull invoice metadata from legacy ERPs with limited APIs, and the growing opportunity in cross-border receivables. Thomas shares why stablecoins may reduce correspondent banking friction and why workflows and value-added services are becoming the real business model behind payments.

AI is moving from “helpful assistant” to autonomous actor, and payments leaders are about to feel the difference. I sit down with Russell Moore, Co-Founder and CEO of Amotivv, to get concrete about what breaks when generative AI and agentic AI leave the lab and touch regulated data, customer outcomes, and real money movement.We talk through why so many AI initiatives stall after a promising proof of concept: not because the model is useless, but because teams cannot control the context, prove what happened, or satisfy audit and compliance requirements at scale. Russell explains Amotivv's three-layer view: persistent AI memory you own, a governed workspace for using any model, and a verification layer (including cryptography and append-only records) that produces tamper-resistant, independently verifiable proof of what AI did, which tools it used, and what policies allowed it.We also dig into practical realities that every fintech team runs into fast: model selection and token costs, why caching and routing matter, and how platform lock-in sneaks in when your vendor effectively owns the memory. On the policy side, we discuss the pace of AI regulation, why the EU AI Act is a useful north star for building “bomb-proof” guardrails, and what it means to be able to prove both usage and non-usage of AI as expectations tighten.If you're building AI for fraud, marketing, customer support, underwriting, or agentic commerce, this is a roadmap for making it trustworthy.

Payments don't fail because teams lack ambition, they fail because the infrastructure can't keep up with what customers expect. We sit down with Mike Milotich, CEO of Marqeta, to unpack how modern issuer processing is changing card issuing from a rigid bank product into configurable, real-time payments infrastructure built for innovation.We trace Mike's 20-year journey across American Express, PayPal, Visa, and now Marqeta, and use that ecosystem view to explain what actually makes a card program work: issuer economics, consumer behavior, local market nuance, and the ability to iterate fast. Along the way, we break down what Marqeta does as an API-first, cloud-based issuer processor operating at global scale and high reliability, and why “building blocks” beat one-size-fits-all platforms when you're trying to launch, learn, and adjust.Then we look ahead at the biggest growth opportunities in card issuing and embedded finance: multinational issuing on a single stack, flexible credentials that can behave like debit, credit, and BNPL, and a broader product continuum that meets customers where they are in their financial journey. We also dig into personalization of rewards, AI-driven experiences, risk and fraud tooling, stablecoin-backed cards for faster cross-border movement, and the early shape of agentic commerce.If you care about the future of payments, card issuing, and customer engagement, this episode is for you.

Payments are speeding up everywhere, but the real story is what that speed breaks and what it demands from the people running the rails. I'm joined by Jennifer Barker, Global Head of Payments and Trade and Depositary Receipts at BNY, for a clear-eyed conversation about what's changing in the payments industry and what leaders should do next when complexity keeps piling up. From her journey through consulting and nearly two decades in payments to leading multiple global roles at BNY, Jennifer brings a practical view of how money actually moves at scale. We unpack the biggest pressures she hears from clients right now: navigating countless payment systems worldwide, balancing faster settlement with fraud controls, and fixing the friction that still plagues cross-border payments. Jennifer explains why interoperability matters so much and why clients don't want another new network to manage. They want outcomes: get it there fastest, safest, and most economically, with the right data attached. That data angle shows up again when we talk about ISO 20022 and why richer payment information can be just as valuable as the payment itself. We also dig into the always-on future and why 24/7/365 is more than a technology upgrade. It's an operating model challenge, with staffing, treasury workflows, and decisioning that must work nonstop. Finally, we zoom out on trends like AI in payments for anomaly detection and smart routing, and we tackle the stablecoin question with a grounded take on what really matters in cross-border: transparency, predictability, and reliability. 

Paper checks are the easiest payment method to hate and one of the hardest to remove. They are slow, expensive, fraud-prone, and deeply baked into legacy workflows. Greg Myers sits down with Steven Faust, CEO of Dash Solutions, to unpack what it really takes to modernize business payouts and why disbursements have become one of the biggest growth engines in the payments industry.We dig into how Dash builds configurable payments software that supports multiple use cases through a single platform, from wage payments and rewards to B2B expense management and large-scale disbursements like refunds, reimbursements, and royalties. Steven explains why distribution matters as much as product, including how banks and software platforms use embedded payments and API-based connectivity to turn on modern payout capabilities faster for their customers.The conversation goes deep on “payee experience” as a competitive advantage: clear communication, faster delivery, stronger security, and real choice in how recipients receive and use funds. We also explore where AI fits, not as a buzzword, but as a practical way to monitor activation steps, identify friction, and recommend improvements that lift engagement and KPIs across the payout journey.If you lead payments, product, or ops, you will leave with a sharper view of the disbursements opportunity and a clearer sense of what “modernization” should look like in the real world. 

Moving money is easy to describe and brutally hard to do well at global scale. When your network supports thousands of clients across 90+ countries and touches thousands of currency pairs, you start to see a different map of what's changing in payments and what's just noise. Greg Myers sits down with Debo Sen, Head of Payments, Services at Citi, to unpack what that vantage point reveals about the future of institutional payments.We get specific on why payments have become strategic for corporate growth, customer experience, and working capital. Debo explains how “always-on” is more than 24/7/365 uptime, it's about payments being embedded and invisible inside real business workflows. You'll also hear a sharp reframing of real-time payments as “just-in-time” optionality for treasury, along with a practical example of how holidays and global supply chains expose the limits of legacy rails.From there we dig into cross-border payments trends, including faster velocity across the ecosystem and the remaining friction that lives in the last mile. Debo shares how banks and fintech partnerships can expand endpoints like wallets, debit cards, and instant payment schemes while keeping resiliency and safety at the center. We also cover tokenization and blockchain use cases that are already operating at scale, plus what agentic commerce and AI-driven transactions could mean for controls, standards, fraud, and trust.If you care about real-time treasury, cross-border payments, payments infrastructure, tokenized deposits, and bank-grade security, this episode is for you. 

The mid-market is where tech decisions get dangerous. You are big enough that uptime, security, and delivery speed matter every day, but you are not big enough to burn cash on massive consulting retainers or absorb the fallout from a shaky vendor. That “valley in the middle” is exactly where David Robinson lives, and it is why he built Stratos Development Group to offer right-fit technical leadership, managed services, and software development that feels structured without being out of reach. We walk through David's journey from building early electronic medical record software in healthcare to leading engineering at a venture-backed startup, and then into entrepreneurship. From there, we get practical about what mid-market teams actually struggle with: competitors using the same licensed infrastructure, product roadmaps hijacked by one or two big customers, and the need to own real intellectual property and architecture to keep a competitive edge. For payments, fintech, and ISO leaders, the conversation goes deep on what Stratos is seeing right now: consolidation, tougher differentiation, and the technical friction that can make or break net-new deals. David shares how ISOs can approach technology enablement and custom integrations, plus the bigger opportunity of moving from ISO to ISV. If you already have a book of business, you also have a built-in feedback loop, faster validation, and a clearer path to launching software that your clients will actually pay for. We also tackle AI and the “vibe coding” era, including why agentic development can boost productivity but cannot shortcut PCI, SOC, or HIPAA compliance. If you want to modernize safely and win in a more competitive market, this one is for you. 

Cross-border payouts are one of those problems everyone complains about and then quietly accepts: high fees, slow settlement, and endless workarounds to get money into the hands of real people. I sit down with Cyril Mathew, Co-Founder and CEO of Latitude, to talk about why “faster money movement” only matters when the recipient can actually spend it in local currency, not just hold a stablecoin balance.Cyril walks through the career path that shaped his view of payments infrastructure, from scaling partnerships at Facebook to seeing the payout pain firsthand at Uber, then helping launch international expansion at Coinbase and working on USDC. That experience leads to a hard-earned lesson from Stripe: even if stablecoins let you reach 100 countries, adoption stalls if users cannot convert easily into pesos, reals, or other local currencies to pay for everyday life. The real product is the bridge between stablecoins and fiat, built with compliant rails, strong controls, and the “boring” payment details that enterprises demand.We break down what Latitude is building with its Liquidity Network, how stablecoins can reduce cross-border payment costs, and why real-time settlement can cut the need for prefunding and complex treasury float. We also cover where the biggest growth opportunities are showing up right now, including creator economy payouts, contractor payments, AI data labeling, fintech apps going global on day one, and the looming question of how AI agents may transact across borders.If you care about stablecoins, blockchain payments, real-time payments, or global payout infrastructure, this episode is for you. 

A “credit card fee” can protect your margins or quietly create compliance risk, and the difference usually comes down to one word: clarity. We sit down with Jim Oberman, CEO of Payroc, to unpack credit card surcharging in a way that merchants, software platforms, and payments teams can actually use, without hand-waving and without confusing it with every other fee customers see at checkout.We start with the fundamentals: what surcharging is, why it exists, and why it applies only to credit cards, not debit or prepaid. Then we cut through the biggest source of mistakes by separating four commonly mixed concepts: surcharging, dual pricing, convenience fees, and service fees. From there, we get practical about the rules that matter in the real world, including Visa's 3% surcharge cap becoming the de facto standard, Mastercard's different limit, and how brand enforcement programs and secret shopping can expose sloppy implementations.The bigger story is why surcharging has taken off so fast. Technology now makes it possible to present buyer choice at the exact moment of payment, across online and in-person experiences, with options like debit, ACH (electronic check), and emerging rails like real-time payments. Jim explains why embedded payments and ISVs increasingly treat surcharging as more than cost recovery: it can be a strategic feature, a trust-builder, and a way to keep reconciliation and settlement clean for merchants at scale.

Final settlement sounds great until you're the one holding the fraud and compliance risk. That tension sits at the heart of my conversation with Pete Glyman, Founder and CEO of Coinbax, where we explore what it will actually take for stablecoin payments to work for banks, credit unions, and serious fintech programs.Pete shares his path from building and selling a fintech platform to leading digital asset strategy work, and why the regulatory climate and the rise of blockchain, tokenization, and stablecoins pushed him back into founder mode. We get concrete about the real blockers to adoption: not speed, but controls. We unpack how smart contracts can support payment workflows people already trust, including escrow, lockup periods, delays, and even reversibility, while layering in fraud mitigation, OFAC screening, and multi-party account verification. The goal is simple: make on-chain payments feel safe, compliant, and operationally usable inside existing bank compliance systems.We also look forward. Pete explains why cross-border payments are an obvious early win, why domestic “wire-like” payments could be rebuilt with programmability, and why agentic payments could create an entirely new machine-to-machine economy. We close with a direct challenge to payments leaders: stop waiting, start tinkering, and learn the rails firsthand.

Gift cards have a branding problem and it's costing the payments world a big idea. Alex Preece, CEO and Co-Founder of Tillo, joins us to make the case that gift cards aren't really “gifts” at all. They're programmable stored value, a modern redemption rail that can sit inside bank apps, fintech wallets, cashback programs, employee rewards, refunds, and payouts. Once you see them as a payment instrument, the market looks a lot less like novelty and a lot more like infrastructure.We dig into how Tillo built a two-sided marketplace that connects thousands of retail brands with the businesses that want to reward customers and employees. Alex explains why a single API matters in a fragmented global ecosystem, what it takes to support multi-country catalogs, and how better tooling and transparency can make brands more confident partners. We also talk about a surprising insight: most volume is self-use, not gifting, because people are optimizing everyday spending by converting earned value into higher-impact rewards.We zoom out to the bigger payments trends reshaping rewards and loyalty: the demand for real-time gratification, the opportunity created by open banking and faster payments like RTP and FedNow, and the emerging push toward “global but local” benefits that actually work when customers travel or live abroad. If you're building in payments, loyalty, or fintech growth, this is a practical look at where rewards infrastructure is heading and why it can change behavior at the moment of decision.

“Instant” payments are usually a well-designed illusion. The customer experience feels real-time, but behind the scenes money still crawls through delayed settlement, fragmented rails, and market-by-market workarounds. That gap is exactly where stablecoins start to look less like hype and more like infrastructure.We sit down with Tony Tom, CRO and Co-Founder of Stable Sea, to unpack how enterprise stablecoin payments can improve cross-border payments, shorten settlement times, and reduce the operational drag that finance teams accept as normal. Tony shares how his journey through payments led him to Block and then to building Stable Sea, plus what he learned by watching stablecoin adoption accelerate outside the US. We talk liquidity, on-ramp and off-ramp realities, and why “bank-grade” processes matter when you're moving serious volume.A big part of the conversation centers on trapped cash: revenue stuck in markets with capital controls or limited FX access, from Argentina to Nigeria and beyond. We also explore stablecoin treasury management, the need for a single view across wallets and bank accounts, and how automation and rules-based movement can turn visibility into action. Finally, Tony lays out why regulated, Wall Street-aligned tokenized real world assets may be the bridge that pulls stablecoin settlement deeper into mainstream enterprise payments.

Vertical SaaS wins when it feels like it was built by someone who has actually done the job, and that same principle is reshaping payments and fintech. We sit down with Brad Pinneke, Head of Enterprise Business Development at Worldpay (is now Global Payments), to unpack why vertical SaaS platforms have become the day-to-day operating system for small businesses and why “embedded payments” is no longer a nice add-on. When the workflow lives inside the software, money flow becomes unavoidable, and the platform that handles both can deliver a cleaner experience and a stronger business model.We dig into what customers now expect from modern payment processing inside software: one login, one system of record, one support layer, and a single source of truth that connects checkout, settlement, reporting, and reconciliation. Brad explains how natively integrated payments can reduce back-office headaches, improve trust, and increase retention, plus what separates platforms that weave payments into the fabric of the product from those that simply tack it on.Then we get practical about the hard parts. Selling money is not the same as selling software, and the margin for error is smaller when uptime, compliance, PCI, funding, and fraud risk are on the line. We close with the next wave: AI in fintech and how AI plus payments data can turn a system of record into a system of action through predictive cash flow, risk modeling, automated pricing, and standout fraud detection.

The payments world is full of shiny objects. The hard part is deciding what actually matters to clients and then delivering it safely at global scale. I'm joined by Rich Clow, Head of Innovation and Strategies for Global Payments Solutions at Bank of America, for a grounded look at how a large financial institution evaluates emerging payments technology, turns strategy into products, and keeps the focus on real outcomes like faster settlement, better data, and lower fraud.We unpack what payment volumes and behavior patterns reveal right now: why most transactions are still domestic, why ACH remains a workhorse, and why cross-border payments are still largely wires running through SWIFT. Rich explains where real-time payments (RTP) are gaining traction, how data requirements can slow adoption, and why improving ERP integration is a turning point for reconciliation, payouts, and just-in-time corporate payments that support smarter liquidity management.From the treasury perspective, the conversation gets practical: streamlining accounts payable and accounts receivable across checks, ACH, wires, cards, lockbox, and virtual cards, while upgrading security and fraud prevention with layered controls. We also go deep on digital treasury and AI, including CashPro Forecasting, CashPro Chat, and mobile approvals, plus how “always-on” 24/7 banking changes operations, investigations, and even how upgrades are handled. If you care about payments innovation, real-time payments, treasury management, AI in banking, fraud prevention, and digital payment strategy, you'll get plenty to take away. 

Waiting 47 days to get paid for work you already finished is more than annoying, it's a cash-flow killer. I sat down with Garima Shah, President and Co-Founder of Biller Genie, to talk about the unglamorous part of payments that decides whether a business thrives: accounts receivable. We get practical about what actually slows payments down and why “just run the card” ignores the messy reality of invoicing, accuracy, and collections.Garima explains how accounts receivable automation tightens the whole workflow. Send invoices on time, protect data integrity so the right customer gets billed correctly, and give people an Amazon-like way to pay with a simple button for credit card or ACH. That shift can take a typical service business from getting paid in weeks to getting paid in days. We also dig into the real-world benefits beyond money, like saving 10 to 15 hours a week of admin work and giving owners time back.We also unpack what makes Biller Genie different in the payments ecosystem: a partner-first model built for banks, processors, and ISOs, deep payment gateway integrations, and bi-directional sync with accounting platforms like QuickBooks and Xero to support clean payment reconciliation. Garima shares where she sees growth in AR software, how AI in payments is accelerating product and insights, why stablecoin acceptance is “easy but early,” and what industry consolidation means when two partners suddenly become one.If you care about SMB payments, B2B invoicing, AR automation, and the future of merchant services, this one is packed with ideas you can use. 

Owning payments sounds like a power move until the real bill shows up. We sit down with Brock Robertson, CRO at Payroc, to unpack how payment strategy for software platforms is shifting again and why so many vertical SaaS leaders are stepping back from the “everyone should be a Payfac” era.We trace the evolution from payments as a bolt-on utility to embedded payments as a true growth engine, then get honest about what “control” actually requires: underwriting, compliance, disputes, fraud monitoring, security, systems, and specialized teams. Brock shares what he's hearing from software companies that tried to become payments companies and felt their brand identity drift away from the features that made them win in the first place. If you have global expansion plans, we also dig into how regulation and operational complexity multiplies fast.From there, we explore what a modern referral partnership model looks like today, including hands-off referral, hybrid co-sell, and approaches that preserve customer experience while reducing operational burden. The thread that ties it all together is trust: transparency, support, aligned economics, and the confidence to represent each other well when your customers' money is on the line.If you're evaluating integrated payments, payment processing partners, APIs, or the Payfac path, this conversation will help you choose the level of involvement that fits your team and your product roadmap.

Payments alone rarely make a software platform unforgettable. The moment merchants start using your product to access working capital, manage cash flow, move money through payouts, and keep reconciliation tight, the relationship changes. I sit down with Whitney Ganibegovic, Senior Sales Executive at Worldpay (now part of Global Payments), to unpack why embedded finance is quickly becoming one of the most practical drivers of retention, account growth, and long-term platform value for ISVs and software platforms.We get specific about what platforms still underestimate: embedded finance does not have to be a massive multi-year build with a new compliance team and a brand-new support motion. With the right partner infrastructure, platforms can add value-added financial tools while staying focused on the vertical software that made them successful. Whitney shares why expanding from embedded payments to a broader financial suite can increase customer lifetime value, lift revenue per merchant, and create real platform dependency because these tools plug directly into daily workflows.We also dig into where many rollouts go wrong. “Embedded” does not automatically mean adopted, so go-to-market timing, vertical nuance, and marketing automation matter. Whitney explains why working capital is often the simplest entry point, how payments data enables smart pre-qualification, and which metrics go beyond surface-level revenue: multi-product adoption, engagement, cash flow penetration, contribution margin, retention, and net revenue retention. The guiding image we keep coming back to is the “nonstop flight” experience: one login, one place to operate, fewer handoffs, less stress.If you care about embedded finance, fintech strategy, and building software platforms merchants cannot replace, listen now. 

Your churn dashboard might be accusing your product of something your payments stack actually did. When a renewal charge fails, customers can disappear even if they still want what you sell, and that “involuntary churn” quietly drains ARR, wrecks retention analysis, and forces teams to make the wrong fixes.In this episode I sit down with Charles Rosenblatt, CEO of Butter, to unpack how subscription businesses can recover revenue from failed card payments using machine learning. We get specific about why many dunning programs rely on simple retry schedules, and how an ML-driven approach can choose the right moment for each invoice based on patterns in card and issuer behavior. Charles also shares how Butter works globally and plugs in as an abstraction layer on top of existing processors, so merchants can improve recovery without ripping out their current setup.Then we look ahead: Butter is expanding from reactive recovery to predictive modeling that helps companies anticipate payment failures before they happen. Charles walks through real operational scenarios across telehealth, AI subscriptions, physical subscription boxes, and gyms, where a predictive score can guide whether to ship, whether to pause access, and how to reduce wasted CAC. We also talk about using anonymous card transaction variables without PII, and where AI is genuinely useful versus just hype in the payments industry.If you run subscriptions, payments, billing, or growth, you'll leave with a clearer way to separate product churn from payment friction and a roadmap for improving revenue retention. Subscribe to Leaders in Payments, share this episode with a teammate, and leave a review with your biggest churn question.

The moment AI agents can buy things for us, payments stop being a simple “click to pay” problem and become a trust problem. Greg Myers sits down with Sanjay Saraf, SVP and Global Chief Product Officer for Merchant Solutions at Fiserv, to map out what agentic commerce really means for merchants, ISVs, and the broader payments industry as software moves from assisting the shopper to acting for the shopper.We break down the simplest definition: customers set intent and rules, then an AI agent handles discovery, decisioning, and transaction execution. That shift challenges infrastructure built on the assumption that a human is present for authentication, authorization, and confirmation. Sanjay explains why the biggest change is the trust layer and how dispute resolution, refunds, and chargebacks must evolve when an autonomous agent initiates the purchase.We also dig into the emerging network frameworks shaping agentic payments, including Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol and Mastercard's Agent Pay Acceptance Framework. One emphasizes whether the agent is authorized to act, while the other emphasizes proving customer intent with a traceable record. From there, we talk practical implementation: how providers like Fiserv aim to make this seamless for integrated merchants, why SMBs can't be left behind, and why “agentic discovery” may become as important as traditional SEO for product catalogs.Finally, we cover where early ROI may show up first, especially through reduced fraud, fewer disputes, and clearer authorization, along with real-world use cases in travel and high-impact B2B invoice and supplier payments. Subscribe for more conversations on the future of payments, and if this helped you, share it and leave a review so more builders can find the show.

Most payments teams obsess over money in, then act surprised when slow payouts drive churn, support tickets, and lost growth. Greg Myers sits down with Ran Grushkowsky, Co-Founder and CEO of MassPay, to unpack why “time to money” is becoming a product feature and why the companies that treat payouts as strategy will outpace the ones that treat it as plumbing.We get into what MassPay actually does for corporate clients that need global payouts across multiple endpoints: local bank deposits, mobile wallets, cash pickup locations, push-to-card via Visa Direct, and even crypto. Ran explains the real challenge behind modern payout infrastructure: fragmentation. RTP, FedNow, wallets, and countless country-specific rails create a maze of integrations, compliance requirements, and operational risk. MassPay's answer is a proprietary network with deep redundancy in every market plus smart routing that weighs speed, compliance fit, and total cost, not just the cheapest per-transaction quote.Ran also shares what's reshaping the space right now: stablecoins as a cross-border speed and hedging tool, the shift toward embedded compliance that lets platforms control their own onboarding and payout experience, and how AI is already improving payout success rates through data normalization and faster reviews. We close with leadership lessons on where the real moat is headed in fintech and why payouts can move from cost center to profit center.

Your BNPL strategy can't be “pick one provider and hope.” When you sell across borders, buy now pay later becomes a payments infrastructure problem: different countries, different regulations, different checkout habits, and a constant pressure to keep conversion high without turning your team into an integration factory. We sit down with Cihan Duezguen, CEO and Co-Founder of Green Banana, to unpack a focused approach to payment orchestration built specifically for BNPL. We talk through why merchants and payment service providers are asking for a single, harmonized API that can connect to multiple BNPL providers while staying invisible to the shopper. Cihan explains what it means to be an agnostic infrastructure layer, why Green Banana doesn't run its own risk or credit checks, and how neutrality creates flexibility for merchants that need to change providers as requirements shift. From there we zoom out to the bigger payments trends Cihan is watching: stablecoins as a back-end innovation that could unlock new value for PSPs, banks, and merchants, plus the rise of agentic commerce where AI agents buy products through voice prompts and automated flows. If those changes land the way he expects, the retailers and payment leaders who prepare now will win the next generation of checkout UX. 

Payments is full of noise: legacy processors, vendor sprawl, duplicate onboarding, and merchants who just want their money faster. We cut through it by showing a pragmatic path from point products to a unified embedded finance stack that actually scales. With Jaris founder and CEO Chris Aristides and VP of Platform Partnerships Matt Thomas, we unpack why “foundation first” beats bolt-on every time and how to make it work across multiprocessor portfolios without ripping out your core.We start with the playbook behind winners like Square and Stripe: remove complexity, unify the experience, and make multi-product adoption effortless. Then we translate that into the realities of processors and ISOs. Chris explains the banking backbone - independent RTN, sponsor bank alignment, and vertically integrated ledgers—that makes settlement reliable and compliant. Matt breaks down managed settlement as the key unlock: a dynamic funding layer that normalizes Fiserv, TSYS, Worldpay, and Elavon flows, enabling split settlement, instant payouts, and automated loan repayment without custom builds for each backend.From there we stack the products merchants actually use. Lending remains a high-margin anchor with powerful retention, while instant payouts reach a far larger share of the base with a clean pay-as-you-use model that works on weekends and holidays. High-yield savings ties it together for cash management, all delivered through one onboarding, one golden merchant record, and a white-labeled UI that honors sub-ISO relationships and trust. The result is tangible: fewer forms, faster activation, clearer visibility for ops, and a material lift in retention and revenue.If you lead partnerships, product, or operations at a processor or ISO, this conversation gives you a concrete framework to touch the other 95 percent of your merchants, modernize onboarding, and launch new revenue lines through a single integration. Subscribe, share this episode with your team, and leave a review to tell us which product you'd launch first.

Fraud doesn't wait for your roadmap. We sat down with Jess Kirkpatrick, VP of Risk and Fraud at Worldpay now part of Global Payments, to unpack how platforms can move beyond checkbox KYC and build a living risk program that protects growth, strengthens brand trust, and prepares for Payfac readiness. With experience spanning community banking, 17 years at PayPal, and global risk leadership, Jess brings a clear, practical lens to what proactive actually looks like.We start by challenging the biggest myth in payments: set it and forget it. Jess outlines four risk vectors (identity, intent, business model, and financial stability) and shows why continuous monitoring across all four beats a one-time screen. She explains how shared liability works in embedded payments, why payment providers still own card brand and regulatory obligations, and how true partnerships pair education, tooling, and joint governance.From there, we go deep on good friction: enhanced onboarding for higher-risk profiles, step-up checks on unusual behavior, and periodic reviews that are framed as protection, not punishment. Jess shares how clear communication turns compliance into service, preventing the “why are you asking this now?” backlash that costs you trust and churn. To close, Jess gives three high-impact moves for this quarter: modernize KYC/KYB and tighten onboarding, ramp up ongoing monitoring with alerts for sudden shifts, and train frontline teams while explaining controls to merchants. Measure success beyond loss rates by tracking retention of your best merchants and brand health around trust and safety. 

What does it actually take to secure a payments company in an era of sophisticated, well-funded cybercriminals? In this first episode of The Trust Advantage Series, brought to you by Payroc, host Greg Myers sits down with David Edwards, Payroc's Senior Vice President of Information Security, for a candid and eye-opening conversation about modern cybersecurity in the payments industry.With 30 years in technology — spanning private banking, retail, and payments — David brings hard-won perspective to the questions keeping payments executives up at night. Sparked by a real-world ransomware attack on a payments company, this episode cuts through the compliance checkbox mentality to explore what genuine, operational security actually looks like.David and Greg cover a wide range of critical topics: why passing audits doesn't equal being secure, how AI has radically changed the phishing threat landscape, the three pillars of identity and vulnerability management, and why resilience — not prevention — is the new gold standard. David also breaks down Payroc's layered approach to ransomware defense, how the company integrates acquired platforms without creating security gaps, and the right questions ISVs, ISOs, banks, and merchants should be asking their payment partners.Whether you're a developer, a risk officer, or a business owner processing transactions, this episode delivers a masterclass in why security isn't just an IT issue — it's everyone's job.

What if checkout was the growth engine instead of an add-on? We sit down with Ismael Wrixen, CEO of ThriveCart, to explore how a payments-first platform can power the modern creator economy from a $99 template to a $10,000 mastermind without locking you into a brittle tech stack. Ismael breaks down how ThriveCart layers affiliates, an LMS, and marketing automation on top of payments, then uses smart funnels to turn checkout into predictable revenue.The conversation gets especially interesting around financing. As ticket sizes rise, traditional BNPL hits limits on geography and amount. Enter Thrive Pay Installments: interest-free plans using a customer's existing card limit, delivered globally in USD, CAD, GBP, EUR, and AUD. Early data shows 3.3x higher average order values, approvals jumping from ~40% to ~85%, and checkout time collapsing to five seconds. Merchants still get paid up front; buyers spread payments over three, six, or twelve months with no new loan application, no extra friction.We also zoom out to the bigger picture of the creator economy and AI. Demand for reskilling surges as companies retool, and creators step in with specialized courses and coaching across finance, business, wellness, and AI. Ismael shares why flexibility is non-negotiable—keep your payment funnel, swap your LMS, integrate with 50+ tools, and sell globally with automated taxes and e-invoicing support coming online. We discuss where LLM commerce is heading, why human-in-the-loop purchasing still matters, and how adaptive pricing and localized experiences unlock international growth.If you care about conversion, funding bigger baskets, and building a stack that won't trap you as AI reshapes the landscape, this is your roadmap. 

In this first episode of a new series on the Leaders in Payments podcast, host Greg Myers sits down with Chris Aristides, Founder and CEO of Jaris, to explore what it truly takes for payments companies and ISOs to remain competitive as the market shifts toward owned, embedded finance experiences.Chris brings an unconventional background to the payments world, having spent 22 years in the hedge fund industry as an analyst and portfolio manager before making the move into building a company. The conversation begins with the origin story of Jaris, which set out to bring a Square Capital-style lending product to the broader payments market. Rather than following the typical merchant cash advance route, Chris made the deliberate choice to build on a bank-backed model with a modern tech stack, prioritising regulatory alignment and a foundation flexible enough to eventually expand into multi-product banking services.A significant portion of the discussion centers on the complexity of working with legacy payment processors. Unlike vertical SaaS platforms, which offer high conversion and seamless integration, the legacy world is fragmented, running on outdated infrastructure with no easy outlet to plug into. Jaris has spent years building around this challenge, developing its own cloud-based core and processor-agnostic settlement infrastructure to bridge that gap.Chris also addresses the broader vision, making the case that lending alone is insufficient and that engaging the full merchant base requires a suite of products including instant payouts and commercial banking. He closes by framing Jaris not as a disruptor, but as a complement to the existing infrastructure, doing the hard work the industry has long needed done.

In this episode of the Leaders in Payments podcast, host Greg Myers sits down with Alex Dewison, Director of Digital Solutions at Global Payments, to explore the rapidly evolving world of online commerce and checkout experiences. Alex brings a rich background to the conversation, having started his career in software development before moving into payments at Worldpay, where he worked with major UK retailers like Tesco and Next, and eventually transitioning into his current role overseeing digital product strategy across Europe, Asia, and Oceania.The discussion covers how consumer payment expectations have shifted dramatically, with digital wallets now accounting for over twenty percent of transactions and instant refunds becoming a baseline expectation rather than a perk. Alex argues that friction at checkout is no longer tolerable and that the industry is moving toward what he calls "invisible" or zero-click commerce, where the act of paying becomes seamlessly embedded in the shopping experience itself.The conversation also tackles the tension between platform simplicity and merchant control, the dangers of offering too many payment options, and the importance of localizing payment methods when expanding internationally. Alex shares practical guidance on how merchants can reduce cart abandonment by addressing surprise fees, slow page loads, and poor mobile optimization.On the topic of AI, Alex separates genuine near-term value, such as intelligent payment routing and adaptive fraud detection, from the longer-term hype around fully autonomous AI agents. He closes with a pointed message for e-commerce leaders: in 2026, your payment experience is your product, and the winners will be those who relentlessly remove friction rather than add features.

Payments leaders are feeling the squeeze of shrinking margins, price-driven churn, and rising expectations from merchants who want funding that feels as seamless as a card transaction. We sat down with Aarati Soman, Head of Product at Parafin, and Jaron Ruckman, Product Manager at NMI, to map the new playbook: embedded lending that meets merchants where they already work, backed by real-time data, AI-driven underwriting, and modular infrastructure that launches fast and scales cleanly.We unpack how moving capital inside your existing workflows changes the relationship with your merchants. Instead of sending them to third-party portals or closed ecosystems, you present pre-underwritten offers based on sales data, bank transactions, and relevant third-party signals. Machine learning models spot revenue patterns, seasonality, refunds, disputes, and expense profiles; LLMs structure unstructured data to speed decisions. The impact is tangible: faster approvals, fairer pricing, higher eligibility for SMBs that banks often overlook, and the kind of stickiness that turns payment processing from a commodity into a growth engine.Aarati outlines how Parafin carries the heavy lifts - capital, risk, servicing, and compliance so partners can focus on distribution and experience. Jaron shares how NMI's API-first approach and embeddable components get partners live with offers before any deep development, with the option to integrate more tightly over time. We explore strategic positioning against Stripe and Square, why contextual placement at the point of pain drives adoption, and where product innovation is headed: fit-for-purpose capital for inventory spikes, equipment, payroll, and beyond. We close with practical advice on choosing partners - breadth of products, ease of integration, transparency, and program durability so you avoid costly rip-and-replace cycles and deliver fast funding your merchants trust.

Fraud hasn't disappeared - it got smarter. Organized rings now aim upstream at SaaS platforms and ISVs that embed payments, where a single gap in onboarding, transaction logic, or refund flows can be scaled into thousands of attacks overnight. We sit down with Brian Rust, SVP and Deputy Chief Information Security Officer at Worldpay, to map the real fraud journey (entry, action, exit) and the concrete moves product and security leaders can make right now to protect merchants and brand trust.We start with the why: platforms offer leverage. Brian explains how bots and AI generate convincing synthetic businesses that pass weak KYC, and what early signals still break the spell - impossible form completion times, IP and address mismatches, and brand-new domains claiming long histories. From there, we dive into the middle of the kill chain: card testing. You'll hear how velocity spikes, elevated decline rates, and geo anomalies betray large-scale testing and how adaptive limits for new merchants can contain losses and prevent network penalties. Then we confront refund abuse, where attackers exploit trust by refunding to different instruments or flooding high-value returns. The fix isn't blanket friction - it's precision: refund-to-original-card only, refund velocity caps, and targeted reviews that slow bad actors while keeping good customers moving.Brian lays out the layers that matter now: device fingerprinting, behavioral analytics, and transaction monitoring that can halt suspect money movement before funds leave your orbit. He also makes the case for a fraud-cyber fusion model, aligning teams and intelligence using frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK to anticipate tactics as cyber and financial motives blend. Finally, we close with three actions you can ship this quarter: audit onboarding with bot controls and threat modeling, enforce velocity controls that adapt as trust grows, and tap your processor's data and filters (AVS, CVV) to harden defaults.If you lead product, risk, or engineering for a payments-enabled platform, this conversation gives you a practical blueprint to raise attacker costs, protect your merchants, and guard your reputation. 

Ever launched a beautiful product only to watch payments derail the experience? We sat with Viktoria Soltesz - founder of PSP Angels and the Soltesz Institute - to map the hidden decisions that make or break money movement. From onboarding demands and documentation to routing choices and settlement timelines, Viktoria shows how banking and payment flows now shape product, compliance, data, and brand trust. The takeaway is bold and practical: treat payments as strategy, not plumbing.We dig into messy, real-world stories: a global group juggling multiple entities, providers, and file formats; a luxury e-commerce brand whose purple checkout clashed with a green identity and crushed conversions; and a marketplace shut down over a single high-risk SKU. Viktoria explains why “cheapest fees” can cost the most when integration pain, risk appetite, and provider incentives are ignored. She also exposes conflicts in referral-driven deals and makes the case for an ethical, merchant-first approach that starts with a comprehensive payments health check.The conversation builds toward a clear solution: appoint a Chief Payments Officer. This role owns the end-to-end flow, negotiates with a holistic lens, and adapts strategy to each market - whether that means leveraging UPI in India, adopting open banking in the US, or planning redundancies that protect authorization rates and cash flow. We also scan the horizon: instant payments in the EU, QR adoption beyond Asia, and the rise of agentic commerce where AI discovers, orders, and pays. With new rails come new risks - refunds, disputes, and fraud models must be redesigned for machine-initiated purchases.If you care about lower fees, fewer shutoffs, stronger UX, and faster global expansion, this is your playbook. Learn more about PSP Angels here and The Soltesz Institute here. Viktoria has also written two books both available on Amazon and here.Moving Money How Banks Think The CPayO - The Chief Payment Officer The Role Which Doesn't Exist (But Should!)

If your AR feels like a maze of phone calls, spreadsheets, and “we'll match it later,” this conversation shows a cleaner path. We sit down with Fauwaz Hussain, Senior Director of B2B Partnerships and Strategy at Global Payments, to break down what actually speeds cash and what quietly stalls it. From card-not-present realities to complex terms and partial shipments, we map the B2B differences that make order-to-cash harder and the practical changes that remove friction fast.We get specific about embedding payments inside your ERP so invoices, settlements, and the general ledger line up automatically. That shift kills rekeying errors, collapses department silos, and gives support, sales, and finance the same live truth. Security gets stronger when card data never touches email or recorded calls, and PCI compliance becomes manageable when you use certified, cloud-based vaults and enforce simple rules like “no cards by phone.” Fauwaz explains why publishers like Microsoft, SAP, and Sage now run tighter marketplaces, how VARs and ISVs evaluate payment apps, and why a one-stop provider reduces risk across gateways, vaults, and processing.We also cover the cash-flow moves that work right away: self-serve portals with open invoices, one-click payment links by email or text, stored credentials for auto-pay, and accepting multiple methods from ACH to single-use virtual cards. Then we look forward - AI-driven cash application, predictive delinquencies, Level 2/3 data validation, and API-first architectures that connect e-commerce, field service, and ERP into a single payment fabric. If you're leading AR, finance, or operations, you'll leave with a clear playbook to modernize without compromising compliance.

Money keeps moving while the world sleeps, and the rails behind it are evolving fast. We sit down with Pat Antonacci, Chief Product Officer at The Clearing House, to break down how CHIPS, ACH (EPN), and RTP each power a different promise - liquidity, scale, and always‑on finality and why that mix is reshaping how businesses and consumers move funds.Pat explains why CHIPS dominates high‑value cross‑border flows and how its netting algorithm delivers 30:1 liquidity savings that matter on volatile days. We trace ACH's steady rise, including same‑day and intraday growth, and dig into record holiday peaks that reveal the hidden rhythms of settlement. Then we go deep on RTP: eight years in, 98% of U.S. real‑time traffic, rising daily volumes, a $10 million limit, and use cases spanning account‑to‑account moves, brokerage funding, wallet top‑ups, gig payouts, loan disbursements, and tuition deadlines that can't wait until Monday.The conversation tackles big questions: Are rails competing or complementing? Where are checks being displaced? How do Request for Payment and ISO 20022 unlock cleaner data and fewer exceptions? We explore the 2026 landscape - APIs, cloud, AI‑driven fraud controls, open banking momentum and why the smart strategy is matching the rail to the job: ACH for routine batches, RTP for precise timing and finality, and CHIPS for high‑value, cross‑border certainty. Pat also previews The Clearing House roadmap, from broader RTP ubiquity and fraud tools to extended CHIPS hours that bring wires closer to continuous availability.If you care about how money actually moves and how that movement shapes cash flow, customer trust, and the broader economy, this conversation is your field guide. 

In this Signal Series episode of the Leaders in Payments Podcast, I sit down with Matt Downs, President, Integrated and Platforms at Global Payments, to unpack the biggest platform-payments shifts heading into 2026. Coming off the newly closed Worldpay and Global Payments combination, Matt shares what scale means for ISVs and platforms, and why payments is no longer “just a feature.” It is a growth engine that touches product, operations, and trust.The conversation breaks into three practical themes: embedded payments, embedded finance, and AI-driven fraud. Matt explains how platforms are moving toward richer embedded experiences that extend beyond checkout into the full workflow, including onboarding, chargebacks, disputes, and support. At the same time, platforms are feeling pressure to expand into adjacent financial products such as working capital, banking services, cards, and payroll. He also points to a common blind spot: many leaders do not benchmark how competitors are using payments and financial services to differentiate their core product. That competitive context should directly shape the roadmap.On fraud, Matt argues that 2026 demands an end-to-end mindset. Threats now show up earlier in the lifecycle, operate in real time, and adapt quickly using AI, deepfakes, machine-to-machine attacks, and automation. He outlines the “non-negotiables” for security and compliance, including layered defenses that protect the entire transaction journey, from the first web visit through refunds and disputes, without adding so much friction that it slows growth.If you are an ISV or platform executive building your 2026 plan, this episode will help you pressure-test your partnership strategy, prioritize embedded finance by vertical, and make smarter decisions to stay ahead while avoiding costly execution pitfalls.

Money is changing faster than most teams can update a roadmap. We sit down with Farooq Malik, Co-Founder and CEO of Rain, to unpack how stablecoins and tokenized dollars are moving from crypto headlines to the hidden plumbing of real payments - powering card programs, cross-border payouts, and embedded finance at enterprise scale.Farooq breaks down Rain's vertically integrated stack: pay-ins and payouts across ACH, wires, and Visa; support for dozens of stablecoins on 11 blockchains; and account logic that makes tokenized value feel like a familiar account, not a science project. We dig into a standout use case - a margin-backed credit card where each swipe triggers instant receivable financing in stablecoin - cutting working capital needs by about 80% and transforming the unit economics of card programs. He also shares how one API can issue regulatorily compliant products in multiple markets, letting global platforms pay creators, freelancers, and merchants in “international dollars” without stitching together country-by-country integrations.We explore the surge in institutional interest fueled by emerging regulatory clarity, the 30x volume growth Rain has seen in the last 12 months, and why broader rules could unlock 10x–100x adoption across the ecosystem. Farooq contrasts Rain's approach with reseller patchworks, highlighting the benefits of being a principal Visa member and owning the core of the stablecoin stack. Beyond stablecoins, we touch on open banking, the rise of global-first consumer apps, and how nomadic work patterns are forcing finance to follow people, not addresses.If you lead payments, product, or finance, you'll leave with a clear view of where tokenized money creates immediate value: better card economics, faster global disbursements, and simpler enterprise integrations. 

Forget the hype - small merchants need tools that actually work when a line forms and a card won't tap. Andrew Helms, CEO USA at SumUp digs into a merchant-first approach that puts transparency, service, and growth at the center of payments. Andrew shares his unconventional path from Middle Eastern studies and consulting in Dubai to entrepreneurship, scaling Home Chef through acquisition, and ultimately leading SumUp's U.S. team from Boulder Colorado. That global lens shapes a practical strategy: localize for U.S. realities like tax complexity and tipping, keep pricing honest, and answer the phone when a sale is on the line.We unpack how SumUp's integrated ecosystem - payments, POS, invoicing, banking, lending, and loyalty - helps brick-and-mortar stores thrive. The spotlight is on inventory-heavy retail: convenience stores, liquor shops, toy and pet stores juggling large catalogs, aging stock, and tight margins. Andrew explains how POS plus loyalty surfaces what's expiring, what's stuck, and which promotions move units, turning shelf data into cash flow. He's candid about competitors' junk fees and makes the case for clear contracts and seven-day live support that's moving toward 24/7 coverage.Looking ahead, Andrew separates signal from noise on stablecoins, instant payments, and AI. Cross-border settlement and faster payouts hold real promise if they reach main street, while selective AI can power insights and smarter support without replacing the human layer. He also taps SumUp's global footprint for “crystal ball” learnings - from Brazil's Pix to London's kiosk boom - and shows how to translate those wins for U.S. merchants. We close with career advice to ask better questions and a call for ethics in payments: long-term success depends on enabling small businesses to build community, repeat revenue, and resilience. If you care about the future of main street retail, this conversation brings strategy you can use today.

Money that waits for Monday is losing ground to rails that never sleep. Greg sits down with Edward Woodford, CEO and Founder of zerohash, to explore how stablecoins and tokenized deposits are reshaping cross-border payments, account funding, and global payouts for merchants, platforms, and marketplaces. From MIT roots to building one of the largest movers of stablecoins, Edward explains why velocity of money matters and how interoperability solves the messy reality of assets, chains, and compliance at scale.We dig into concrete use cases: topping up trading or gaming balances instantly, paying freelancers in the Philippines or Brazil with automatic local currency conversion, and using stablecoins as a dependable 24/7 rail. Edward breaks down why abstraction is the unlock - users shouldn't pick chains or tokens, they should just send money. He also shares why banks are poised to become the biggest on- and off-ramps as regulatory clarity lands, and why tokenized deposits may deliver stronger economics for financial institutions than issuing their own stablecoins.Looking ahead, Edward maps a world of vertical integration, where processors launch their own networks and potentially bank charters, compressing costs and aligning incentives across the stack. He makes the case for streaming payments as a catalyst for financial resilience and agentic commerce, where instant settlement reduces payday lending and powers software-to-software transactions. The result isn't crypto vs. traditional - it's connected plumbing that makes payments faster, cheaper, and more inclusive.If you care about the future of payments, cross-border commerce, and the real-world path from crypto rails to everyday use, this conversation offers a clear blueprint. 

Payments shouldn't feel like a maze. We sit down with Kurv's CEO, Afshin Yazdian, to unpack how a legacy “lifestyle business” evolved into a modern payments platform by stripping out friction, investing in human-centered service, and doubling down on tools that make small businesses stronger. From tap-to-pay on everyday smartphones to faster access to funds, the strategy centers on clarity and speed so owners can focus on sales, staff, and customers - not statements and support tickets.Afshin walks us through his unconventional path from law to leading roles at iPayment, Priority, and Paysafe before acquiring and rebranding EMS as Kurv. He shares what it took to rebuild operations, unify a new leadership team, and scale applications and activations nearly 10x in 18 months. We explore why transparent pricing, intuitive onboarding, and self-service matter just as much as getting a live expert on the phone, and how that blend becomes a moat in a commoditized market.We also dig into the high-stakes frontier of AI and fraud. With more digital leads and synthetic identities hitting underwriting queues, Kurv deploys machine learning to protect onboarding and e-commerce merchants while preserving approval rates. Add in real-time payments for better cash flow and a truly omnichannel approach - retail, field services, and online and you've got a playbook for SMB payments that is powerful without being complicated. Along the way, Afshin makes a strong case for culture as strategy: communicate clearly, care for people, and let that pride carry through every interaction.If you're building, selling, or relying on payments, this conversation will leave you with practical ideas for simplifying workflows, reducing risk, and earning loyalty. 

What if account-to-account payments felt as dependable as swiping a card? We sit down with Keith Raphael, Co-founder and CEO of Straddle, to explore how a trust-first approach can transform ACH, RTP, and FedNow into fast, reliable options that product teams and finance leaders can actually count on. Keith's journey from hardcore compliance to building a unified API offers a rare, inside look at what it takes to replace “file uploads and hope” with identity-led orchestration and clear, real-time visibility.We unpack the core idea that money moves at the speed of trust and how the lack of a strong identity layer has kept A2A stuck in 1970s-era uncertainty. Keith explains how Straddle combines KYC, fraud detection, open banking connectivity, tokenization, and multi-rail routing to solve the “where is my money” gap for subscriptions, stored-value wallets, remittances, marketplaces, and B2B flows. We also dig into US-specific headwinds: no regulatory mandate for open banking or instant payments, incumbent pricing strategies that protect debit economics, and the resulting friction for adopters.From the rise of platforms and embedded finance to direct-to-rail integrations and the cautious reality of stablecoins, Keith lays out a pragmatic roadmap for scaling bank payments without sacrificing compliance or customer trust. The lesson from Stripe and Square still stands (simplicity wins) but it now applies to ACH, RTP, and FedNow. 

Cash flow used to mean waiting and worrying. Today, it can mean deciding and doing. We sit down with Ana Garcia of JPMorgan Payments and James Chi of Block to unpack how real-time payments are reshaping the small business playbook - turning every sale into instantly usable working capital and replacing uncertainty with visibility you can act on.Ana pulls back the curtain on how instant payments actually work: APIs or portals trigger transactions, banks authenticate and screen for fraud and compliance, networks like The Clearing House RTP clear and settle, and funds land in seconds with instant confirmation. James maps those capabilities to real merchant needs - Square's instant transfers to linked accounts, immediate spend via Square Checking, and faster marketplace payouts for merchants - showing how speed enables on-time payroll, proactive inventory management, and smoother refunds.We also get real about adoption. Many owners still don't know they can move money this fast, so education in context is key - surfacing instant options exactly when cash is tight. On safety, both leaders emphasize layered defenses: identity checks, behavioral analytics, transaction limits, and step-up authentication, proving you don't need to trade security for speed. Looking forward, we explore request for payment for cleaner collections, the march toward near-universal bank coverage, and the promise of cross-border instant payments that could redefine supplier and marketplace flows. If you care about liquidity, predictability, and customer trust, this conversation shows how real-time payments turn pressure into momentum.This episode is part of our special series on The Future of Modern Payments sponsored by The Clearing House.