Podcast
Leaders In Payments
Hosted by Greg Myers · EN
Hear directly from C-level executives in payments/fintech about industry trends, successful strategies, products, services, and what the future holds for the payments/fintech industry. We cover the entire industry from merchant acquiring, payment processing, ISOs, payfacs, fraud, security, issuing, b2b, fintech, to start-ups, if it goes on in payments we will be talking about it.
45episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Fighting Fraud with Tamas Kadar, Co-Founder & CEO of SEON | Episode 497
1w ago00:35:19Tap to summarizeFraud 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.
Transcribe →Merchants Can Get Paid Instantly While Cutting Fraud with CEO, Marshall Greenwald, IoniaPay | Episode 496
1w ago00:22:31Tap to summarizeA “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.
Transcribe →Automating B2B Accounts Receivable with Thomas Cecil, Co-Founder of PAYRA | Episode 495
2w ago00:19:47Tap to summarizeA $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.
Transcribe →AI You Can Trust, Audit and Keep with Russell Moore, Co-Founder & CEO of Amotivv | Episode 494
2w ago00:33:15Tap to summarizeAI 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.
Transcribe →Customer Engagement Through Payments with Mike Milotich, CEO of Marqeta | Episode 493
3w ago00:28:27Tap to summarizePayments 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.
Transcribe →How BNY Simplifies Global Money Movement With Jennifer Barker, Global Head of Payments & Trade & Depositary Receipts | Episode 492
3w ago00:18:09Tap to summarizePayments 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.
Transcribe →The Disbursements Playbook with Stephen Faust, CEO of Dash Solutions | Episode 491
4w ago00:20:02Tap to summarizePaper 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.
Transcribe →Inside Institutional Payments At Scale with Debo Sen, Head of Payments, Services, Citi | Episode 490
May 2800:29:17Tap to summarizeMoving 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.
Transcribe →The Mid Market Tech Gap with David Robinson, Founder of Stratos Development Group | Episode 489
May 2600:21:47Tap to summarizeThe 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.
Transcribe →Stablecoin Rails For Real-World Payouts with Cyril Mathew, Co-Founder & CEO of Latitude | Episode 488
May 1900:25:16Tap to summarizeCross-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.
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