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!)