The AFT podcast: At the Forefront of Transactions | Payments | Fintech | Pay-tech | Banking

Konstantin Dubovitskiy
  • 5.0 (17)
  • BUSINESS

The AFT podcast is focused on explaining the operations of payments ecosystems in the US. Each episode will bring deep insights into selected topic, no fluff. Do you know how credit cards work? How banks settle obligations between each other? What messaging protocols are used for what payment rails? How the tap to pay works? How funds get disbursed by government agencies? You'll learn about topics in the payment space that you didn't even know existed. If you are in the fintech/payments space or just a curious mind - hop on!

  1. FEB 17

    PSP VS a Processor VS Core: covering the basics

    In this episode, I spoke with Johnny Moreland who covers the core topics that serve as the introduction to the 9-episode long in-depth dive into the payments ecosystem. We will heavily focus on Moov Financial as the case-study since it has accomplished a lot in this sector (like direct connections to Fed and TCH) and because I now work at Moov:) Clarification: during this interview it was mentioned that Stripe doesn't connect directly to the card networks. This information is outdated and Stripe does, in fact, connect directly into all 4 major card networks in the US. Questions that were covered during the interview: Tell us about yourself and MoovWhat IS Moov?Payment Processor VS Payment Service ProviderThe legalities of it: what is required of a processor vs PSPPayment Processors are controlled very similar to banks, what are the differences?Comparison of Moov to FIS and other core-like businesses As always, don't forget to follow my substack for more deep dives: https://aftfinance.substack.com/

    24 min
  2. Reg E, AML and other compliance requirements explained by Keith Raphael, Founder and CEO of Straddle

    11/14/2025

    Reg E, AML and other compliance requirements explained by Keith Raphael, Founder and CEO of Straddle

    Keith Raphael, Found and CEO of Straddle in this episode talks about compliance requirements for organizations that move money. We go over the specific examples and go in-depth into each scenario that triggers specific compliance requirements. Key takeaways from the episode: Reg E only applies to consumer transactions Reg Z is applied to debt instruments belonging to the individual consumer. Reg E is applied any time the consumer account is debited electronically.  Reg E is the safety net that makes consumers comfortable about the banking system. Specifically it offers proper protocols that forces everyone to abide by. Reg E forces the FI or a payment processor or a marketplace owner - whoever is interacting directly with the customer, has to cover the transactions that are claimed as fraudulent by the consumer while they are under the investigation by the bank. "You can't be too small for the AML rules". Whoever you are and whatever your intentions are, if you participate in the money laundering of any form (even if unintentionally), you will be punished. If an entity is acting as an agent of the payee, they don't have to adhere to the same regulations as an MSB. FinCEN Payment processor exemption allows some money flows to not be considered as Money Transmitters. The moment we are talking about storing value for an individual, processing P2P transactions - think MTL requirements. Article on FBO accounts issued through Omnibus accounts through sponsor banks: https://open.substack.com/pub/aftfinance/p/what-are-omnibus-accounts?r=8gvix&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false CDD = Customer Due Diligence  My favorite quote from Keith: "If you solve for identity in payments, everything else is just accounting".And here is the article that I recently wrote on the subject of KYC/KYB requirements: https://aftfinance.substack.com/p/kyc-kyb-aml-and-bsa?r=8gvix

    41 min
  3. RTP covered by Cheryl Gurz

    10/22/2025

    RTP covered by Cheryl Gurz

    Cheryl Gurz Product Manager with RTP at The Clearing House in this episode is explaining the key functionality of RTP and the backend. Here are the key takeaways from the interview: TCH basically works to recoup the losses - they are not for profit.Zelle does instant clearing but not settlement, while RTP is the first network in the US where clearing and settlement are done together on the good funds model.Majority of payments are executed in 3.5 seconds.5 million of RFPs were processed last year (2024)."pending issue" is there because of the batch posting by banks. They post the transaction at the end of the day, the available balance will change.Pricing - TCH is charging $0.045 per credit but your bank can charge as much as they want to.43% of the RTP payments are made after the standard banking hours.The banks that are on the RTP network have to make the funds in the credit transaction within 5 seconds 24/7. "You don't need to know how the payment is made" Meet us at AFP, booth #618!!! Cheryl's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-gurz-0871287/ As always, check out my Substack and specifically my post about Requests for Payments. Find RFP documentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vUGD14WbFvVB5iy7Zy9QcnIYKLr-riIM/view?usp=sharing

    38 min
  4. Money movement behind charity, by Sonia Nigam

    09/08/2025

    Money movement behind charity, by Sonia Nigam

    Sonia Nigam - Founder and CEO at Change in this episode talks about the money movement behind the scenes of charities. Especially the ones organized and led by corporations. If you have ever wondered what happens when the grocery store asks you to round up your purchase for charity - you'll find answers in this interview! P.S. Apologies for the sound on my side, my computer connected to the wrong microphone. Find our articles covering payment rails in-depth on our Substack: https://aftfinance.substack.com/

    24 min
  5. Declined transactions explained + Disputes covered. By Rehman Baig with FlexFactor

    08/07/2025

    Declined transactions explained + Disputes covered. By Rehman Baig with FlexFactor

    Rehman Baig, CPO at FlexFactor in this episode talks about combating transaction declines and disputes. How the process of underwriting looks like, how are funds reclaimed, what the end-user sees and how it all operates under the hood. Follow us on Substack here for more in-depth coverage of interesting topics like OCT, Pre-Debiting, ACH disputes and much more: https://aftfinance.substack.com/ Rehman's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rehmanb/

    36 min
  6. Fund collections getting creative: Michael Kaplan with PayNearMe

    07/15/2025

    Fund collections getting creative: Michael Kaplan with PayNearMe

    In this episode we cover exactly what the title suggests: pay-ins. Specifically focusing on the use-cases like repayment of outstanding debts such as tolls due, phone bills overdue etc. Covering a wide array of pay-in options and explaining how they operate, how the funds get attributed to each user and how the backend of the operations looks like. Michael Kaplan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelkaplan2/ PayNearMe: https://home.paynearme.com/ AFT Substack: https://aftfinance.substack.com/ And of course, our official website: https://www.aft.finance/

    36 min
  7. Buy Now Pay Later - how does it work and what happens behind the scenes? By Jiakai Guo, VP at Sound Point Capital Management

    06/17/2025

    Buy Now Pay Later - how does it work and what happens behind the scenes? By Jiakai Guo, VP at Sound Point Capital Management

    Jiakai Guo - Vice President at Sound Point Capital Management in this episode goes in-depth on how Buy Now Pay Later system operates. How does the capital flow look like, how is this form of debt being treated, what are the delinquency rates and of course, can this serve as an indicator of the country's economic health. P.S. Apologies for the quality of sound on my side, the system defaulted to the wrong microphone and I've missed it. Find us on Substack: https://aftfinance.substack.com/ Our official website: https://www.aft.finance/

    41 min
  8. Building the payment system with Casey Hingtgen

    06/03/2025

    Building the payment system with Casey Hingtgen

    Casey Hingtgen - COO of Whale in this episode talks about the process of building a system of pulling and pushing without inter-mingling the funds. Goal of the system in question: - making sure that money is guaranteed to the landlords. Ability to lock the funds in the FDIC-insured funds. - for the renter (user): easy to fund the account. As frictionless as possible. Find us on Substack and join 7k+ people who read about payments' intricacies every month! https://aftfinance.substack.com/

    27 min
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About

The AFT podcast is focused on explaining the operations of payments ecosystems in the US. Each episode will bring deep insights into selected topic, no fluff. Do you know how credit cards work? How banks settle obligations between each other? What messaging protocols are used for what payment rails? How the tap to pay works? How funds get disbursed by government agencies? You'll learn about topics in the payment space that you didn't even know existed. If you are in the fintech/payments space or just a curious mind - hop on!

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