Leaders In Payments

Greg Myers
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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.

  1. 21H AGO

    Ismael Wrixen, CEO of Thrivecart | Episode 471

    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.

    28 min

  2. 5D AGO

    The Signal: Embedded Finance - Building the Infrastructure Layer with Jaris Founder & CEO Chris Aristides | Episode 470

    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.

    25 min

  3. FEB 24

    The New Rules of Ecommerce with Alex Dewison, Global Payments | Episode 469

    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.

    33 min

  4. FEB 19

    The Signal: Embedded Finance: Lending as a Platform Feature with Aarati Soman, Parafin & Jaron Ruckman, NMI | Episode 468

    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.

    24 min

  5. FEB 17

    The Signal: The Real "Payment Meets Fraud" Journey with Brian Rust at Worldpay | Episode 467

    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.

    25 min

  6. FEB 12

    Viktoria Soltesz, Founder & CEO of PSP Angels | Episode 466

    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!)

    27 min

  7. FEB 10

    The Signal: Untangling B2B Payments: Why Complexity Persists & How to Fix It with Fauwaz Hussain, Global Payments | Episode 465

    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.

    33 min

  8. FEB 5

    Special Series: The Future of Modern Payments with Pat Antonacci, Chief Product Officer at The Clearing House | Episode 464

    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.

    26 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Greg Myers
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    472
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Leaders In Payments
  • Show Website
    Leaders In Payments

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