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© 2026 Leaders In Payments
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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.
471 Episodes
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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. T...
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 di...
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 un...
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. ...
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 i...
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 vola...
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 practica...
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 ac...
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 strat...
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 comp...
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. Afsh...
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-ti...
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 ...
The backbone of the economy is feeling both confident and squeezed, and we wanted to get specific about what actually helps. In this episode I sit down with Shruti Patel, Chief Product Officer for Business Banking at U.S. Bank, to unpack fresh small business data and the concrete tools that turn payments into faster cash, lighter admin, and clearer decisions. We start with the Small Business Perspective survey: high optimism paired with pressure from inflation, tariffs, and supply chain unce...
In this episode, we dig into how modern SaaS platforms turn payments into a core product, a revenue engine, and a defensible moat without breaking customer trust or slowing product velocity. With NMI’s CMO Peter Galvin and Product Director Luis Peña, we unpack the real path from “just accept cards” to a fully integrated commerce stack that handles fraud, chargebacks, compliance, and omnichannel experiences at scale. We start with the SaaS payments maturity curve: ship fast with basic accepta...
Growth shouldn’t stall at the border. We sit down with Peter Dougherty, President of Spreedly, to unpack how an open payments platform helps global brands launch faster, reduce vendor risk, and optimize authorization rates without ripping out their stack. Peter traces the evolution from card‑centric orchestration to a broader layer that now includes tokenization, a secure token vault, fraud and KYC options, and connections to multiple processors and alternative payment methods. The takeaway: ...
If you run a small or mid-sized retail business and feel stuck between legacy tools and rising customer expectations, this conversation is your playbook for breaking through. We sit down with Unzer CEO Robert Bueninck to unpack how bundling software and payments helps merchants deliver seamless experiences across in-store and online without enterprise budgets or heavyweight integrations. Robert traces his journey from early Klarna days to leading Unzer’s “payments and beyond” ecosystem, and ...
Fraud losses are climbing, checks are supposedly fading, and yet check fraud is hitting all-time highs. We sat down with Mike Timoney, a payments veteran now leading secure payments work at the Federal Reserve, to unpack that paradox and chart a path to stronger defenses across banks, fintechs, and businesses of every size. The conversation moves from frontline realities to system-wide fixes: why paper is still a prime target, how modern scams bypass technology to persuade people, and what pr...
Most software teams still think of payments as a chore. We take you inside the playbook that turns it into a growth engine. I sits down with NMI CTO Phillip Goericke to unpack how embedded payments evolved from a basic checkout to a full-stack platform that handles onboarding, underwriting, payouts, analytics, and even embedded finance. The conversation is straight talk on what actually works when you’re shipping fast and scaling globally. We dig into the architectural choices that matter: s...
What if paying with crypto felt as effortless as tapping your card? We sit down with Jess Houlgrave, CEO of WalletConnect, to unpack how stablecoins, smarter wallet-to-app messaging, and a new wave of SDKs are collapsing the gap between crypto checkout and the one-click experiences consumers expect. Jess traces her path from investment banking to early Bitcoin research to leading a network that connects 700 wallets to 70,000 applications and moves hundreds of billions in value. We dig into t...
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