Real Talk Payments

In this episode of Real Talk Payments, Kapil Mokhat is joined by Julie Ferguson, co-founder of the Merchant Risk Council, along with Pagos co-founders Klas Bäck and Albert Drouart, for a timely conversation about what it means to operate payments and fraud in the AI era.The discussion explores how AI is already changing the work of payments and fraud professionals, not by replacing people outright, but by reshaping the skills, workflows, and expectations required to succeed. Julie shares her perspective from more than 25 years of building and leading the global fraud and payments community, including how the earliest days of online fraud led to the creation of the MRC.The group also digs into agentic commerce, AI-powered shopping, fraud detection, payment cost analysis, and the growing need for human judgment in a world where AI can move faster than traditional teams and systems. They discuss where AI is delivering real value, where the hype is ahead of reality, and why payments professionals need to become more curious, strategic, and data-driven.From understanding complex payment bills to preparing for new fraud patterns and evaluating emerging tools, this episode offers a practical look at how payments teams can adapt without losing sight of trust, verification, and operational discipline.For anyone working in payments, fraud, risk, product, or financial operations, this conversation provides a clear-eyed view of how AI is changing the industry and what professionals can do now to stay ahead.

In this episode of Real Talk Payments, Kapil Mokhat is joined by Pagos co-founders Klas Bäck and Albert Drouart for a candid conversation about one of the most overlooked areas in payments: cost optimization.The episode focuses on four common myths that keep merchants from truly understanding and improving their payment costs. First, they address the belief that lowering costs is simply about negotiating a better processor rate. Kapil, Klas, and Albert explain why that approach only scratches the surface, and why merchants need to look deeper at interchange, network fees, chargebacks, fraud costs, FX markups, value-added services, and the operational decisions that influence total payment acceptance costs.They also challenge the idea that payment cost optimization is a one-time project. Instead, the group makes the case for continuous monitoring, better data, and a more disciplined approach to understanding how costs change over time. As payment networks evolve, processors update systems, merchants release code, and customer behavior shifts, costs can move quickly—and teams that are not watching closely can miss significant issues.Kapil, Klas, and Albert also explore the myths around benchmarking payment costs and assuming the “lowest cost” option is always the best option. They discuss how merchants can accidentally hurt revenue, conversion, performance, and customer experience when they optimize cost in isolation.This episode is a practical conversation for enterprise merchants, payment leaders, finance teams, and anyone responsible for improving payment performance. It is a clear reminder that true payment cost optimization is not about chasing the lowest rate. It is about using better data to make smarter, ongoing decisions across cost, performance, and growth.

In this episode of Real Talk Payments, host Kapil Mokhat is joined by Albert Drouart, CTO of Pagos, along with Colin Luce, CEO and Co-founder of Basis Theory, and James Armstead, CTO of Basis Theory, for a lively conversation about where payments infrastructure is headed next. What starts as a discussion about bundled versus unbundled payments quickly turns into a bigger look at merchant control, data ownership, orchestration, vaulting, and the role AI may play in the future of commerce. The conversation digs into a challenge many merchants face today: staying with the status quo because change feels too complex, even when better performance, more flexibility, and stronger economics may be on the table. The group explores why inaction can be just as risky as making the wrong infrastructure decision, and why merchants should think carefully about the foundation they are building on as payments become more strategic to the business. The episode also looks ahead to agentic commerce and asks what happens when AI-driven experiences begin initiating more of the buying journey. With a mix of strong opinions, practical advice, and a few bold predictions, this is a conversation for payment leaders, product teams, and merchants trying to separate hype from what will actually matter in the years ahead. If you care about the future of the payments stack, this episode is worth a listen.

In this episode, Kapil Mokhat is joined by Grace Greenwood and Andy Barker from Pagos for a deep dive into one of the most important and misunderstood topics in payments today: BIN data. As the industry moves from 6-digit to 8-digit BINs, merchants, PSPs, and payments teams are being forced to rethink how they identify cards, manage routing, improve authorization rates, reduce fraud, and control cost. What may sound like a technical back-office issue is actually a major business issue with real impact on approvals, retries, interchange, and the customer experience. Kapil, Grace, and Andy break down why so many merchants are still relying on incomplete or outdated BIN data, why that creates risk, and why many providers are not giving merchants the full level of detail they actually need. They also explore how overlapping ranges, white-labeled cards, dual-branded cards, and constantly changing network data have made BIN intelligence far more complex than most people realize. The conversation also highlights why keeping BIN data updated is no longer optional. In a world where card data changes constantly, a “set it and forget it” approach can lead to poor decisions around fraud rules, routing logic, and cost estimates. If you work in payments, fraud, merchant acquiring, or payment operations, this episode will help you understand why better BIN intelligence matters more than ever and what is at stake if you get it wrong.

In this episode of Real Talk Payments, host Kapil Mokhat sits down with Klas Back (CEO, Pagos) and Albert Drouart (CPO, Pagos) to cut through the hype and separate the signal from noise in the AI and payments conversation.They dig into what is actually changing for modern merchants. Payments stacks are getting more complex with more markets, more payment methods, and more vendors. At the same time, payments teams are being asked to do more with fewer people, often without the visibility needed to spot leakage, rising costs, or declining acceptance until it is too late.A central theme is that AI only matters if the underlying payments data is trustworthy. Klas and Albert explain why the industry is moving toward verified data that is clean, normalized, and timely so teams can shift from slow, manual investigation to faster answers and better decisions.From there, the conversation turns to what the future looks like in practice. Think proactive monitoring, smarter alerts, and higher quality signals that can drive better routing, retries, vendor performance conversations, and benchmarking beyond your own four walls. The goal is to help teams focus on the issues that truly move the needle, not the small distractions that eat up time.They also keep it real about what is overhyped today, including some of the noise around agentic payments, while still acknowledging what is coming and why getting the fundamentals right matters more than ever.

Real Talk Payments pulls back the curtain on the payment processing industry through candid conversations with seasoned veterans who've seen it all. Hosted by Pagos, this podcast brings together industry leaders with decades of combined experience to share the unfiltered truth about what really happens behind every transaction.In this inaugural episode, our host, Kapil Mokhat is joined by Andy Barker (Pagos), Albert Drouart (CPO and Co-founder of Pagos), and Matt Wagner (VP and GM of Payments at Adobe) for a deep dive into the industry's quirks, frustrations, and hard-earned lessons. From the mysterious "do not honor" decline code that's been the number two decline reason for over 25 years, to the shocking reality of hidden FX markups reaching 300 basis points, nothing is off limits.The conversation explores why payment costs are anything but predictable, despite Visa and MasterCard's impressive profit margins. Discover how one conversation with a Mexican bank increased checkout success rates by 1,400 basis points overnight, and why merchants sometimes choose to pay millions in penalty fees because it makes good business sense. The panelists tackle the paradox of an industry selling speed and real-time processing while settlement still takes days, and why after a quarter-century, basic reporting and visibility remain surprisingly difficult.Whether you're a payments professional frustrated by opaque specifications, a merchant trying to optimize authorization rates, or simply curious about the invisible infrastructure powering global commerce, Real Talk Payments delivers the insider knowledge and practical insights you won't find anywhere else. No hype, just honest conversation from people who've actually been in the trenches.