"Anyone Can Be a Payment Expert" - The Dangers of The Industry Not Many Talk About

Viktoria Soltesz was recently interviewed by David van der Plicht from E-Flow on the Let’s Talk Payments podcast, where they discussed why payment and banking strategy has become one of the most ignored business risks today.

During the conversation, Viktoria spoke about how many companies still focus only on tax, legal setup or costs, while completely ignoring how banks and payment providers actually think. Just because a structure is legal, it does not mean that banks will want to support it long term.

Viktoria also discussed the lack of standards in the payment industry. Today, anyone can call themselves a payment expert, recommend providers, or advise merchants on banking and payment setup without any real qualification or independent oversight. This creates serious conflicts of interest, especially in an industry heavily driven by commissions and introductions.

Another important topic was the growing need for a Chief Payment Officer role inside organisations. Payment and banking today impact customer experience, risk management, technology, product development, data security, compliance, finance, sales and growth and more. It should be considered a standalone function, an essential element of the business strategy, not just a part of finance. But the ones who manage payment and banking tasks are not adequately trained to do so. Key areas, such as how payments and banking affect technology, UX, compliance, and other essential aspects in a business, were absent from accounting, economics courses, and MBAs - until now.

This is the reason why independent education around payments and banking has become necessary and Viktoria has founded The Soltesz Institute.

Most available information online is still written to sell a product, a provider or a platform, while businesses continue making high-impact financial decisions without understanding the wider operational risks behind them.

One of the main messages of the discussion was simple: no payment provider is coming to save the business or build the full payment strategy for you. Companies need to start treating payments and banking as a standalone business function before problems appear, not after funds are frozen, settlements delayed or providers suddenly change their risk appetite. Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/01n82Bu7Uvw