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Insights and Expertise

Chief Payment Officer An unfair burden on finance

(CPayO): the role that The gap between how payments actually work and how
they are managed has widened dramatically. Finance
teams, trained in accounting, reporting and budgeting, are
doesn't exist – but suddenly expected to make decisions in areas completely
outside their scope, such as UX, settlement timelines, data
security, integrations and provider due diligence, which
should naturally leads to mistakes when these areas lie far be-
yond their training and expertise.

Accountants and CFOs are still dragged into technical
meetings and regulatory conversations where they can
barely keep up, forced to make decisions without under-
standing even the basics, let alone their wider impact. This
creates a significant risk that many still fail to recognize.
The most critical part of any business operation is the
movement of money, but it rarely has a true owner. What
should be a carefully structured flow connecting every
area of the operation often ends up scattered between de-
partments, handled in isolation and decided without un-
derstanding how one change impacts another.

Why every modern business needs a CPayO

In today's volatile fintech landscape, the Chief
Payment Officer (CPayO) brings clarity, control and
By Viktoria Soltesz strategic value to one of the most complex aspects of
PSP Angels business: money movement. The advantages extend
across every department:
or decades, companies assumed that everything
related to money belonged to finance. Finding • Unified oversight: Aligns finance, compli-
and opening new bank accounts, integrating ance, product and technology teams under
F them with the CRM system, reconciling state- one coordinated payments strategy.
ments, managing cash flow… these were all part of the • Risk reduction: Anticipates and mitigates
traditional bookkeeping, which sat comfortably under the banking disruptions, account freezes and
CFO. settlement delays.
• Operational efficiency: Streamlines provid-
This was logical at a time when banks and payment pro- er selection, integration and reconciliation to
viders were predictable, straightforward, and one bank eliminate redundancies and manual errors.
was the same as the other. Now, that era has passed.
• Strategic agility: Enables the business to
Today, payments and banking have more power over an adapt quickly to regulatory changes and
operation than ever: they determine whether a business emerging payment innovations.
succeeds or fails. Fintech has become a very complex scene • Negotiating power: Builds stronger rela-
where banks change their requirements suddenly and tionships with banks and acquirers, secur-
constantly, funds get blocked, accounts can be closed, and ing better terms and lower fees.
on top of all of this, prices are totally subjective.
• Data-driven insight: Turns payment data
Innovative fintechs introduce new opportunities but also into actionable intelligence for marketing,
a lot of new risks at a pace few can follow. Payments and forecasting and expansion.
banking now affect UX, risk management, technology,
product development, data security, compliance, finance With a CPayO at the helm, payments shift from
reactive troubleshooting to proactive strategy—
and more. It should be treated as a standalone function,
an essential part of business strategy, yet most companies transforming financial operations into a durable
engine for growth.
still rely on tools and processes designed for a time when
payments were considered mere administration.

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