Most merchants treat payments like a utility: “Just let me run cards.”
Viktoria argues that’s the biggest mistake growing businesses make.
Here’s the core takeaway:
Featuring Viktoria Soltesz on B2B Vault: The Biz to Biz Podcast
You’re watching B2B Vault: The Biz to Biz Podcast, hosted by Allen Kopelman and powered by Nationwide Payment Systems — where we break down business, payments, fintech, and the real stuff founders run into when Money starts moving at scale.
In this episode, Allen sat down with Viktoria Soltesz, founder of PSP Angels and Soltesz Institute, to talk about a topic most businesses ignore… until it becomes an emergency:
Not “who has the lowest rate.”
Not “which checkout button is easiest.”
But the actual system behind your money — how banks think, how risk decisions happen, what “meaningful presence” really means, why accounts get frozen, and why a startup can get wiped out by the wrong processor at the wrong time.
And yes — we also got into Crypto, stablecoins, and why “fast onboarding with no questions” is usually a red flag, not a benefit.
Viktoria Soltesz is based in the EU and runs two platforms focused on payments Education, consulting, and transparency:
She’s also:
Her mission is straightforward:
Make the payments and banking industry more ethical, transparent, and understandable — because everyone gets burned by it at some point.
One of Viktoria’s strongest points is also one of the most obvious once you hear it:
Business owners learn:
And when you don’t understand the rules, you can’t spot the traps:
Those are often the exact systems that implode later.
Allen broke down a practical framework that many merchants feel but can’t articulate:
A big part of the discussion focused on what happens when merchants choose payment providers based on speed alone.
“Fast onboarding, easy integration, low friction.”
And when that happens:
Allen called out something that causes nonstop pain in the market:
Merchants don’t read:
Worse: many platforms don’t clearly warn you at checkout that your category is unsupported until after you’ve invested time and money building the business.
This part matters for international founders and cross-border ecommerce.
Banks are effectively the police of the Economy.
They carry the liability, and regulators punish them first.
So even if a structure is “technically legal,” banks can still reject it because:
If you can’t explain the structure convincingly on paper, the bank won’t risk it.
Allen brought up something ugly that still circulates online:
“Do you have a 600+ credit score? Open an account for someone else and get paid.”
This is how people get financially wrecked:
Viktoria’s quote hits hard:
If a provider onboards you with questionable structure and zero diligence, it’s a sign they onboard a lot of other questionable merchants too — and your money may be sitting in the same risk pool.
This is where the conversation becomes extremely practical:
If you sell regulated or sensitive products, you don’t just need “a processor.”
You need:
A product can be legal in your location but illegal in a target market due to one ingredient — and that can trigger:
Payments touches everything:
That’s the Chief Payment Officer (CPO) concept.
Allen and Viktoria also dug into stable coins and crypto.
Allen’s take:
Viktoria’s view:
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