Payment Infrastructure Risk: Johannes Kanter on Scaling Without Breaking Revenue

Payment infrastructure risk is the possibility that the systems used to accept, route, monitor, and settle customer payments fail as the business grows. A company can be legal, profitable, and successful at acquisition while remaining vulnerable to frozen funds, excessive declines, chargebacks, fraud, outdated compliance documents, or dependence on one processor.

In this Enhance AI Partners Podcast episode, Johannes Kanter, Chief Growth Officer at FastoPayments, explains why growth can expose the weakness underneath the checkout.

Key takeaways

• “High risk” is an underwriting category, not a synonym for illegal.
• Revenue growth can increase payment, fraud, chargeback, documentation, and settlement pressure.
• A falling conversion rate may reflect payment failures rather than poor traffic.
• A single processor can become a concentration risk for a growing online business.
• Redundancy must be approved and tested before a failure—not improvised after funds are frozen.
• Payment requirements vary; specialist review remains necessary.

Why can a legitimate company be classified as high risk?

Kanter emphasizes that founders often equate legality with low payment risk. Providers evaluate a different question: how likely is the business to generate losses, disputes, regulatory exposure, reputational risk, or operational complexity for the acquiring and payment network?

Factors can include:

• Recurring billing
• Elevated or volatile chargebacks
• Cross-border sales
• Multiple currencies
• Regulated products or financial services
• Complex fulfillment or supply chains
• Long delivery times
• High refund exposure
• Rapid changes in volume
• Industries outside a provider's risk appetite

The result depends on the business model, jurisdiction, documentation, provider, acquirer, and card-network rules. A category can be acceptable to one provider and prohibited by another.

What tends to break first during rapid growth?

Kanter identifies access to funds as the most visible failure. A processor may delay settlement, establish a reserve, request more documentation, restrict the account, or stop supporting the business.

For a company operating with limited cash reserves, the effect can be immediate:

• Payroll and suppliers still require payment.
• Advertising charges continue.
• Customers expect orders and support.
• Refunds and disputes continue to arrive.
• Management must investigate the processor while running the business.

The operational problem often began earlier. The business grew, but its KYC, AML, ownership, product, fulfillment, refund, or customer-service documentation did not develop at the same pace.

This article does not imply that a provider action is arbitrary. Payment companies have contractual, legal, fraud, underwriting, and network obligations. The practical lesson is to understand those obligations before the business depends on one route.

Can a payment problem look like a marketing problem?

Yes. Kanter describes a scenario in which media spend and traffic increase while conversions fall. The default response may be to blame the campaign, audience, or landing page.

The failure may instead occur at payment:

• Card declines are increasing.
• Fraud rules reject legitimate customers.
• A local payment method is missing.
• The checkout or gateway is failing.
• The processor is applying restrictions.
• Authorization performance differs by geography.

Before increasing spend, separate the conversion path:

1. Landing-page engagement
2. Checkout initiation
3. Payment-method selection
4. Authorization attempt
5. Approval or decline reason
6. Settlement
7. Refund or dispute

A dashboard that ends at “purchase failed” is not enough. The team needs a responsible, privacy-aware way to see where and why the payment path breaks.

What does a more resilient payment setup include?

Kanter discusses a multi-acquirer or multi-partner setup for businesses whose risk and volume justify it. That does not mean opening random accounts. Each relationship must fit the business and be approved.

A second provider is not automatically resilience. If it is not approved, integrated, reconciled, and tested, it is a name on a spreadsheet.

Why local payment methods matter

Kanter notes that buyers in different markets may expect different methods. A global checkout designed only around one country's habits can lower conversion even when the underlying demand is sound.

The decision should consider:

• Customer preference
• Authorization performance
• Currency
• Settlement requirements
• Refund handling
• Fraud exposure
• Dispute rules
• Technical and reconciliation work
• Provider coverage

Adding every method is not the goal. Choose the methods that improve the customer path without creating an operating mess behind it.

How is AI changing the risk?

Kanter describes pressure on both sides. Fraudsters can use automation and generative tools to produce more convincing attacks at scale. Payment and identity providers can use pattern recognition and automated review to identify suspicious activity.

Merchants should not treat “AI fraud prevention” as a complete control. They still need:

• Clear risk ownership
• Review and escalation rules
• Monitoring of false positives
• Current policies and documentation
• Human handling for ambiguous or high-value cases
• Regular evaluation as customer behavior changes

An automated system that blocks good customers without review can protect one metric while damaging revenue and trust.

A payment-infrastructure readiness checklist

Before increasing acquisition aggressively, ask:

• Does each provider's policy permit our business model?
• Are ownership, product, fulfillment, refund, and compliance documents current?
• Do we understand settlement timing and reserve terms?
• Can we see authorization and decline reasons by market?
• Are chargeback levels and root causes reviewed?
• Do fraud controls have an owner and escalation process?
• Are local payment methods selected intentionally?
• Do we have enough liquidity for settlement interruptions?
• Is any backup route approved, integrated, and tested?
• Can finance reconcile funds across the complete path?
• Does customer support see payment failures quickly?
• Who coordinates the response if a processor or gateway fails?

This is infrastructure work. It is less glamorous than buying more traffic and considerably more valuable when the money stops moving.

Watch the full episode with Johannes Kanter, visit FastoPayments, or connect with Johannes on LinkedIn. For decisions affecting underwriting, payments, compliance, or legal exposure, consult qualified specialists. Check your fit if growth is exposing operational weaknesses across more than the payment layer.