Alacriti Payments Podcast: Recent Episodes
Alacriti
Bringing you industry interviews, deep-dives into payments topics, as well as interesting payments history and lessons we learned (or should've learned) from it!
Join Mark Majeske, SVP of Faster Payments at Alacriti, as he breaks down the latest Gatepoint Research survey findings on instant payments. Discover what's driving adoption, the biggest barriers financial institutions continue to face, why payment strategy matters just as much as technology, and how payment hubs can help banks and credit unions modernize for the future.
Instant payments are reshaping member expectations and creating new opportunities for credit unions. In this episode, Cortez Adams, newly appointed SVP Product & Partnerships at Access Softek, and Alacriti explore the growing adoption of RTP® and FedNow®, the importance of technology partnerships, and how credit unions can turn payments modernization into a competitive advantage.
In this episode, we explore stablecoins and tokenized deposits—how they maintain value, the risks they present, and why financial institutions are revisiting them as regulation becomes clearer and blockchain technology matures. We also highlight how Alacriti enables secure, trusted payment experiences in a way that financial institutions can trust.
In this episode, we dig into how transaction limits work for domestic and cross-border Visa Direct payments and how institutions can tailor controls based on risk and customer behavior. We also unpack push and pull use cases and address a common cross-border concern: knowing exactly what your recipient will receive and how quickly it will get there.
In this episode, we explore why ACH remains a critical part of the U.S. payments ecosystem and why modernization is becoming a priority for financial institutions. Neeraj Gupta, SVP of Product Management at Alacriti, discusses the top ACH questions he hears from banks and credit unions, the strategic drivers behind launching Alacriti’s new ACH solution, and how its integration within the Payments Hub gives clients a unified, modern interface across payment rails. He also outlines key trends, emerging use cases, and how Alacriti is helping institutions stay competitive as expectations and payment technologies rapidly evolve.
In this episode of the Alacriti Payments Podcast, Amy Faley, manager of ACH at Veridian Credit Union, and Mark Majeske, SVP of Faster Payments at Alacriti, discuss the evolution and impact of instant payments. Amy shares Veridian’s journey as an early adopter, exploring key use cases such as loan disbursements and digital wallet integrations, and explains how member demand shaped their adoption strategy. She also highlights Veridian’s monetization approach, fraud management experience, and vision for global instant payments, offering practical insights for institutions considering their own implementation.
In this episode, Paul Steinbrecher, Director of Payments Consulting at Alacriti, addresses banking executives' top questions about instant payments. He explains how financial institutions are adopting low-risk send use cases, such as payroll and B2B payments, to ease into instant payments. Steinbrecher also explains the benefits of intelligent routing, which determines the best payment rail for each transaction. The podcast also covers key fraud prevention strategies and how financial institutions can use advanced fraud detection systems to safeguard outgoing payments.
In this podcast, Erik Van Bramer, SVP, Senior Vice President, Head of National Sales/Customer Relations at Federal Reserve Financial Services dives into major trends shaping the payments landscape, including the rise of real-time payments, the challenges of modernizing legacy systems, and how automation and AI streamline payment processes. He also discusses the importance of collaboration between fintechs and traditional financial institutions to drive innovation and meet evolving customer expectations.
Explore the dynamic world of payment solutions in this engaging conversation with fintech expert Marcia Klingensmith, CEO of FinTech Consulting. In this podcast, Klingensmith discusses the critical elements of a modern payment solution, compassionate options such as "skip-a-pay" for those facing financial hardships, and the innovations of instant payments. This episode also offers a glimpse into the future of payments, highlighting the significance of emerging technologies like cloud-based services.
EBPP is a holistic approach to presenting electronic bills and accepting digital payments from consumers. The payment experience is a critical touchpoint, making it necessary to evolve along with consumer demand. . In this podcast episode, we meet with Stuart Bain, SVP of Product Management at Alacriti, to discuss the history and future of EBPP. He also provides insights into the most important aspects of a modern EBPP solution. .
Corporate One has been a trusted payments, investments, and funding solutions partner to credit unions for more than 70 years. In this podcast episode, we meet with Toby Thomas, Product Market Strategist at Corporate One, to discuss top 7 questions that credit unions have about funding agents. He also dives into Corporate One’s partnership with Alacriti and how they work together to provide comprehensive solutions from start to finish.
Alkami Technology, Inc. is a leading cloud-based digital banking solutions provider for financial institutions in the United States with more than 13.7 million users. In this podcast episode, we meet with Jeff Bucher, Senior Product Manager at Alkami, to discuss payments modernization and how it fits into an overall seamless digital banking experience. He also dives into Alkami’s’s partnership with Alacriti and how both companies work together to power an intuitive user experience.
Read more in Alkami's blog on Demystifying Real-time and Faster Payments.
Of late, there has been a great deal of forward movement in cross-border faster payments. In April 2022, EBA Clearing, Swift, and The Clearing House announced their plan to launch a pilot service for immediate cross-border payments. In addition, Visa Direct has made cross-border payments possible for over 3B eligible debit cards, including nearly 2B in real-time. Here, Mark Majeske, SVP of Faster Payments at Alacriti and part of the team that launched The Clearing House RTP® network, weighs in on cross-border faster payments today and tomorrow.
We’ve discussed in depth what Zoomers want from financial institutions on our podcast previously. An excellent customer experience, especially when it comes to digital payments, is a must-have for this generation. Rick Delisi, Glia's Lead Research Analyst, dives deeper into how financial institutions can have a fully integrated digital platform that meets the needs of their customers or members.
With real-time payments accelerating, Request for Pay (RfP) functionality has the potential to revolutionize the bill payment space as we know it. In this interview, Mark Ranta, Alacriti’s Payments Practice Lead, explores what you need to know about RfP and how real-time payments are changing. We also discuss how financial institutions and account holders can benefit from RfP—and take advantage of it now.
With many Zoomers new to banking products and services, there is much to learn about what financial institutions can do to appeal to them specifically. In this podcast, two speakers, who are Zoomers themselves, explore this generation's financial habits and what they look for in financial institutions.
We spoke to Emilie Hibbard, a recent Boston University grad who has carried out focused research for Alacriti. Today she discusses her research on the difficulties of rural women in India in accessing financial services, an issue which like so many others has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Emilie offers a model for confronting these disparities without losing sight of the larger societal causes, which is something often sorely lacking in our solutions and technology-based analysis.
Hawala is a globe-spanning informal funds transfer (ITF) system that has been used since the eighth century to transfer funds anywhere in the world at the speed of information. It is incredibly versatile and simple on the user-side, but has also been accused of enabling crime and terrorism.
In this episode, we cover the basics, how it relates to today's payments industry, and how hawala can teach us to optimize our own networks.
Learn more about Alacriti
Sources:
(Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), "Report on Money Laundering Typologies 1999-2000," Financial Action Task Force, FATF-XI, February 3, 2000Mohamed El-Qorchi, Senior Economist, Monetary and Exchange Affairs Department, IMF, "The Hawala System" Published from Finance and Development, December 2002, Volume 39, Number 4 accessed at https://www.gdrc.org/icm/hawala.htmlHawala - Overview, History, How It Works, and Money LaunderingCorporate Finance Institute
The inaugural episode of our podcast will introduce our show, and cover our first topic—how Generation Z thinks about banking. Christian Hibbard gives a first-hand perspective, and also covers internet culture and how Zoomers decide what businesses to patronize.
Find out more about Alacriti.
Sources:
Pew Research: On the Cusp of Adulthood and Facing an Uncertain Future: What We Know About Gen Z So Far
American Banker: 8 things banks need to know about Gen Z
The Financial Brand: 13 Major Insights Into Gen Z Driving Banking Behaviors In 2020 (And Beyond)
Mark Ranta is our resident payments whiz here at Alacriti. In this interview, we expose ourselves as crypto-heads, and Mark gives some background on how the big payments organizations are fostering adoption and interoperability for the rails of today and tomorrow. We also talk about how institutions can work with fintech to capture the electronic and mobile payments market via value-added services.