Real Talk Payments

Episodios

• Why Payment Optimization Is a Discipline, Not a Project 08.05.2026 47m

  In this episode of Real Talk Payments, Kapil Mokhat is joined by Pagos co-founders Klas Bäck and Albert Drouart for a candid conversation about one of the most overlooked areas in payments: cost optimization. The episode focuses on four common myths that keep merchants from truly understanding and improving their payment costs. First, they address the belief that lowering costs is simply about negotiating a better processor rate. Kapil, Klas, and Albert explain why that approach only scratche...
• Unbundling Payments in the Agentic Era 24.03.2026 51m

  In this episode of Real Talk Payments, host Kapil Mokhat is joined by Albert Drouart, CTO of Pagos, along with Colin Luce, CEO and Co-founder of Basis Theory, and James Armstead, CTO of Basis Theory, for a lively conversation about where payments infrastructure is headed next. What starts as a discussion about bundled versus unbundled payments quickly turns into a bigger look at merchant control, data ownership, orchestration, vaulting, and the role AI may play in the future of commerce.&nbsp...
• The BIN Madness in Payments 12.03.2026 28m

  In this episode, Kapil Mokhat is joined by Grace Greenwood and Andy Barker from Pagos for a deep dive into one of the most important and misunderstood topics in payments today: BIN data. As the industry moves from 6-digit to 8-digit BINs, merchants, PSPs, and payments teams are being forced to rethink how they identify cards, manage routing, improve authorization rates, reduce fraud, and control cost. What may sound like a technical back-office issue is actually a major business issue with re...
• AI in Payments: Hype vs. Reality 17.02.2026 35m

  In this episode of Real Talk Payments, host Kapil Mokhat sits down with Klas Back (CEO, Pagos) and Albert Drouart (CPO, Pagos) to cut through the hype and separate the signal from noise in the AI and payments conversation. They dig into what is actually changing for modern merchants. Payments stacks are getting more complex with more markets, more payment methods, and more vendors. At the same time, payments teams are being asked to do more with fewer people, often without the visibility need...
• The Dark Arts of Payments: Decoding Declines, Downgrades, and Hidden Costs 07.02.2026 34m

  Real Talk Payments pulls back the curtain on the payment processing industry through candid conversations with seasoned veterans who've seen it all. Hosted by Pagos, this podcast brings together industry leaders with decades of combined experience to share the unfiltered truth about what really happens behind every transaction. In this inaugural episode, our host, Kapil Mokhat is joined by Andy Barker (Pagos), Albert Drouart (CPO and Co-founder of Pagos), and Matt Wagner (VP and GM of Payment...