01 / STRATEGY
Payments & acceptance strategy
Diagnose where revenue is lost across authorization, routing, retries, markets and methods — then build the operating plan to improve it.
Approval ratesRoutingAPMsMarket expansion
Payments advisory · Sebastian Robins
Higher Acceptance. Smarter Risk. Stronger Performance.
Senior advisory for merchants, fintechs and payment companies across strategy, acceptance, risk, fraud, acquiring and partnerships. Built from decades of operating across the full payments chain — not one corner of it.
30+
years across payments, risk, acquiring and operations
52%
fraud-loss reduction at Itaú Unibanco
€2M
saved by replacing third-party fraud tools at Ingenico
2
AI-based fraud platforms built and commercialized
Selected operating & executive experience
Selected organizations where Sebastian held operating, executive or advisory roles. Logos are shown for identification only and do not imply endorsement of Quorum.
01 · Capabilities
One payments problem rarely belongs to one team.
Quorum connects the commercial, operational and risk decisions that determine whether payments actually perform — approval rate, loss rate, processor economics, network standing, customer friction and growth.
End-to-end perspective
From the transaction to the boardroom.02 / RISK
Risk, fraud & disputes
Design controls that protect economics without quietly blocking good customers, and create the governance needed to keep the system defensible.
Fraud architectureChargebacksRulesGovernance
03 / INFRASTRUCTURE
Acquiring, processors & orchestration
Select and manage the right providers, design routing logic, negotiate commercial structures and align the stack with the business model.
AcquirersProcessorsOrchestrationVendor selection
04 / ECOSYSTEM
Networks, banks & partnerships
Turn external dependencies into strategic leverage — from card scheme relationships and sponsor banks to new payment methods and commercial partners.
Visa / MastercardBanksPartnershipsLicensing
05 / LEADERSHIP
Executive & fractional leadership
Senior operating support when the business needs judgment more than another report: board decisions, transformation programs, partner negotiations, interim ownership, operating-model design and senior-team coaching.
Fractional executiveBoard advisoryTransformationOperating model
Measured impact
Evidence over adjectives.
The strongest payments work shows up in operating metrics: fewer losses, faster detection, better economics, stronger authorization and infrastructure that scales.
−98%Fraud-detection time reduced from 200 days to 4 days at Itaú Unibanco.
−70%Identity-fraud losses reduced within six months.
−52%Overall fraud losses reduced, recognized by Visa and Mastercard as a regional best practice.
€2MSaved at Ingenico by replacing third-party fraud tools with a proprietary engine that later became a commercial service.
02 · Track record
Across the payments chain, from network to merchant.
The value is not just having seen many businesses. It is understanding how the incentives and constraints of each participant collide inside one transaction.
2023–2026
Straal
Chief Executive Officer
Strategy, financial management and operations for a licensed Visa/Mastercard acquirer.
2021–2024
MoonPay
VP Payment Services → Advisor
Global processing and APM strategy, fraud prevention and network relationships.
2022–2025
Merchant Risk Council
Chair, Crypto Committee & Community
Industry work on crypto, NFT and blockchain payment acceptance.
2014–2018
Daftcode
Chief Risk Officer
Built Nethone and helped lead the path to licensed acquiring through Straal.
2012–2014
Ingenico
Fraud Policy Officer
Built a proprietary fraud engine, saved €2M and launched Managed Fraud Services.
2005–2007
Visa
Director, International Risk Management
Global fraud policy, compromise response and risk strategy for China and India.
2002–2004
Itaú Unibanco
Superintendent, Fraud Prevention & Interchange
Led 4 managers and 300 staff; delivered a 52% fraud-loss reduction.
03 · Engagements
Use the experience at the level you need it.
Some problems need a focused diagnostic. Others need a senior operator in the room for a quarter. The model flexes around the decision, not a consulting template.
Payments performance review
A focused assessment of acceptance, routing, providers, costs, declines and risk friction, followed by a prioritized action plan.
Risk & fraud architecture review
End-to-end mapping of tools, rules, gates, governance, disputes and network exposure with a concrete remediation roadmap.
Fractional payments / risk executive
Part-time senior ownership for companies that need experienced leadership before making a permanent executive hire.
Board & executive advisory
A standing sounding board for provider strategy, commercial negotiations, network issues, operating choices and material payments decisions.
Start here
Bring the payment problem you can’t quite isolate.
Approval rates, fraud, processor performance, network pressure, a new market, a licensing question, or simply a payments organization that has become too complicated. The first conversation is about finding where the real constraint sits.