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The Connector Podcast - DFS Digital Finance Summit - From Legacy To Multi-Rail: Building A Modern Payment Stack
We explore with Alexander from Solanteq, what makes a payments platform truly modern: cloud-native, modular, API-first, and regulation-ready, with the ability to scale from small pilots to global volume. We share a vision for “payment autopilot” and how multi-rail orchestration and AI can make payments feel invisible.
• Cloud-native, modular architecture for issuing, acquiring and settlement
• API-first integration with legacy and new systems
• Compliance by design and predictable audits
• Data streaming for analytics and added-value services
• Managing legacy tails while moving to future rails
• Multi-rail strategy for cross-border and instant payments
• Payment orchestration across simple and complex flows
• Practical roles for AI in risk, routing and efficiency
• Vision for a consumer and merchant “payment autopilot”
• How to contact the team to start modernising
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Koen Vanderhoydonk
koen.vanderhoydonk@jointheconnector.com
#FinTech #RegTech #Scaleup #WealthTech
Welcome to the Connected Podcast. An ongoing conversation connecting intake, and regulated global. Join Studio and Founder Owen van der Hoydon and you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the marketing.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to another podcast of DFS, and here today I am with Alex. Alexander from Solantech. Alexander, can you explain who are you and which company do you work for?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, hello everybody. Thank you, Cohen. So I represent Solantech today. Solantec is a next generation modular real-time payment processing platform that helps banks acquire Speech Peace and FinTech, launch fast, scale globally, and innovate continuously. So, like by in our platform and our engines, so we bridge issuing acquiring and payment trails in a simple API-driven platform. It's future-proof, scheme ready, and almost effortless to integrate. I think yeah, it's like a key component for today's uh innovation. So we are giving payment players the freedom to build and scale without limits.
SPEAKER_02:Well, there's a lot of words in there, especially in when you said there's a modern modern modular uh payment transaction platform. Um, what do you actually mean with modern, and what do you mean with modular?
SPEAKER_01:Look, by like it's a current time, so where um let's say from one point of view, many players are relying on their legacy infrastructure yet. Uh so in the middle, we have already a lot of innovations of the past which are present today, and we are still on the like uh on the events like DFS. So we are discussing the future and further innovations, right? So all of that makes like a big variety of uh technology we need to survive with to continue uh providing best and seamless uh payments experience to the end customers, right? So uh from like our uh way, so the way we see it, so the platform, the modern platforms means that it needs to be uh cloud native, right? Um not locked in, so meaning that it shall provide a lot of APIs to get integrated in any existing infrastructure, including legacy and new solutions. It means that it's like while you are experimenting, the volumes are low, but as soon as experiments are successful, the volumes will rapidly grow, and it means that you need to be scalable, so you need to be okay for experiments, but also like as soon as they are being successful, you need to be able to scale to the sky without like changing uh engine like on the way, right? So straightforward. And uh of course, like uh like there are a lot of regulations that need to be applied and need to be regulation ready. And that's probably that's probably like what we do.
SPEAKER_02:Well, since you mentioned uh regulations, um, and you're an infrastructure provider, so you're core to uh an regulated company, how would you strike the right balance between on one hand being regulated and also playing with like modern technology?
SPEAKER_01:Look, like uh like our experience with regulations is that uh so if the architecture is proper, right, and you don't do a lot of the like uh uh cuts uh while trying to like bypass something. So in fact, like a good modern solution is like to a big extent already uh uh compliant with upcoming regulations, right? So like no big problem with that. But yeah, of course, like regulations are affecting the processes a lot, right? So not the architecture, but the way you need to do uh regular audits, the way you need to think about your security, then like anything that you may uh uh uh keep under the control. And yeah, that's like part of the part of the reality. So behind it.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and regulations also sometimes push products, um, or think about instant payment, think about uh open data. How do you handle that? Is it are you a product factory also for your customers?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, indeed. So like you're absolutely right. That's uh like part of the in uh regulations which are um let's say uh they are opening like broader, so they promote promote integration and and so on. And yeah, exactly. Like uh PSD2 gave like a good good kick for uh for APIs to be existing everywhere, right? Also, like um share of data, I believe so, like it's uh in solar deck in our solar platform, we do have an extensive data streaming, meaning that whatever is happening in in our system within its modules, right? So the whole information is easily going out, so that if you need to do some post-processing of that information, like leveraging on the data, uh building some extra valued services on top of it, so it's it's already there. And yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right. So, probably the regulations they uh they provoke that kind of uh luxury that we are living in today.
SPEAKER_02:On one hand, you actually talk about uh scaling up, so green fields, but you also talk about high volumes. So if you look at customers that already have a legacy system, what do you see are the the biggest practical challenge that they face today when looking at modernizing their technology stack?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so the big like you know the the big problem is that quite often they don't feel problem, right? I think that is the first. And uh so maybe the consumers they do that, right? Because and especially today, right? So if I'm even looking to Belgium, uh like when uh from one point of view we are discussing on events how seamless payments shall be, but from the other point of view, we still have end users who are using plastic cards, like visa chip, some are using contactless, some are using tokenized cards, some of them are using QR codes, some of them uh uh they say they still believe they're using Payconic or BeroRike for the on any kind of in-up uh purchases from their uh banking application. So they might be a lot confused, right? Because there are so many payment methods, and yeah, part of them relied on some innovations which are not standard, and part of them are legacy. So, like, and if you like if you need to simplify question, would you move it more to legacy methods, like remaining with the legacy stuff, or would you move to the like the more innovative ones? But if you decided to move to innovative part, so you need to do something with your legacy tail, right? And that's a problem that's uh so it's not solving itself over time. So it's like meaning that you need to do a change, you need to uh like uh move to the platform which provides you a future-proof uh uh solution for the next 10-20 years, right? And it's um it will come, so there is like there is no other way.
SPEAKER_02:Fair enough. Um, one of the other points that today in payments is uh seem to be a very hot topic, which is uh cross-border payments. Is that something that you also handle with within the platform? And and what is your view on the future of uh cross-border payments more in general?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. Like from today, I believe the main thing of the engine is that it is multi-rail, right? So like rails are uh uh changing in means that new rails are coming, old rails are evolving, and like it's almost constant. So like on uh on the uh DFS, right? So we have a round table around stable coins, for example, where like which is heavily used the data. It is happening, it is coming, it is like could be huge for Europe, yeah, like based on the experience of the rollout in the US, right? And it's definitely new rails, which are like from one point of view, so they give a lot of uh improvement on instant payments. From another point of view, they uh provide a lot of freedom on a cross-border, right? And like get us rid of some like typical headaches that uh present in the normal payment life, right? But like it's uh again, so like from from us, it's important that our module solution allows to integrate multiple rails, like even rails which do not exist for today, so we need to really be prepared that they will come and we need to adopt. And it's not only about the transactions, but it's also about fraud prevention, for example. Fraud prevention needs also to be multi-rail, and uh any kind of settlement engines, any kind of general ledger which is going top. So, like it's an entire stack need to be multi-rail. And if it is, then like okay, so whatever innovation is, so you can uh get it into your platform and leverage and benefits that you can be more effective than you've been a day before.
SPEAKER_02:When you mention multi-rail, it also opens up the discussion about uh smarter orchestration, right?
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Like it's all about having paying payment hub, and the term of payment hub exists already for like 10 or 15 years, right? But it is there, like payment hub and payment orchestration, so in a wide understanding of it, right? So, meaning that some transactions are straightforward, are real-time, and uh uh like very simple to handle. Some of them requires a kind of uh uh like additional steps for, I don't know, email, for example, they like would be uh the most interesting one, so which can be online, offline, which can be a kind of a combination. So uh and yeah, so that requires an orchestration because like from one point of view, payments need to be simple. From another point of view, we know it's not always and that's where you use AI.
SPEAKER_02:We cannot do a podcast without mentioning AI, right?
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Like I hope, like as our podcast is AI driven, so it's cannot devote AI at all.
SPEAKER_02:No, not this one, unfortunately. We're still real people, we can still pinch us in the in the hand.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. So people are real, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, perfect imperfections. Um, no, what I'm wondering, um, are you using AI at uh within the platform?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because like AI is a nice enhancement, right? So it cannot substitute some important steps which are still like either algorithm-based or like human-involved or um specifically like product-oriented, but uh like AI can enhance payments, and like being integrated with a real-time infrastructure provides a lot of value.
SPEAKER_02:How does your future look like if you fast sort of fast forward solar tech in 2020 30? How does that look like?
SPEAKER_01:Um nice, nice, nice question. So, like uh uh I believe, and it's like what our mission is, like what we dream about, is to make payments more invisible for the end consumers, right? And one of the ideas which we would like to implement is so we call it payment autopilot, meaning that uh um the end user, the customer is who is coming to pay, right? So he doesn't need to think about uh how this payment will be, like which instrument will be used, like what will be the interaction. So like I would like to just get tap something, right? And get my payment done. So without my thinking which car to choose, which payment method is better in this moment. So where I have money, where I don't have money, would this one would go better with my uh uh my bank account or with my wallets or like with my uh stable coins, for example? So like a kind of autopilot that simplifies life, which will do like the best for for me uh for the payment. Same from the merchant side, right? So merchant doesn't need to think a lot about like what's happening with the transactions after the purchase has been done. It shall be instant, shall be simple, like so that we can concentrate on the pleasure of life, which uh uh uh which is always something we might miss if we are like too uh uh too much involved in the details of what we are doing.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, I agree. So I guess on this, it's it's a perfect ending for this uh podcast. So I'm wondering banks, processors or fintechs, if they want to start modernizing their payment stack, how do they how can they contact you?
SPEAKER_01:So we do have our websites and uh it's easy to fill in a form there. So I'm always uh happy to like get uh connections on LinkedIn accounts. So like all all the matters are there. So and yes, you're right. The modernization is is is a big word and it's just just coming, coming.
SPEAKER_02:All right, thank you very much, Alexander, for your insights today. Thank you to also to the audience, and please stay tuned as more fintech news will evolve on this channel. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Colin. Thanks for listening to another episode of the Connector Podcast. To connect and keep up tonight with all the latest, head over to www.join theconnector.com or hit the client on your podcast or