AI Payments Engineering

Reference architecture

1. Checkout / API
2. Orchestration Layer
3. Real-time Risk Score (accept / step-up / decline)
4. Processor Routing (PSP / acquirer)
5. Ledger (double-entry)
6. Settlement + Reconciliation
7. Audit Log

A typical AI payments stack: checkout hits an orchestration layer that scores risk inline, routes each transaction to the best processor, and writes an authoritative double-entry ledger entry; settlement files then reconcile against that ledger, with every state change captured in an immutable audit log.

Frequently asked questions

• Can you orchestrate across multiple processors?+

  Yes. We build an orchestration layer that sits above Stripe, Adyen, Braintree, Worldpay, and others so you integrate once and route each transaction by cost, geography, or authorisation likelihood. It also gives you a clean migration path when you want to add or swap a processor later.

• How do you keep payment operations idempotent?+

  Every money-movement request carries an idempotency key, and captures, refunds, and payouts are modelled as replayable events against a double-entry ledger. A retried request or a webhook delivered twice resolves to the same ledger state, so a network blip never turns into a double charge or a double payout.

• Do you handle reconciliation and settlement matching?+

  Yes. We ingest PSP settlement files and bank statements and run three-way matching against your internal ledger. Matches clear automatically. Anything that doesn’t, such as fees, FX differences, timing gaps, or missing captures, is surfaced as an exception for your finance team instead of quietly absorbed.

• How does risk scoring fit into the authorisation path?+

  Scoring runs inline, before capture. Device, velocity, and behavioural signals produce an accept / step-up / decline decision in the auth flow. High-risk transactions get routed into a 3-D Secure 2 challenge rather than blocked outright, so you cut fraud without adding friction to good customers.

• Do we take on more PCI scope by building this with you?+

  The opposite is the goal. We architect with tokenisation and hosted fields so raw card data never touches your servers, keeping you on the lightest applicable SAQ. We integrate with PCI Level 1 processors and design the application layer to hold your PCI scope as narrow as possible. See /compliance/pci-dss for the detail.