Case Study: Market Insights on ACH Transaction and Payments Risk

Case Study β€’ Financial Services

Market Insights on ACH Transaction and Payments Risk

How Avenor helped a fintech provider understand payments risk perception across Banking, Wealth Management, and Bill Pay sectors through targeted expert engagement.

Client: A global provider of financial technology solutions
The Challenge

Understanding Payments Risk Perception

The client wanted to evaluate how risk is perceived across different financial services sectors, with a focus on ACH transactions and the likelihood of returns. Their objective was to gather insights from stakeholders in Banking, Wealth Management, and Bill Pay/Invoicing, covering three key functional perspectives.

Target Functional Perspectives:
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Risk Management & Fraud Prevention
Chief Risk Officers, Fraud Directors
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Payment Operations
Heads of Payments, Operations Managers, Payment Solutions Leaders
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Product & Technology
Product Managers, Payment Innovation Leaders, Solutions Architects
Key Questions to Answer:
How do stakeholders assess transaction risk?
What do buyers value when evaluating new tools?
How would they approach a low/no-code ACH risk solution?
The Avenor Solution

Custom Recruitment Across Functions

Avenor conducted a custom recruitment effort to identify and vet experts directly aligned to the client’s needs. We specifically targeted executives in Risk, Payments, and Product roles across the three financial sectors of interest.

To ensure relevance and quality, Avenor spent ~15 minutes on the phone with each expert before sharing them with the client. During these calls, we verified role responsibilities, confirmed exposure to ACH transaction risk, and gathered preliminary perspectives on current pain points.

Target Sectors:
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Banking
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Wealth Management
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Bill Pay / Invoicing

Experts Sourced and Delivered

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Chief Risk Officer
Regional U.S. Bank
Explained how transaction and payments risk is prioritized at the executive level, how ACH returns create downstream fraud and compliance issues, and how risk teams evaluate new tools to strengthen prevention.
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Director of Fraud Prevention
Top Retail Bank
Detailed how ACH return codes are monitored day-to-day, common fraud patterns tied to returns, and how fraud teams integrate ACH data into broader enterprise risk systems.
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Head of Payments Operations
National Wealth Management Firm
Described how large-scale payment flows are monitored, how operations teams investigate ACH returns, and where automation or predictive models could reduce manual review.
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SVP of Product & Innovation
Digital Payments Provider
Highlighted how product leaders evaluate new technologies, how ACH risk insights feed into roadmap decisions, and how emerging tools must balance fraud prevention with customer experience.
The Impact

Clear Market Guidance for Product Development

By engaging these carefully selected experts, the client gained targeted insights into the payments risk landscape:

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Validated Pain Points
Experts confirmed that ACH returns remain a meaningful challenge across banking, wealth, and bill pay use cases.
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Functional Perspectives
The client heard directly from Risk, Operations, and Product leaders, gaining a 360Β° view of how transaction risk is managed.
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Product Fit Guidance
Experts provided candid feedback on the potential value of a low/no-code ACH risk tool, helping refine positioning and go-to-market strategy.

Key Takeaways: Avenor's Commitment to Relevance

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Source Across Functions
Recruit experts spanning risk, operations, and product to ensure a holistic view of the market.
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Guarantee Quality
Pre-vet each expert with live phone calls to validate experience and ensure relevance.
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Deliver Actionable Insight
Provide clients with sector-specific perspectives that sharpen product development and market-entry planning.

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