In this interview, Raman Aulakh, Director of Product Management, Embedded Finance at Visa, shares insights on building seamless financial connectivity platforms, the evolution of cross-institutional protocols, and the future of financial ecosystems. With over a decade of experience in payments and financial platforms, Aulakh has led pioneering initiatives that now power connectivity between major US banks and payment processors.
Alltech Magazine: As a pioneer in developing connectivity between financial institutions and payment processors, what fundamental challenges did you overcome to create seamless integration where fragmentation previously existed?
Aulakh: Building connectivity across fragmented financial systems involves navigating multiple layers of complexity. The technical fragmentation alone – different data models, legacy infrastructures, and inconsistent APIs – makes achieving true interoperability challenging.
When leading platform development initiatives, we identified that scalability was a significant hurdle. You simply can’t craft a custom integration for every partner and expect to move quickly in the market. Our solution was creating standardized abstraction layers that normalize disparate formats, which accelerated integration while minimizing disruption to existing legacy systems.
Security presented another critical challenge as each system maintained its own risk posture. This required building flexible yet robust trust frameworks that could accommodate different security models while maintaining strong protection across the network.
Perhaps most importantly, we needed to ensure future-proofing – these integrations had to evolve without constant rework. The formula for long-term relevance in this space comes down to standardization, thoughtful abstraction, and modular design that can adapt to changing requirements.
Alltech Magazine: You’ve architected systems now used by top US banks for digital payment integrations. What architectural principles have proven most critical when designing financial systems that must operate across institutional boundaries?
Aulakh: Financial systems spanning multiple institutions face unique challenges – sensitive data handling, strict regulatory requirements, diverse technology stacks, and zero tolerance for failure. While scalability, security, auditability, and data integrity are table stakes, several architectural principles have proven particularly valuable.
Standardization has been foundational – unified interfaces streamline integration across legacy systems without requiring constant reinvention, which directly enables scale. For cross-institutional systems, implementing zero-trust architecture with end-to-end encryption is non-negotiable. At PayPal, our Account Linking solution leveraged OAuth 2.0 and bank-hosted authentication to protect credentials and ensure both financial institutions and their customers felt secure.
Event-driven architecture provides the real-time responsiveness essential for payment flows and fraud detection. Equally important is designing for resilience – implementing smart error handling, timeout management, and sophisticated retry strategies. For payment systems specifically, AI/ML-driven retry strategies can help recoup revenue from at-risk transactions while maintaining positive customer experiences.
At Visa, we’ve found tremendous value in leveraging existing connectivity wherever possible. This approach significantly lowers the technical and operational burden on financial institutions, helping them prioritize more effectively and move faster. The combination of microservices and API-first development enables teams to define meaningful MVPs that deliver measurable value to clients while maintaining system flexibility.
Alltech Magazine: How has your approach to designing cross-institutional financial data exchange protocols evolved throughout your career, particularly in response to changing security requirements and regulatory frameworks?
Aulakh: Over the past decade, we’ve seen a dramatic shift from closed, one-to-one connections to more open, multi-party ecosystems. Innovative fintechs expanded use cases for data exchange, creating demand for new access methods and stronger security frameworks.
In the early days, financial data was largely siloed behind bank walls, with aggregators often relying on screen scraping – creating significant security and credential risk. As open access gained momentum – driven by regulations like PSD2, GDPR, and CCPA – we had to fundamentally rethink our approach. This meant building API-first, tokenized, and permission-based models with robust encryption, consent management, and comprehensive auditability built in from the ground up.
These changes have democratized the financial ecosystem, opening participation opportunities for players of all sizes while maintaining strong security controls.
Looking ahead, AI will transform financial data exchange – making it contextual, autonomous, and predictive. Intelligent agents will anticipate customer needs, facilitate seamless data access, and complete transactions without constant user intervention. I believe we’re moving toward autonomous interoperability, where intent, context, and risk-aware privacy models travel with the data itself, creating a more fluid and trusted network.
Alltech Magazine: When implementing complex connectivity solutions between financial institutions, how do you effectively communicate technical architecture decisions to executive stakeholders who may not have deep technical backgrounds?
Aulakh: As a product leader, I’ve found that starting with customer value is essential when communicating technical decisions. Framing conversations around the ‘Why’ – the experience or outcome we’re driving – helps non-technical executives anchor their understanding before diving into the ‘What’ and ‘How.’
My approach begins with aligning stakeholders on the long-term product vision, demonstrating how addressing specific customer needs ties directly to business objectives. Then, I translate technical choices into clear business impacts – whether that’s revenue growth, cost savings, compliance improvements, or customer experience enhancements.
I present options framed by value and cost, making sure to highlight whether decisions represent “one-way doors” (difficult to reverse) or more flexible choices. When executives understand how architecture decisions advance strategic goals and key metrics, alignment happens more quickly, and outcomes are ultimately stronger.
Alltech Magazine: The platform you built at PayPal is now used by top US banks. What were the key considerations in designing a system that could be accepted and implemented across multiple banking environments with different legacy systems?
Aulakh: Our biggest challenge was creating a platform that could serve diverse financial institutions – each with different technologies, risk appetites, and operating models. We approached this through several key strategies.
First, we aligned with banks early in the process. By bringing pilot institutions into the design process from the beginning, we co-created onboarding flows, customer experiences, and support models. This shared vision and straightforward adoption path made it easier for banks to commit to implementation.
Second, we established common standards by focusing on core functionality that every bank would need, leveraging technologies they already trusted. For example, building around OAuth 2.0 – a familiar and widely used protocol – lowered adoption barriers significantly.
Third, we took an MVP-led, iterative approach that prioritized delivering tangible value quickly. By addressing critical pain points first and building a strong foundation for growth, we helped banks see a clear path to return on their technology investment.
Finally, we designed for flexibility without complexity. Rather than one-off custom builds, we made the platform configurable so banks could tailor implementations to their specific needs while we maintained the integrity and scalability of the core platform.
Alltech Magazine: When developing cross-institutional protocols, how do you balance the need for standardization with the reality that each financial institution has unique requirements and systems?
Aulakh: This tension between standardization and flexibility is at the heart of successful fintech platform design. Finding the right balance separates truly scalable systems from one-off integrations.
The approach I’ve found most effective is building what I call a “thin, rigid core” with a “thick, flexible edge.” The core anchors essential capabilities – foundational functionality and compliance requirements that every financial institution needs. This maintains platform stability, security, and scalability.
Flexibility is then built at the edges, allowing institutions to configure aspects of the platform to fit their internal systems and customer experience goals. This way, banks can customize implementations while still benefiting from ongoing core improvements without risking fragmentation or accumulating technical debt.
Alltech Magazine: How do you see connectivity between traditional financial institutions, payment processors, and emerging fintech players evolving in the next 3-5 years? What technological shifts will drive this evolution?
Aulakh: I believe the future of financial services will be radically open, intelligent, and interconnected. Rather than simply “connecting” financial institutions and fintechs, we’ll see participation in programmable financial ecosystems where institutions plug into networks for instant access to capabilities, data, and partners.
True interoperability will emerge – enabling seamless, secure flow of value, whether money, data, or services, across different players. AI will drive this transformation, not only enhancing user experiences by making them more contextual and intuitive but also strengthening security through real-time risk detection and dynamic protection mechanisms.
The organizations leading this shift won’t just create better products – they’ll build smarter, more secure connections that establish the foundation for a more efficient and accessible financial ecosystem.
