Textbook / Payments & fintech

Risk engineering

How money moves, what can go wrong, and how to build controls that work.

Contents

Chapters

01

Payments & money movement

Cards, bank transfers, instant payments, ledgers, and settlement.

05

1.1Money movement and the risk map15 min 1.2Cards, authorization, and disputes15 min 1.3ACH, bank debits, and returns15 min 1.4Instant payments and cross-border transfers15 min 1.5Ledgers, reconciliation, and settlement risk15 min

02

Fraud & transaction risk

Identity, account takeover, transaction decisions, scams, and misuse.

05

2.1Identity, credentials, and synthetic profiles15 min 2.2Account takeover and account recovery15 min 2.3Transaction risk and decision economics15 min 2.4Scams, money mules, and social engineering15 min 2.5First-party misuse, merchant abuse, and feedback15 min

03

Underwriting & credit risk

Merchant economics, repayment capacity, reserves, and portfolio exposure.

05

3.1Underwrite the merchant business15 min 3.2Credit risk and repayment capacity15 min 3.3Cash-flow analysis and financial evidence15 min 3.4Reserves, limits, and payout policy15 min 3.5Portfolio monitoring and credit deterioration14 min

04

AML & financial crime

Customer due diligence, ownership, monitoring, investigations, and reporting.

05

4.1AML programs and the risk-based approach15 min 4.2Customer due diligence and beneficial ownership15 min 4.3Entity resolution and financial networks15 min 4.4Transaction monitoring and alert quality15 min 4.5Investigations, reporting, and confidentiality15 min

05

Sanctions & global risk

Legal scope, screening, ownership, international trade, and digital assets.

05

5.1Sanctions scope, prohibitions, and licenses15 min 5.2Screening engines and match resolution14 min 5.3Ownership graphs and the 50 Percent Rule15 min 5.4Trade, corridors, and restricted activity14 min 5.5Digital assets, stablecoins, and wallet risk15 min

06

Compliance by design

Obligations, consumer protection, fair lending, privacy, and partner oversight.

05

6.1Compliance architecture and policy as code14 min 6.2Consumer protection, errors, and complaints15 min 6.3Fair lending, explainability, and adverse action15 min 6.4Privacy, payment data, and secure evidence15 min 6.5Sponsor banks, vendors, and third-party risk15 min

07

Risk systems & models

Data contracts, decision engines, machine learning, experiments, and governance.

05

7.1Risk data contracts and event time14 min 7.2Decision engines, rules, and reliable execution15 min 7.3Risk models, calibration, and delayed outcomes15 min 7.4Experiments, causal effects, and risk tradeoffs15 min 7.5Model governance and AI-assisted risk work15 min

08

Risk operations & resilience

Case work, treasury, incidents, operational resilience, and a complete system design.

05

8.1Case operations and human decisions15 min 8.2Treasury, liquidity, and settlement operations15 min 8.3Operational resilience and failure design14 min 8.4Risk incidents, containment, and learning15 min 8.5A complete risk system: the Lantern case15 min