Episode 1 – Vassilina – The Core of Dream Machine reactor: Payments, Treasury, Strategy & Luxury

I was honoured to receive for this first episode of Tea for Two, and Two for Tea, Vassilina Walford, former Group Treasurer at Richemont and now founder of Payment Vibes.

I met Vassilina virtually last year, on Linked In, following a post I wrote, as a bit as usual. From there, we kept in contact.

When I asked her, a couple of months ago if she wanted to feature in my first podcast. She directly accepted.

And there I was in Lausanne…

We explored payments from a less typical angle — through the lens of treasury, luxury retail, and strategic infrastructure. If you’ve ever felt that payment conversations are too tech-driven or vendor-led, this episode will feel like fresh air.

Topics we covered

How Vassilina went from treasury to payments in a global luxury group
Why multi-acquiring isn’t always the smartest move
How the Chief Payment Officer role is emerging
Payments as an enabler for expansion into markets like China and India
The shifting attitude toward payments in luxury
Omnichannel: myth vs. operational reality

Jordan's take

Payments aren’t just about connecting pipelines. They’re structural.

And that’s something Vassilina captures so well : From the redefinition role of Payment team at the merchants’ level to the shift in Payments perception.

Vassilina also reminded that Payment is an enabler and should be convenient for final consumers. Industry normalizes complexity and forgets to ask: Is this still making sense for the merchants?

If you work in payment strategy, or merchant ops, or are thinking about global retail expansion — you’ll get more from this episode than from 10 trend reports.

Listen to this episode

Chapter timestamps & Summarize

Jordan introduces the vision behind Tea for Two, and Two for Tea — a podcast to spill real insights in payments, far from the marketing noise. He sets the tone: independent, curious, and a bit cheeky. Guest of honour: Vassilina Walford, former Richemont treasurer turned payment consultant.

Vassilina shares how she entered payments by investigating credit card fees. Coming from treasury, she brings a different lens — focused on cost, cash flow, and strategic oversight rather than tech or UX.

A candid conversation on the risks and rewards of multi-acquiring. Vassilina challenges the standard playbook and advocates for a balanced, selective approach rooted in redundancy, not complexity

Why treasury and finance teams are often left out of payment decisions—despite being the most impacted. Vassilina discusses the gap between commercial visions and back-office realities, and how that’s slowly shifting.

Is payment a tech, finance, or marketing topic? Vassilina argues for a dedicated, senior payment function—neutral, cross-functional, and close enough to the field to stay relevant.

In global luxury, payment isn’t just a back-end process—it’s a market enabler. From Alipay in China to UPI in India, payment localization becomes key to capturing demand.

Once considered almost inappropriate to talk about, payments are now part of luxury’s strategic toolbox. Vassilina reflects on shifting attitudes and the Gen Z-led transformation of luxury customers.

The myth of “frictionless” is debunked. Omnichannel is a consumer expectation but a technical challenge. Success depends on orchestrating backend ops as much as the front-end journey.

Jordan and Vassilina reflect on the evolution of payments and the need for holistic thinking—where operations, tech, finance, and customer experience finally speak the same language.

Episode 1 – Vassilina – The Core of Dream Machine reactor: Payments, Treasury, Strategy & Luxury

Topics we covered

How Vassilina went from treasury to payments in a global luxury group

Why multi-acquiring isn’t always the smartest move

How the Chief Payment Officer role is emerging

Payments as an enabler for expansion into markets like China and India

The shifting attitude toward payments in luxury

Omnichannel: myth vs. operational reality