Not based on a specific customer deployment. The company, figures, decisions, and outcomes below are a constructed example that shows how Intended’s mechanism applies to this kind of problem. They are not measured results from a named customer. Where we publish a real, attributed customer outcome, we will say so explicitly.
Governing Unauthorized AI Payment Approvals at a Fintech
Consider a growth-stage fintech whose AI agents route invoices, approve vendor payments, and issue customer refunds. Vendor payments run through NetSuite and an internal payments API; refunds run through Stripe.
01 · the challenge
The kind of problem this addresses.
02 · how it works
See the difference.
AI Agent receives invoice
Vendor: Acme Corp, Amount: $50,000
AI approves payment
No policy check, no risk scoring
Payment executes
$50,000 transferred
Log entry created
Flat text log, no evidence chain
03 · the solution
What they deployed.
- — Started from Intended's financial-services policy pack and set the amount rules: auto-approve below $5K, escalate $5K-$50K, deny above $50K
- — Payment agents call Intended through the TypeScript SDK (guard() / authorize()) before every NetSuite or internal payments-API call, then pay with their own credentials only after an ALLOW or an approved escalation
- — The payments service can verify the authority token with the SDK before it releases funds, so a payment without a valid decision is refused
- — Refund agents follow the same pattern: they ask Intended first and issue the Stripe refund with their own Stripe key only after an ALLOW. Intended never holds the fintech's Stripe key or calls Stripe
- — A signed authority.decision.created webhook feeds every escalation into the finance team's own alerting
04 · implementation
From zero to governed.
Day 1
Integrate
Add the SDK guard() call to the payment agents ahead of each NetSuite and payments-API call. Add the same call ahead of Stripe refunds.
Day 2-3
Configure
Install the financial-services policy pack. Set payment thresholds, vendor allowlist rules, and approver roles.
Day 4-5
Validate
Run policy simulation on a sample of recent payment requests to see which would be allowed, escalated, or denied before enforcing.
Day 6
Enforce
Turn on enforcement. From here, payments execute only after an ALLOW or an approved escalation.
05 · illustrative outcomes
What this is designed to deliver.
Modeled figures for this scenario — what the workflow above is built to achieve, not measured results from a named customer.
0%
Payments gated
No payment call without an authority decision
0%
Decisions recorded
Hash-chained audit entry for every decision
0
Policy tiers
Auto-approve, escalate, deny
0 min
Max token lifetime
Signed and single-use
06 · decision replay
Example decisions, full trace.
Sample decision records that show the shape of the evidence Intended produces. Illustrative, not drawn from a live customer’s logs.
finops.payment.vendor-paymentRISK: 12/100ALLOWInvoice #INV-4821 from CloudHost Inc. for $2,340 monthly hosting
Resolved by: Policy: auto-approve < $5K, known vendor
finops.payment.vendor-paymentRISK: 54/100ESCALATEInvoice #INV-4822 from DataPipe Ltd. for $18,500 data processing
Resolved by: Finance approver (approved in the console)
finops.payment.vendor-paymentRISK: 8/100ALLOWInvoice #INV-4823 from Office Supplies Co. for $890
Resolved by: Policy: auto-approve < $5K, known vendor
finops.payment.vendor-paymentRISK: 91/100DENYInvoice #INV-4824 from Unknown Vendor LLC for $72,000 consulting
Resolved by: Policy: above the $50K limit, vendor not on the allowlist
finops.refund.customer-refundRISK: 30/100ESCALATERefund of $240 to a customer for a duplicate charge in Stripe
Resolved by: Support lead (approved; the agent then issued the refund in Stripe)
the takeaway
The shift is from reconstructing audit trails after the fact to having a signed record of every payment decision before it executes. Authority is checked in-line, and the audit record is produced as a by-product of the decision rather than assembled later for an auditor.
Why this pattern matters — not a customer quote.
Start governing AI payments
Free to start. See every AI decision from day one.