A Series C Fintech Reduced Unauthorized AI Payment Approvals by 99.7%
A Series C fintech with 200 engineers, processing $2B in annual payments. Their AI agents handle invoice routing, payment approvals, and vendor payments across Stripe, NetSuite, and internal payment APIs.
The Challenge
What they were facing
$340K
in unauthorized AI-initiated payments in Q3 2025
47
AI-initiated payments above policy thresholds went unreviewed
120 hrs/mo
compliance team spent on manual audit reconstruction
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
The Solution
What they deployed
- Installed the FinOps domain pack (MIR-500) with 38 payment-specific intent classifications
- Configured thresholds: auto-approve below $5K, escalate $5K-$50K, deny above $50K without dual approval
- Connected Stripe, NetSuite, and internal payment API via Intended connectors
- Deployed in 15 minutes with zero code changes to existing AI agents
- Enabled real-time Slack notifications for escalated payment decisions
Implementation
From zero to governed
Day 1
Connect
Integrated Intended SDK into payment AI agents. Connected Stripe and NetSuite via pre-built connectors.
Day 2-3
Configure
Installed FinOps domain pack. Defined payment thresholds, vendor allowlists, and escalation workflows.
Day 4-5
Validate
Ran shadow mode on production traffic. Verified 100% of payment intents were correctly classified.
Day 6
Enforce
Switched from shadow to enforce mode. First unauthorized payment blocked within 2 hours.
Results
Measurable impact
0.0%
Reduction in unauthorized payments
$0
Policy-violating transactions
Since deployment
0%
Decisions auto-resolved
No human needed
0 hrs
Audit preparation time
Down from 120 hrs/month
Decision Replay
Real decisions, full trace
finops.payment.vendor-paymentRISK: 12/100ALLOW23msInvoice #INV-4821 from CloudHost Inc. for $2,340 monthly hosting
Resolved by: Policy: auto-approve < $5K, known vendor
finops.payment.vendor-paymentRISK: 54/100ESCALATE31msInvoice #INV-4822 from DataPipe Ltd. for $18,500 data processing
Resolved by: VP Finance (manual approval in 4m 12s)
finops.payment.vendor-paymentRISK: 8/100ALLOW19msInvoice #INV-4823 from Office Supplies Co. for $890
Resolved by: Policy: auto-approve < $5K, known vendor
finops.payment.vendor-paymentRISK: 91/100DENY18msInvoice #INV-4824 from Unknown Vendor LLC for $72,000 consulting
Resolved by: Policy: deny > $50K without dual approval + unknown vendor
finops.payment.batch-transferRISK: 38/100ALLOW42msBatch payroll transfer for 45 contractors, total $127,400
Resolved by: Policy: pre-authorized recurring batch, known payroll schedule
“We went from scrambling to reconstruct audit trails after the fact to having cryptographic proof of every payment decision before it executes. Our SOC 2 auditor said it was the most complete evidence bundle they had ever seen.”
VP Engineering, Series C Fintech
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