Q&A: Building Trust in the World’s Toughest Payments Market: Checkout.com’s North American Playbook

Hey There,

North America is one of the most competitive and complex payment markets in the world, where performance, reliability, and trust are non-negotiable.

Today, I’m joined by Zack Levine, Head of North America at Checkout.com, to unpack the company’s rapid growth across the continent and the strategic decisions behind it. In this conversation, we explore Checkout.com’s customer-first philosophy, new partnerships with eBay, Uber, and Spotify, and why its MALPB banking charter marks a pivotal moment for merchants seeking greater control, speed, and payment performance in the US.

Arthur Bedel: Zack, Checkout.com has been vocal about North America as a strategic priority. How would you describe the company’s growth story so far?

Zack Levine: While we’ve been present in the US in different forms for close to a decade, the last five years mark a much more deliberate phase of investment and focus for us. The region has become our fastest-growing globally, with US volumes growing over 70% year-on-yearthough, and we now represent a very meaningful share of the business. What’s most important, though, is how we’re growing. We are well diversified with low customer concentration. We are growing with our existing cohorts, all while welcoming many new merchants to the platform. We’ve been intentional about continuously improving where we are already at the front of the pack, and that is delivering leading payments performance to large merchants online. That discipline has allowed us to build momentum quickly while staying true to our long-term vision.

Arthur Bedel: What have been some of the key milestones that really signaled Checkout.com’s momentum in North America?

Zack Levine: There are a few moments that stand out. One is the depth of trust we’ve earned with major US brands. We are grateful for the chance to process payments for many domestic Fortune 500 companies, including Uber, General Electric & eBay, but I’m most proud to see these partnerships growing each quarter. Another milestone is our continued investment in people and infrastructure, expanding teams across New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Finally, the approval of our Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charter is a defining step forward in our US journey.

Arthur Bedel: Let’s talk about that MALPB charter. Why is this such an important moment for Checkout.com and for merchants?

Zack Levine: The MALPB charter is about giving merchants more control, performance and resilience. It allows us to act as our own acquirer in the US, with direct access to card networks, and expands the level of service and optionality available to merchants, building upon our strong relationships with sponsor banks. This removes layers of dependency and enables us to innovate faster and operate with greater efficiency. For merchants, this translates into tangible benefits: smoother onboarding, faster product rollouts, and greater payment performance. It also reinforces our commitment to building a truly US-first payments platform, designed specifically around the complexity and scale of the American market.

Arthur Bedel: Checkout.com often talks about being “customer-first.” What does that actually mean in practice?

Zack Levine: Customer-first for us isn’t a slogan, it’s an operating model. Payments are too critical to be treated as a commodity, especially for large digital businesses. Every merchant we work with has dedicated points of contact, performance specialists focused on improving acceptance rates, and deep technical support embedded throughout the relationship. We also listen obsessively. Our roadmap is shaped by what merchants tell us they need, whether that’s better authorization performance, access to new payment rails, or more flexible orchestration across acquiring setups.

Arthur Bedel: Why are large US and global brands choosing Checkout.com over more established incumbents?

Zack Levine: A lot of it comes down to focus and architecture. We built our entire payments stack from the ground up as a single, unified platform, specifically for digital enterprise merchants. Our continued investment in modern technology gives us a level of control and optimization that’s hard to achieve with fragmented, legacy systems. Merchants are choosing Checkout.com because we consistently deliver higher acceptance, lower latency, and a more collaborative way of working. We’re not trying to be everything to everyone; we’re trying to be the best possible payments partner for digital-first businesses operating at scale.

Arthur Bedel: How does the US payments landscape shape Checkout.com’s strategy differently compared to other regions?

Zack Levine: The US is uniquely complex. Interchange structures are different, there’s greater card variety, and there are thousands of issuing banks on the other side of transactions. Moreover, for new age players, it takes laser focus & significant investment to deliver a winning domestic payments optimization. And for big incumbents, who still own most of the market, they are too far behind already to catch up. That environment really plays to our strengths. Optimizing authorization rates and reducing friction becomes the biggest driver of growth, and that’s where we excel. It’s also why we’re investing so heavily in AI-driven fraud scoring, issuer insights, and orchestration capabilities. The opportunity to outperform in the US is significant for us, given our eagerness to go deep on the fundamentals.

Arthur Bedel: Looking ahead, what excites you most about Checkout.com’s future in North America?

Zack Levine: I’m excited by the scale of what’s still ahead. The US is already a significant region for Checkout.com, and our fastest-growing one. But most importantly, it will be our largest region globally in the coming quarters. With the MALPB charter, continued investment in local teams, and growing trust from enterprise merchants, we’re just getting started. Our goal is to help merchants turn payments into a competitive advantage, and that vision is coming to life in North America.