Independent research and analysis
To advance fairer, faster, and more transparent payment dispute resolution.
About
Independent. Ecosystem-wide. Purpose built.
The Payment Dispute Institute (PDI) is an independent research, analysis, and advocacy organisation dedicated to payment disputes and chargeback frameworks. PDI serves the entire payments ecosystem — banks, issuers, merchants, acquirers, and regulators — publishing evidence-based analysis without advocating for any one participant. Unlike trade bodies, PDI holds no member interests to protect; unlike consulting firms, it offers no retainers and earns no vendor commissions or kick-backs. PDI's work is funded transparently through three fee-for-service channels: (1) Technical & Operational Capability Audits, (2) Independent Market & Policy Impact Assessments, and (3) Specialised Industry Education.
The gap
Commerce has changed. The rules have not kept pace.
Cards are used to pay rent, settle BNPL instalments, book professional services, and transact across complex multi-party platforms. The dispute rules that govern what happens when something goes wrong have not kept pace.
The result is ambiguity — absorbed differently by banks, merchants, acquirers, and consumers — with real costs that are rarely attributed to their source.
PDI was established to examine this gap from the perspective of the whole ecosystem, rather than any single participant. Our work spans independent research, published analysis, and the cross-ecosystem view that no individual party can assemble on its own. We draw on input from across the industry to bring a problem that belongs to everyone into clear view.
Who we serve
We don't advocate for any one group. We publish what the evidence supports.
We advocate for the problem, not a party — and the problem touches everyone. Our research is relevant to:
Banks & issuers
Managing disputes at scale.
Merchants & platforms
On the receiving end of chargebacks.
Acquirers & gateways
Operating within scheme rules.
Regulators & policy makers
Examining consumer protections across payment rails.
About the founder
Nina Kutzner
Nina Kutzner has spent her career across the payments ecosystem — in disputes, chargebacks and payment operations on both the issuing and scheme sides of the industry. That vantage, having seen the same problem from more than one corner, is what PDI is built on.
PDI was established from direct experience of the gap between the rules as written and the rules as applied — and a conviction that closing it is achievable, and worth pursuing.