About PinheiroRisk.com

I’m Sheila Pinheiro, CFE, a fraud and risk specialist with over 20 years of experience across banking, fintech, telecoms, and iGaming.

I work at the intersection of payments, fraud prevention, and regulatory compliance  supporting businesses navigating growth, complexity, and increasing scrutiny from banks and regulators.

I provide senior-level, hands-on support to businesses that need to strengthen, structure, or scale their fraud and risk environments.
 

This includes:

• Supporting PayFacs, PSPs, and fintechs preparing for bank engagement 
• Building practical, scalable fraud and risk frameworks 
• Strengthening governance, policies, and operational controls 
• Providing fractional leadership where full-time roles are not yet viable

I don’t implement theory. I build what works under pressure.
 

My work focuses on:

• Frameworks that stand up to bank and regulatory scrutiny 
• Solutions that work in real operational environments 
• Balancing risk, compliance, and commercial realities

• Onboarding Integrity:   KYC, KYB, UBO verification and merchant risk tiering 
• Transaction Integrity:   Fraud controls, monitoring and payment-risk management 
• Regulatory Alignment: PASA, SARB, sponsor-bank and scheme expectations 
• Governance:  Policies, procedures, risk reporting and audit readiness 
• Scale Readiness:    New products, merchants and growth without control breakdown

I work with fintechs, payment providers, startups and regulated businesses looking to strengthen their fraud, risk and compliance capabilities.

Whether you're launching a new payment product, preparing for sponsor-bank onboarding, scaling your operations or strengthening governance, I provide practical support tailored to your business and stage of growth.

 ✔ FinTech & Payments

PayFacs, PSPs, Wallets, Payment Platforms

✔ Regulated Businesses

Financial Services, Banking, AML & Compliance

✔ High-Growth Companies

Businesses scaling products, merchants or operations

Every business is different, so I don't believe in off-the-shelf frameworks.

I take the time to understand your business model, products, regulatory obligations and operational challenges before developing practical, scalable solutions that work in the real world.

Whether acting as an independent advisor or a fractional member of your leadership team, my focus is always the same: helping businesses reduce risk, strengthen governance and build sustainable control environments that support growth.