Settlement
Collection, reconciliation, settlement. The same path, every time.
Funds arrive in the United Kingdom. We reconcile them, then instruct two payments: one to our client, one to the underlying payee. We keep only the processing fee.
What follows is the operating model. It is illustrated with Realm International, our primary client — a short-stay platform whose guest receipts we collect. The path is built to take other mandates of the same shape.
In
The payer pays
Funds land on UK rails — Stripe for cards and payouts, our UK accounts for settlement. For Realm International, that is a guest paying for a stay.
Hold
We reconcile
Each receipt is matched to the client’s record. Deductions are only those agreed: the client’s fee, and our processing fee.
Out · 01
Client fee
Swept to the platform or principal — today, Realm International. Their commercial return. It does not sit with us.
Out · 02
Net to the payee
The largest part, paid out via Stripe to the underlying supplier — for a stay, the property owner — in the correct amount and jurisdiction.
This company retains only the processing fee and a small service margin. Nothing else of the receipt is ours.
Day to day
What we actually do.
- 01Receive inbound payments into UK bank and Stripe accounts.
- 02Match each receipt against the client’s records.
- 03Deduct only the agreed client fee and our processing fee.
- 04Sweep the client fee to the principal — today, Realm International.
- 05Instruct net payouts to underlying payees via Stripe.
- 06Apply customer due diligence to counterparties, and keep ordinary UK filings.
Infrastructure
Stripe on the acquiring. Banks on the sterling.
Card acquiring and payouts run on Stripe. Our own accounts sit in the United Kingdom. Faster Payments, scheme access and correspondent banking sit with authorised firms — not on a letterhead. We instruct; we do not pretend to be the rail.
We do not store cardholder data. Payment cards are handled by Stripe under PCI DSS. Where a payment service requires an authorised institution, it is provided by one.
Testing, then scale
Small-scale systems testing first. Broader roll-out when the path is proven.
Volumes start modestly on purpose. The settlement path is the product. We do not skip the proof.
Speak to the payments house