Merchant account

A merchant account is a type of bank account, held with an acquiring bank, where funds from card payments sit briefly before they settle into the business’s ordinary current account.

How it works

• The acquirer opens the account as part of letting you accept cards.
• Collected payments land there, net of fees, on the settlement cycle.
• The balance then sweeps to your operating account on a schedule.

Some providers give each business its own merchant account; aggregators pool many merchants under one, which is faster to set up but leaves you sharing an account you don’t fully control.

Why it matters

For a platform paying out to sellers, the merchant account is where money can get stuck — held for reserves, released on someone else’s timetable, or hard to reconcile when many parties are pooled together. Control over that account is control over your cash flow.

How Fynex does it

As an FCA-authorised e-money institution, Fynex can hold client funds and act as Merchant of Record, so a platform can collect, hold, and split money to sellers without renting a rigid merchant account. Marketplace building blocks — wallets, escrow, and split payments — sit on top. See marketplaces and platforms.