Payment facilitator (Payfac)

A payment facilitator, or Payfac, is a company that lets its own customers accept card payments as sub-merchants under its master merchant account — so each seller can take money without applying for a merchant account of their own.

How it works

• The Payfac holds one master account with an acquiring bank and onboards sellers beneath it.
• It handles the KYC/KYB, underwriting, and risk checks that each seller would otherwise face alone.
• Payments flow in through the Payfac, which then settles each sub-merchant their share.

A Payfac differs from a plain gateway: it doesn’t just route the payment, it takes on the merchant relationship and the compliance that comes with it.

Why it matters

The Payfac model is why a platform can onboard a seller in minutes instead of weeks. But it concentrates real obligations — underwriting, funds handling, and liability — on the facilitator, which most software companies aren’t licensed to carry.

How Fynex does it

Fynex provides the licensed rails a platform needs: as an FCA-authorised e-money institution it can be your Merchant of Record, hold client funds, and run seller onboarding inside your own flow. See Marketplaces & Platforms.