Settlement

Settlement is the moment a payment becomes final and the funds are actually moved into the recipient’s account — the step that completes a transaction, as opposed to merely approving it.

How it works

• Authorisation happens first: the payer’s bank confirms the funds exist and reserves them.
• Settlement happens later: the money is genuinely transferred and cleared.
• Fees — including interchange — are typically deducted as part of this step.

The gap between the two is where confusion lives: an “approved” payment isn’t money you have yet, and on cards or cross-border payments settlement can trail authorisation by days.

Why it matters

Settlement is when your cash position actually changes, so treating an authorisation as cash-in-hand is how forecasts go wrong. For a marketplace, the timing also decides when you can pay sellers, take your commission and close the books — each one waits on funds truly landing, not just being promised.

How Fynex does it

Fynex posts every payment and payout back to the books as a journal entry the moment it settles, each with a confidence signal, so reconciliation reflects real money rather than pending approvals. That keeps your cash position and your ledger tied to actual settlement across the whole money chain.