Kyriba Alternative: What a Treasury Team Holding Customer Money Also Needs

Key takeaways

• Kyriba describes itself as a global leader in liquidity performance, founded in 2000, serving more than 4,000 organisations across 170 countries.
• Kyriba's financial services fact sheet names fintech companies and payment processors among the firms it serves, with cash visibility across banks and payment processors.
• Customer money held by a licensed payment or e-money firm is not the firm's own cash: it must be kept separate, or backed by permissible investments, and cannot fund the business.
• UK payment and e-money firms must reconcile safeguarded funds at least once each reconciliation day under CASS 15.8, comparing external balances currency by currency.
• Many regulated payment groups run a treasury platform such as Kyriba for their own cash and a separate client money platform for safeguarding positions and regulator returns.

What are the key facts on Kyriba and its alternatives?

Kyriba is an established treasury management platform for corporate finance teams; the question for a firm that holds customer money is which client money controls sit alongside it.

What does Kyriba do?

Kyriba gives a corporate treasury team one place to see its cash across banks, make and control payments, forecast liquidity and manage currency and interest rate risk.

Kyriba's company information page states that it was founded in 2000, began in Paris and is headquartered in San Diego. It reports more than 4,000 organisations in 170 countries, more than 100,000 users, 10,000 bank connections, 3.6 billion bank transactions and USD 51 trillion of payments a year. Its platform covers treasury management, payments, FX risk management (FX meaning foreign exchange), working capital optimisation, an embedded AI assistant it calls Trusted AI, and Connectivity-as-a-Service, which links a company's banks and ERP systems (its main accounting and business software) to the platform.

On payments, Kyriba describes a real-time payment hub with "Sanction screening, bank account validation, and AI-powered anomaly detection on every payment", and the ability to "enforce approval policy before any payment reaches the bank". On risk management, it describes protecting balance sheets "from currency, commodities, and interest rate volatility" and supporting derivative and hedge accounting under US and international accounting standards. Its product list also includes Advanced Liquidity Planning for cash forecasting, and reporting under EMIR, the EU rules on reporting derivatives trades.

Where is Kyriba strong?

Kyriba is strong where a large group needs control over its own cash across many banks, countries and currencies, and needs payments to leave the business securely.

Bank connectivity at that scale is hard to build. A treasury team that sees every bank balance each morning, sends payments through one approved route and hedges its currency exposure from the same data has a mature control environment. For a payment company, the same strengths apply to the company's operating cash, its funding lines and its payments to suppliers and partners.

Kyriba also addresses financial services directly. Its financial services fact sheet names "fintech companies, payment processors, asset management firms, and alternative financial services" among the firms it serves, and describes "Unified cash visibility across all banking relationships and payment processors", automated reconciliation and "regulatory reporting, and compliance monitoring". Its stablecoins use case describes helping treasury teams "integrate stablecoin-based settlement and on-chain liquidity management into enterprise processes", with reporting of balances in supported Circle wallets and instant stablecoin payments through Fipto described as live in Kyriba.

A regulated firm that already runs Kyriba would rarely gain from replacing it. The useful question is narrower: which client money rules sit outside what Kyriba's public pages describe.

What does a treasury team holding customer money also need?

A firm that holds customer money must treat that money as belonging to its customers, and prove every day, licence by licence and currency by currency, that it is fully covered.

Customer money kept apart from the company's cash. Treasury software is built to put idle cash to work. Client money rules limit that. In the UK, the FCA's safeguarding page explains that firms protect relevant funds (money received from customers) either by "segregating them from all other funds they hold" or by an insurance policy or comparable guarantee. In the EU, Article 10(1)(a) of PSD2 provides that these funds "shall not be commingled at any time with the funds of any natural or legal person other than payment service users", as the EBA confirms. A cash pool or sweep that treated safeguarded balances as group liquidity would conflict with that rule.

Investment rules per licence. EU funds still held at the end of the business day after receipt may be deposited in a separate account or "invested in secure, liquid low-risk assets" defined by the home regulator. A US money transmitter must instead hold permissible investments, meaning assets the law allows to back customer obligations. Section 10.03 of the CSBS Money Transmission Modernization Act, a model law each state chooses whether to adopt, requires a licensee to "maintain at all times permissible investments" worth no less than its outstanding money transmission obligations, and Section 10.04 caps some asset types, for example receivables from agents at 50% of the total. Our guide to permissible investments by state sets out how this varies.

Daily reconciliation of customer balances to the accounts that hold them. Under CASS 15.8, a UK firm performs internal safeguarding reconciliations "no less than once each reconciliation day" (CASS 15.8.19R) and external reconciliations on the same basis (CASS 15.8.42R), comparing balances "currency by currency" (CASS 15.8.47R). A shortfall must be made good "by the end of the day on which the reconciliation is performed" (CASS 15.8.50R), and a material failure must be reported to the FCA "without delay" (CASS 15.8.60R).

Positions per company and currency, never offset. Each obligation belongs to the licensed company that owes it, so treasury has to know the position for each company in each currency before moving anything. Our guide to cash positioning for payment companies explains how that position is built.

Regulator returns. UK firms submit a monthly safeguarding return within 15 business days of each month end. US licensees file the NMLS MSB Call Report, whose permissible investments section is reported at company level, includes the total outstanding transmission liability and has an additional table for virtual currency held on behalf of customers.

Fiat and stablecoin together. Section 4(a) of the GENIUS Act requires a permitted US payment stablecoin issuer to "maintain identifiable reserves backing the outstanding payment stablecoins" on "an at least 1 to 1 basis", forbids those reserves being "pledged, rehypothecated, or reused", and requires the monthly composition of reserves to be published. A firm holding customer balances partly in bank accounts and partly in blockchain wallets needs both in the same daily position.

Kyriba's public pages reviewed for this guide refer to regulatory reporting and reconciliation in general terms, but do not mention safeguarding, client money, permissible investments, the UK safeguarding return or the MSB Call Report. That does not mean a firm cannot configure parts of this work in Kyriba; it means the capability is not stated publicly, and a buyer should ask.

How do Kyriba and Safeheld compare?

Kyriba is built to manage and grow the company's own liquidity; Safeheld is built to prove, every day and for each licence, that customer money is covered.

For how client money platforms compare with each other, see safeguarding and reconciliation platforms compared. For the accounting close side of the same question, see our BlackLine alternative guide.

How much of the cash a treasury view shows is free to use?

Only the cash left after every licensed company has covered what it owes customers, in each currency, is free for treasury to move or invest.

Worked example. A US marketplace has two licensed companies. Its US money transmitter holds USD 120.00 million in bank accounts, all of which qualifies as permissible investments, against USD 95.00 million of outstanding money transmission obligations. Its UK e-money institution holds GBP 40.00 million in safeguarding accounts and GBP 6.00 million in its operating account, against GBP 40.40 million owed to customers, and EUR 12.00 million in a euro safeguarding account against EUR 11.00 million owed. The group reports in US dollars at GBP 1 = USD 1.27 and EUR 1 = USD 1.08.

A consolidated treasury view shows USD 191.38 million of cash. Only USD 33.19 million of it is the group's own money, and it sits in three pots in three currencies. Before anything else moves, the UK company must transfer GBP 0.40 million from its operating account into its safeguarding accounts by the end of the day. The euro surplus is the company's own money but stays in the safeguarding account until it is deliberately withdrawn. A forecast or sweep that started from USD 191.38 million would plan to use USD 158.19 million of customer money.

This is why the two systems answer different questions. Kyriba can show the cash; the client money position sets the floor below which treasury cannot go. Our framework for treasury controls at regulated payment firms covers who approves each movement.

Do firms use Kyriba and a client money platform together?

Yes. Many regulated payment groups keep a treasury platform for the company's own cash, payments and risk, and add a client money platform for safeguarding positions and regulator returns.

The split follows the two questions each team must answer. Treasury must show that the company has enough liquidity, at the right cost, with risk under control. The safeguarding team must show that, on each reconciliation day, every licensed company held enough customer money in the right accounts and currency. The same bank statements feed both. The client money platform tells treasury how much is free and which top-ups are due; the treasury platform then executes the company's own funding, investment and hedging decisions within that limit.

When the boundary is clear, each system checks the other. A difference between the cash treasury reports and the cash the client money reconciliation accounts for is itself a finding to investigate.

What should a payment firm ask when evaluating Kyriba or an alternative?

Ask each vendor to show the following with your own data, rather than describe it.

• Show customer money and company cash as separate figures for each licensed company, in each currency, for a past date.
• Show that no cash pool, sweep or forecast can treat safeguarded balances as available liquidity.
• Show the internal and external safeguarding reconciliations run at least once each reconciliation day, and how a shortfall is flagged before the end of that day.
• Show how permissible investment types and caps are applied per US state.
• Show the UK monthly safeguarding return and the NMLS MSB Call Report permissible investments section produced from the reconciled figures.
• Show stablecoin wallet and custody records in the same daily position as bank accounts.
• Show who proposed and approved each movement of customer money, and what an auditor or bank sees.
• Confirm in writing any capability that is not stated on the vendor's public pages.

How does Safeheld help?

Safeheld matches bank statements, processor and partner reports, ledgers, custody and blockchain wallet records every day, and holds one position per company in its own currency, never offset against another company in the group, agreed back to a group total.

Breaks are raised the day they appear, funding needs are forecast over 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days per entity and currency, and top-ups, withdrawals and transfers are approved by up to three people before a standard payment file goes to the bank. Regulator returns come from the same reconciled figures, so a firm can keep Kyriba for its own treasury and use Safeheld for client money, fiat and stablecoin alike.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kyriba?

Kyriba is a treasury management platform that describes itself as a global leader in liquidity performance. It covers cash and treasury management, payments, FX risk management and working capital, was founded in 2000 and reports more than 4,000 organisations in 170 countries.

Does Kyriba handle safeguarding or client money?

Kyriba's public pages describe cash visibility, reconciliation and regulatory reporting for financial services firms, including payment processors, but do not mention safeguarding, client money or permissible investments. Firms should ask Kyriba directly what it supports for these rules.

How much does Kyriba cost?

Kyriba does not publish prices. It states that pricing is subscription-based and modular, depending on the capabilities used and the customer's banking footprint, and is quoted by its sales team.

Can a payment company put customer money in a treasury cash pool?

Not where the money is safeguarded by segregation. Article 10 of PSD2 forbids commingling customer funds with anyone else's funds, and UK firms that safeguard by segregation keep relevant funds apart from all other funds they hold. Only the company's own cash is available to pool.

How often must a UK payment or e-money firm reconcile client money?

Under CASS 15.8, internal and external safeguarding reconciliations must be performed at least once each reconciliation day, external balances are compared currency by currency, and any shortfall must be paid in by the end of the day the reconciliation is performed.

What must a US money transmitter hold against customer obligations?

Under the CSBS model law, as adopted by each state, a licensee must hold permissible investments at all times worth no less than its outstanding money transmission obligations, with caps on some asset types, and report them in the NMLS MSB Call Report.

Does Kyriba support stablecoins?

Kyriba describes stablecoin settlement and on-chain liquidity for treasury teams, reporting of balances in supported Circle wallets, and instant stablecoin payments through Fipto. Its pages do not describe reconciling stablecoin reserves or customer balances under the GENIUS Act.

Can a firm use Kyriba and Safeheld together?

Yes. A common pattern is Kyriba for the company's own cash, payments and risk, and Safeheld for the daily client money position per licensed company and currency and the regulator returns built from it.

References

• Kyriba, Kyriba company information
• Kyriba, Liquidity solutions for financial services (fact sheet)
• Kyriba, Stablecoins for treasury and on-chain liquidity
• FCA Handbook, CASS 15.8 Records, accounts and reconciliations
• FCA, Safeguarding requirements for payments and e-money firms
• CSBS, Money Transmission Modernization Act (model law, PDF)
• NMLS, MSB Call Report Section III: Permissible Investments Report
• GovInfo, Public Law 119-27, the GENIUS Act (18 July 2025)

About Safeheld

Safeheld is reconciliation and regulatory reporting software for regulated firms that hold client money, across countries, currencies and regulators, in fiat and stablecoin. It reconciles each licensed company's position every day, in its own currency and never offset against another, and prepares regulator returns from the same figures. To discuss your safeguarding operations, contact us at safeheld.com/contact.

This article is general information on treasury and client money software for regulated payment firms and is not legal or regulatory advice.