Money held for users, proven every day.
Funds held for sellers, hosts, contractors and employees, reconciled to the bank every day, positioned by entity and currency, and funded before every payout run.
How money moves through a platform.
Thousands of users share one pooled account. The bank knows the total. Only your ledger knows who owns it.
Buyers pay, or employers fund payroll ahead of pay day.
Each pay-in matched to the ledger. A returned debit raised as an open difference the day it posts.Funds sit in an FBO or safeguarding account, pooled across every user.
The sum of every user balance checked against the pooled account each day.Your take rate is separated from user money.
Fee withdrawals prepared by Autopilot and approved before they move.Sellers, hosts and workers paid on schedule, in their currency.
Each payout run forecast; the low point measured against the minimum balance.Paid out through entities in each country.
Each entity in its own currency, never offset across the group.Every payout run, funded before it runs.
A finance operations day on a platform.
Reconcile, resolve, forecast, approve and report, every business day.
01Reconcile
Pay-ins, payouts, refunds and payment partner reports matched to the bank. The total of every user balance checked against the pooled account.
02Resolve
Returned pay-ins, failed payouts and balances that disagree with the bank raised the day they appear, with the cause proposed and recorded.
03Forecast
Every payout run and expected pay-in over 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days, per entity and currency, against your minimum balance.
04Approve
Funding for payout runs, fee withdrawals and transfers between entities proposed, approved under limits and sent to your bank as a standard payment file.
05Report
Daily evidence for sponsor banks and auditors through read-only access, and each licensed entity's return from the same figures.
However you hold user money.
Some platforms hold licences, some hold user funds at a sponsor bank, many do both across countries. The FDIC has proposed daily reconciliation and owner-level records for custodial accounts. FDIC, proposed rule on custodial deposit accounts.
| How you hold user money | What applies | What Safeheld produces |
|---|---|---|
| FBO account at a sponsor bankUnited States | The sponsor bank's oversight of the pooled account and the users behind it. | Daily reconciliation of user balances to the account, with read-only access for the bank. |
| US money transmitter licenceCalifornia, Texas, New York, Florida, Washington | State permissible investments against outstanding obligations. | Daily result for each state. NMLS call report pack. |
| UK payment or e-money institutionUnited Kingdom | CASS 15 safeguarding. | Monthly safeguarding return, ready to file. |
| Payment service provider registrationCanada | Retail Payment Activities Act, section 20: end-user funds. | Annual report sections 2 and 4 for PSP Connect. |
| Australian financial services licenceAustralia | Corporations Act, section 981B: client money. | FS71 Part 2 with the client money schedule. |
Every report is reviewed and approved by your team before it is filed.
Questions.
We do not hold a licence. Is Safeheld for us?
Yes. Platforms that hold user money in an FBO account reconcile every user balance to that account each day and give the sponsor bank read-only access to the evidence. Where an entity is licensed, its regulator's rule is applied as well.
Why reconcile user balances daily if the bank holds the money?
Because the bank sees the pooled balance, not who owns it. When Synapse failed in 2024, the money in its partner banks did not match what end users were owed, and users waited months for their funds. Daily user-level reconciliation is the record that prevents that.
How do you handle tens of thousands of seller or worker balances?
User balances load as a file or through a direct connection at each deadline. Safeheld totals them, checks the total against your ledger and the bank, and keeps the balances behind every result.
Can Safeheld fund our payout runs?
Safeheld forecasts each run and proposes the top-up. Your approvers sign it off and the payment goes to your bank as a standard payment file.
Payroll: what if an employer's funding debit is returned?
The return shows as a difference the day it posts, and the forecast shows the payroll run against the money actually received, so the gap is visible before pay day.