OUTLINE
Key takeaways
Card acquiring answers one question well: how much does this merchant receive, and when? It cannot answer the questions a marketplace, a franchise brand, or a vertical software platform asks every day. How much of this deposit belongs to each seller? Which location's royalty is still owed? What can this contractor be paid right now without dipping into funds that might bounce?
Those are ledger questions. When the acquirer cannot answer them, the ISV buys a ledger from someone else, and the money movement follows.
Ledger management is the discipline of attributing every dollar on a platform to the right program, merchant, end client or virtual account, in real time. A payment ledger records balances and movements at each level of an account hierarchy. It keeps settled funds apart from funds still in transit on a batch rail and from funds held in reserve, and it exposes a single available balance that risk and finance teams can trust.
The distinction that matters most is between a payment and a ledger transfer. A payment moves money between banks over a rail such as EFT, ACH, RTP or Interac e-Transfer®. A ledger transfer moves value between two accounts that both live on the platform. The first has settlement time, rail cost and return risk. The second has none of them.
| Layer | Represents | What it holds |
| Partner account | The acquirer or processor | Partner credentials, program configuration, billing packages and partner-wide statistics. Can be nested, for example a Canadian and a US program under one parent. |
| Merchant account | A program, ISV, merchant or sub-account | Its own balance per currency, bank accounts, reserves, risk settings, webhooks and users. |
| Client account | A sub-wallet for an end client, sub-merchant, employee or beneficiary | A segregated ledger typed as individual, business or standard, with receive-only or send-only direction controls and per-type limits. |
| Virtual account | A named, ring-fenced account number (FBO account) | Its own balance and history, mapped back to the ledger above it, so an end client can be paid into directly. |
The acquirer sees the whole tree. Each program, ISV or merchant sees only its own branch.
The compound flow shows the full flow of funds in one instruction. A payer's bank account is debited over EFT or ACH. The funds land on the merchant's ledger as pending, then become settled when the rail settles. A ledger transfer moves the payee's share to a segregated client account, instantly. The payee then withdraws to their own bank over RTP, FedNow, Interac e-Transfer®, EFT or ACH.
Only the first and last steps touch a bank. The middle step is a ledger operation, recorded on both ledgers with a shared reference, so the audit trail runs continuously from the funding transaction to the payout.
| Movement | Between | Typical use |
| Client-account transfer | Two client accounts under the same VoPay account | Marketplace split to a seller; trust disbursement to a beneficiary; payroll to an employee wallet |
| Account to client account | A merchant's operating balance and one of its end-client ledgers | Fee collection, refunds to a wallet, allocation of a pooled receipt |
| Cross-account transfer | Two VoPay accounts under the same partner | Franchise royalties to head office, ISV program sweeps, inter-company movement, initiated with partner credentials so no merchant has to act |
| Compound flow | Rail in, ledger transfer, rail out, in one instruction | Fund from the payer's bank, move to the payee's ledger, withdraw to the payee's bank, tracked as one lineage |
| Scheduled sweep | A ledger and its linked bank account | Automatic balance transfer daily, weekly, biweekly or monthly to the merchant's own bank |
The ledger distinguishes what a merchant has from what a merchant can spend.
\text{AvailableFunds} = \text{AccountBalance} - \text{PendingFunds} - \text{SecurityDeposit} - \text{RollingReserve}_{\text{NSF}} - \text{RollingReserve}_{\text{Returns}}
Available funds equal the account balance, minus pending funds, minus the security deposit, minus the rolling reserve for NSF, minus the rolling reserve for returns.
Pending funds are payments in transit on a batch rail. They are visible on the ledger but excluded from the spendable figure until they settle. Faster access comes from a faster settlement tier, such as T+1 or same day, or a real-time rail, never from spending unsettled funds.
Reserves combine a fixed security deposit with rolling reserves on funding transactions to cover NSF returns and chargebacks. Rolling reserves release automatically after the reserve period. They sit at the VoPay account level and are shared across that account's client accounts.
Multi-currency and roll-ups. Each account keeps one balance record per currency, so a merchant operating in CAD and USD sees both on one ledger. Balances roll up across sub-accounts, and historical snapshots are available as of any date.
This is the number that lets an acquirer offer faster merchant funding with confidence, and the number a merchant's finance team will actually trust.
An illustrative marketplace payments flow, with figures chosen for clarity:
If the buyer's debit is later returned for NSF, the return is handled on the rail and drawn against the rolling reserve, not against the seller's already-paid balance.
The integration surface is one REST API with signed requests and a webhook endpoint. The sandbox simulates settlement and inbound credits, so engineers can test pending-to-settled transitions, reserve behaviour and ledger transfers before any money moves. Read developer documentation.
Try it in the sandbox. Model your marketplace, franchise or ISV program on test ledgers and watch the flow of funds end to end. Access our API Sandbox environment.
Not sure which wallet model fits your portfolio? Book a portfolio gap assessment. Speak to an advisor.
What is a payment ledger?
A payment ledger records balances and movements at each level of an account hierarchy. It keeps settled, pending and reserved funds apart and exposes a single available balance that risk and finance teams can trust.
What is on-platform money movement?
A transfer between two ledgers inside the same platform. Because no bank rail is used, it settles instantly, carries no per-rail cost and has no return risk. Funds touch a rail only when they enter or leave the platform.
What is the difference between a ledger transfer and a payment?
A payment moves money between bank accounts over a rail such as EFT, ACH, RTP or Interac e-Transfer®. A ledger transfer reallocates funds already on the platform between two accounts, recorded on both ledgers with a shared reference.
What is an FBO account  or virtual account?
A named account number held for the benefit of an end client, with its own balance and history, mapped to a ledger. It lets an end client be paid directly while funds stay attributed.
How are NSF returns handled?
Returns are processed per rail and drawn against rolling reserves held on funding transactions. Reserves release automatically after the reserve period.
Can one merchant hold CAD and USD on the same ledger?
Yes. Each account holds one balance record per currency, so a merchant with Canadian and US entities sees both balances and reconciles them together.
