Outgoing payment

Estimated reading: 5 minutes

Outgoing payouts are transfers issued from your CentralPay payment account to the associated bank account.

They can be carried out manually from the Merchant Portal or via the Payment API, or automated according to the frequency defined in your payout settings.

From the Merchant Portal, only account-holder user profiles (known as “Legal”) can configure and execute payouts.

1. Payout methods

1.1. Automatic payout

The account holder can set the frequency of the automatic payout using three options:

Daily
Weekly: choose the day of the week (e.g., every Tuesday)
Monthly: choose the day of the month (e.g., the 5th of the month)

The automatic payout service executes each transfer at 01:00 on the selected day, based on the fonds disponibles (AVAILABLE) in the payment account.

Example of a weekly payout scheduled on Tuesday:
CentralPay will create the transfer on Tuesday morning using the funds available in the payment account up to 01:00.

ℹ️ In the case of a daily payout, all available funds are transferred each day to your bank account. 
Your CentralPay account balance is therefore zero at the start of the day.
If you need to issue customer refunds, they can be processed from early afternoon (around 2:00 PM), once the day’s transaction funds have been credited by the issuing banks. 
An upcoming enhancement will allow automatic payouts to be deferred by one or more days in order to keep funds available while maintaining consistent accounting visibility. Contact Support if you are affected.

Matching for automatic payouts

Each automatic payout is linked to the detailed list of transactions included in the transfer. This feature enables automatic matching between collected transactions and the corresponding payout.

The transaction details for a payout can be accessed from Merchant Portal Administration My account Payouts by selecting the desired payout.

The first automatic payout does not yet include details, as it initializes the matching system. Subsequent payouts include the full list of the relevant transactions.

1.2. Manual payout (via Merchant Portal or API)

A payout can be executed manually from the Merchant Portal or via the Payment API. The payout amount can be set freely, up to the limit of the funds available in the account.

Payout orders placed before 05:00 are executed immediately. Those created after 05:00 are executed the next day at 05:00.

2. Identifying transactions linked to each payout

Payout matching is a Merchant Portal feature that links each automatic payout to the detailed list of transactions included in that payout.

Scope: matching applies exclusively to automatic payouts. Manual payouts do not have this automatic association.

Detail contents: list of transactions corresponding to the payout, including the amounts, value dates, and references required for accounting reconciliation.

2.1. Access the details of an automatic payout

From Merchant Portal Administration My account Payouts :

Select the relevant payout from the list.
Open the payout details to display the associated transactions.
Use the Export button to download the data if needed.

Or, from Merchant Portal Account My transactions :

Filter by Type = Outgoing payout or by Value date.
In the payout’s Actions column, click the arrow, then View payout transactions.

ℹ️ The first automatic payout does not include details: it is used to initialize matching.
Subsequent automatic payouts include the full list of associated transactions.

2. Funds availability

Payouts include only the fonds disponibles (AVAILABLE) in the payment account. Funds from a card transaction become available at D+2.

Example:
A card transaction made on Monday appears as "Pending" on Monday, becomes "Available" on Tuesday evening, the automatic payout is executed on Wednesday at 01:00, and the SEPA transfer is credited to the bank account on Thursday.

ℹ️ The EscrowDate setting may affect the date on which a transaction’s funds become available (specific to partners/agents).

3. Creating a manual payout

3.1. From the Merchant Portal

Only account-holder users (“Legal”) or users with an administrator role (“Natural Admin”) can create a manual payout from the Merchant Portal.

From Merchant Portal Administration My account Payouts :

Click External transfers.
Select the sending account.
Enter the payout amount and the recipient IBAN.
Click Confirm transfer.

Once validated, the payout is executed according to the timeframes mentioned above.

Recette Merchant Portal – Outgoing payouts

Production Merchant Portal – Outgoing payouts

3.2. From the API

Creating a manual payout can also be done via the Payment API. For technical details, see the developer documentation: Developers Outgoing payout .

4. Foreign-currency payouts via the SWIFT network

International transfers are executed via the SWIFT network, unlike SEPA transfers used within the European area. This service allows payouts in euros or other currencies to accounts located outside the SEPA area.

If the beneficiary account is not reachable via SEPA, or if it is a foreign-currency account, payouts can be made via SWIFT. This service is enabled on request through your CentralPay contact.

ℹ️ SWIFT transfers incur higher fees than SEPA transfers. It is possible to configure a threshold of available funds before automatic payouts are triggered.

5. Returns, statuses, and webhooks

To track the payout lifecycle and automate processing: