Cross-border payments treasury glossary
Plain definitions of the terms treasury, liquidity and finance teams at cross-border payment companies use every day, from prefunding and float to safeguarding rules and stablecoin off-ramps. Each entry cites its sources.
Agentic treasuryAgentic treasury refers to AI agents that sense, predict and act on treasury positions such as balances, FX exposures an...Cash positioningCash positioning is the daily process of gathering balances and transactions across all bank and partner accounts. It sh...CASS 15CASS 15 is the chapter of the FCA Client Assets Sourcebook that sets detailed safeguarding rules for UK payment and e-mo...Corridor runwayCorridor runway is the number of days until a corridor's prefunded balance runs out at the current outflow rate. It coun...Cut-off timeCut-off time is the deadline by which a payment system, bank or provider must receive an instruction. Instructions recei...Disbursement partnerDisbursement partner refers to a bank, aggregator, mobile wallet or cash pickup network that pays out cross-border trans...FBO accountFBO account means a 'for the benefit of' bank account that a company holds on behalf of its customers. It pools their mo...Float (payments)Float in payments is money that has left one account but is not yet usable in another. It also means customer cash a pay...Funds in flightFunds in flight means money a payment company has sent but that has not yet settled or been credited at the destination....Intraday liquidityIntraday liquidity means funds a firm can access during the business day to make payments as they fall due. It matters m...Liquidity bufferLiquidity buffer means a reserve of cash or highly liquid assets held above expected needs. It lets a firm keep paying w...Money Transmission Modernization Act (MTMA)Money Transmission Modernization Act (MTMA) is a model law from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. It gives US st...Money transmitter licenseMoney transmitter license means a state-issued license a US non-bank needs before transmitting money for people in that ...Nostro accountNostro account means an account a bank holds with another bank, usually abroad and in foreign currency. Nostro is Latin ...OTC deskOTC desk refers to a trading desk that executes large currency or digital asset trades bilaterally, away from public exc...Payment corridorPayment corridor refers to a specific sending-to-receiving route for cross-border money, defined by country pair and cur...Payout partnerPayout partner refers to the local institution that pays recipients in the destination market for a cross-border payment...Permissible investmentsPermissible investments means the assets a US money transmitter may hold to cover its outstanding money transmission obl...PrefundingPrefunding is placing money with a payout partner or in a destination-country account before transfers are paid out. Rec...Relevant fundsRelevant funds are the sums a UK payment or e-money institution receives from, or for, customers to execute payments or ...Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA)Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA) is the Canadian federal law under which the Bank of Canada registers and supervises...Safeguarding (payment and e-money firms)Safeguarding, for payment and e-money firms, means protecting customer funds so they can be returned if the firm fails. ...Safeguarding reconciliationSafeguarding reconciliation means the daily checks UK payment and e-money firms run to show the funds they hold for cust...Settlement finalitySettlement finality is the point at which a transfer of funds becomes irrevocable and unconditional. After that point it...Sponsor bankSponsor bank refers to a chartered bank that gives a non-bank payment or fintech company access to accounts, payment net...Stablecoin off-rampStablecoin off-ramp refers to a service that converts stablecoins back into fiat and pays it to a bank account, wallet o...Stablecoin on-rampStablecoin on-ramp refers to a service that converts fiat currency into stablecoins. A typical example is wiring dollars...Treasury management system (TMS)Treasury management system (TMS) refers to software that gathers bank and payment data to show cash positions. It also s...Value dateValue date is the date on which a payment or obligation is due and the funds become available to the receiving party. It...Vostro accountVostro account means an account a bank maintains on its own books for another bank. Also called a loro account, it is 'y...
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Polynopsis gives cross-border payment teams one live position across every bank, payout partner, exchange and wallet, including money in flight, and warns before a corridor runs dry.