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Money transfer platform for UK payment institutions

Send money from the UK to the rest of the world under your own brand, priced by corridor and currency. Start as a small payment institution and keep the same platform when volumes push you into full FCA authorisation.

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Case Studies

See what teams build with Crassula.

Money Transfer · API / SPI

What you can run as a UK payment institution

Consumer remittance

Customers pay in by Faster Payments and the money goes out to the recipient's bank over SWIFT, SEPA or a local scheme through your connected provider.

Business payouts

Upload a file to pay suppliers, contractors or sellers in one run, with templates and maker and checker approval.

Your FX margins

Spot exchange with a mark-up per currency pair set in price lists, so you can price a busy corridor differently from a niche one.

Routing by corridor

Each payment goes through the provider you pick for that corridor and currency, based on cost and delivery time.

Recipient management

Saved counterparties, BIC lookup and transfer drafts that a customer can check before confirming.

What this licence does not cover

  • Stored-value wallets. Balances that customers keep for later spending are e-money and need an EMI authorisation.
  • Account information or payment initiation as a small payment institution. Open banking services need full authorisation.
  • Paying interest on funds you hold, or lending them out. A PI can hold money only to execute payments.
  • Serving EEA customers from a UK authorisation. UK firms lost passporting after Brexit, and an SPI registration never included it.
Your market

What the regulator asks about your IT

Each requirement, what the platform gives you for it and who owns it after launch.

1Programme of operations: services, corridors and payment flows

Flow diagrams from customer pay-in to payout, per rail and per provider, drawn from your live configuration.

You, with our material
2Safeguarding: mandatory for an API, optional for an SPI

Records of what is owed to each customer while a transfer is in flight, exported for reconciliation against your safeguarding account.

Your finance team
3AML and sanctions controls for cross-border payments

Customer and recipient data captured at onboarding and on each transfer, client limits per customer, data feeds for your screening and monitoring providers.

Your MLRO
4Security policy and protection of payment data

2FA on customer and staff logins, role-based access and an audit trail in the back office.

Crassula runs it, you approve the policy
5Outsourcing of the payment platform

Service description, contract terms, audit and access rights, and an exit plan that hands back transfer history.

You, with our input
6Business continuity and incident handling

Backups, recovery set-up and our incident process, so you can describe how payments resume after an outage.

Shared
7Monitoring the SPI cap of EUR 3 million a month

Reporting on payment volumes over any period, so you can see the 12-month average and plan the move to full authorisation.

Your finance team
United Kingdom

Payment rails and providers

Rails your customers can use

Faster PaymentsCHAPSBacsSWIFTSEPASEPA Instant

ClearBank

UK clearing bank for regulated firms, direct member of Faster Payments, Bacs and CHAPS, holding GBP client funds at the Bank of England.

Clear Junction

FCA-authorised EMI whose clients include remittance and FX firms, offering GBP and EUR accounts and named virtual IBANs for reconciliation.

24/7real-time processing, no batch window
60+payment and provider integrations connected
150+companies run on Crassula
15+languages the platform speaks
United Kingdom

Dates to plan around

Rules that change what you have to build, in the order they apply.

  1. 7 May 2026

    CASS 15 safeguarding rules apply to authorised PIs, and to small PIs that choose to safeguard: daily reconciliation and a monthly return to the FCA.

  2. 21 Apr 2026

    HM Treasury confirmed it will close the Payment Systems Regulator and move its powers under the PSRs 2017 to the FCA. Primary legislation is still needed.

  3. 6 Oct 2026

    Consultation on folding the PSRs 2017 and EMRs 2011 into FCA rules closed. The capital and SPI thresholds in this page come from the current regulations.

API / SPI

Registering or applying with the FCA as a payment institution? We cover the tech.

The FCA asks the same questions of a two-person remittance start-up and a payout company moving millions: how money moves, who holds it and what happens if a system fails. We help you answer the technical ones.

Talk to us about your application

Crassula provides technology and documentation support. We do not provide legal or regulatory advice and cannot guarantee the outcome of an application.

  1. 01

    A platform you can demonstrate

    A configured environment with your corridors and pricing to show the regulator, not slides.

  2. 02

    The technical part of your application, prepared

    IT systems, security policy, outsourcing and business continuity sections of your SPI registration or API application.

  3. 03

    Providers lined up

    UK accounts, safeguarding and payment rails through partners including ClearBank and Clear Junction.

A business traveller checking a phone before a journey.
Money Transfer

From SPI to authorised PI on one platform

A London team sends money to families in Poland and Romania. They register as a small payment institution, launch with two corridors and set a separate FX margin for each. Customers pay in by Faster Payments, and payouts go over SEPA through their provider.

Eighteen months later their reports show the 12-month average heading towards the EUR 3 million cap, and business clients want bulk payouts. They apply for full authorisation with the same platform described in the file, switch on batch payouts and add corridors, while the existing customers keep their app and history.

Planning the licence first? Read our UK small PI guide, the UK authorised PI guide and how to start a money transfer business.

Guides

Read the licence guides

Explore all guidesLicensing, payments, cards and core banking, explained by our team.
United Kingdom · API / SPI

FAQ

The questions teams ask us before a first call.

Not covered here?Bring your question to a demo with our team.
What is the limit for a UK small payment institution?
The monthly average of payment transactions over the previous 12 months must not exceed EUR 3 million, including your UK agents. New firms use their projections. The figure is set in euros in regulation 14 of the PSRs 2017.
How much capital does an authorised PI need for money transfer?
EUR 20,000 if you only offer money remittance. If you also run payment accounts or other services in paragraphs 1(a) to (e) of Schedule 1, the minimum is EUR 125,000, and payment initiation needs EUR 50,000. The highest applicable amount applies.
Does an SPI have to safeguard customer funds?
No, safeguarding is mandatory for authorised PIs and optional for SPIs. An SPI that chooses to safeguard follows the same CASS 15 rules on reconciliation and returns. Many banking partners prefer to see it either way.
How long does the FCA take to decide?
The PSRs 2017 give the FCA three months from a complete application and up to twelve months from an incomplete one, for both authorisation and SPI registration. Plan the build to run in parallel.
Can we let customers keep a balance in the app?
Only to execute payments. Money that customers store for later use is e-money and needs an EMI authorisation. If you plan wallets, see digital banking for UK EMIs.
Do we need to change platforms when we move from SPI to API?
No. The same accounts, corridors and customer history carry over. You switch on features such as batch payouts or new rails when your authorisation allows them.
Money Transfer

Explore your launch market

United Kingdom · API / SPI

What you can run as a UK payment institution

Tell us your licence and country. We will map the rails, providers and documents you need.

Request demo
Know what you payOne setup fee and a monthly plan with accounts and transactions included.See pricing → Start with the APIDocumented endpoints for accounts, payments, cards and customers.Explore the API →
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