Overview

• Direct model
• Embedded model
• Fiat

This guide outlines how to use virtual accounts (VAs) to manage fiat and crypto payments through BVNK.

A wallet stores value and maintains balances in fiat or crypto. You can connect payment instruments, such as crypto addresses, to a wallet. If crypto is received through a channel linked to a fiat wallet, it is automatically converted and deposited as fiat. When a virtual account is linked to the wallet, you can withdraw funds through the VA. The wallet remains separate from payment instruments, allowing flexible fund management.

A virtual account is a BVNK-managed payment instrument that facilitates sending and receiving funds. It represents a virtual identifier (vIBAN or ABA) connected to a wallet. VAs are issued in the name of your business or your customers, enabling personalised payment routing. They support SEPA payments in EUR and SWIFT payments in USD, EUR, and GBP for cross-border transfers. To see the schemes available through different jurisdictions, see Payment schemes.

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This product is also available to businesses in the UK and in supported countries outside the EEA. GBP accounts are limited to companies incorporated in the UK, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Gibraltar, or Guernsey.

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For who is this product intended?

Virtual accounts are intended for regulated financial institutions and similar businesses that need to manage payments for themselves and their customers. BVNK streamlines this process and provides tools to efficiently manage funds between your business, your customers, and their end-customers.

The Virtual accounts product supports the following models:

• Direct intended for business entities, including fintech companies, gaming platforms, crypto businesses, and others.
• Customer virtual accounts enable regulated financial institutions, such as banks, payment service providers (PSPs), crypto and trading platforms to create underlying virtual accounts for their own customers:
  • Individuals
  • Businesses

Virtual Accounts

Virtual accounts allow you to create payment accounts for your business with unique identifiers, details, and vIBANs issued in your business name. These accounts function like traditional bank accounts for sending and receiving payments but do not support credit facilities. Each vIBAN links directly to your payment account, enabling sending and receiving payments under your business name.

You can create crypto and fiat wallets and transfer funds between them. Each crypto payment transaction generates a corresponding fiat transaction record for accounting and reconciliation.

Named virtual accounts support compliance, accounting, and tax reporting by providing clear transaction records that show you are moving your own funds. This structure allows you to separate business operations or projects while maintaining full control over your funds.

What is a standard use case for virtual accounts?

You operate a crypto trading platform that receives deposits in stablecoins. Your business needs to convert these stablecoin deposits to fiat currency and withdraw funds to your external bank account for operational expenses, supplier payments, or regulatory requirements.

With a virtual account, you receive stablecoin deposits into your crypto wallet. You convert the stablecoins to euros through BVNK's trading functionality, which deposits euros into your fiat wallet. The conversion creates a crypto transaction record and a corresponding fiat transaction record for accounting. You then withdraw euros to your external bank account using the vIBAN linked to your virtual account.

This workflow lets you manage crypto-to-fiat conversions while maintaining clear transaction records for compliance and accounting. The named vIBAN ensures withdrawals are clearly attributed to your business, supporting audit trails and tax reporting.

Customer Virtual Accounts

The customer virtual accounts product provides the infrastructure to create virtual accounts for your customers, simplifying payment tracking and management.

To manage transactions for your customers and their clients, whether businesses or individuals, you assign each customer a virtual account with a unique name, details, and a vIBAN. These vIBANs link to your payment account, allowing you to send and receive payments on behalf of your customers under their names or transfer funds between accounts.

Customer virtual accounts are EUR-only and support euro pay-ins and payouts via SEPA. They do not offer crypto capabilities. Your customers cannot hold, send, receive, or convert crypto through their virtual accounts. Crypto capabilities are available only at your principal account level.

BVNK offers virtual accounts as an optional solution. You and your customers may use them, but they are not required. Other BVNK services, such as payments, crypto trading, or treasury management, are available without setting up or managing virtual accounts.

To qualify for customer virtual accounts, your business must:

• Be a regulated payment service provider or financial institution, for example, holding a UK FCA license.
• Demonstrate a robust financial crime control framework (AML, risk policies, transaction monitoring, etc.).
• Undergo compliance checks, including documentation review and interviews with BVNK's compliance team.

How onboarding responsibilities are shared

You onboard with BVNK as the principal customer and perform KYB and KYC checks on your underlying customers. BVNK does not onboard your underlying customers; they do not undergo additional KYC with BVNK unless flagged during screening. BVNK continues to screen and monitor underlying customers through its compliance team.

What is a standard use case for customer virtual accounts?

VAs are designed for partners who need to segregate funds, simplify reconciliation, or embed financial services within their platforms.

Virtual accounts support a range of payment scenarios:

For Crypto and Trading Platforms:

You represent a crypto trading platform and want to allow your customers to deposit fiat funds for crypto trading. Your platform receives deposits from hundreds of customers daily, and you need a robust payment reconciliation mechanism to match incoming payments to the correct customer accounts.

With virtual accounts, each of your customers receives a unique named vIBAN. When a customer deposits €5,000 into their virtual account, you can immediately identify the customer who made the payment using the unique account details. The funds are deposited into your wallet, and you can automatically credit the customer's trading account balance. Any crypto trading or conversion then happens at your own principal account level, where crypto capabilities are available—the customer's virtual account itself holds only euros.

This setup enables seamless fund segregation, accurate reconciliation, and a smooth user experience.

For Payment Service Providers and Financial Institutions:

You represent a Payment Service Provider serving multiple business customers. Your customers need to receive payments from their own clients and make payouts to suppliers, employees, or contractors. Each customer requires their own named IBAN to maintain clear payment separation and reconciliation.

You create a virtual account for each of your customers with a unique vIBAN issued in their business name. When customer A receives a €10,000 payment from their client, the funds are automatically routed to customer A's virtual account, and you can immediately identify and reconcile the payment. Customer A can then use those funds to make payouts to suppliers or employees, all processed through their dedicated virtual account.

This model allows you to process third-party payments on behalf of your customers while maintaining complete fund segregation, enabling accurate reconciliation, and providing your customers with professional payment infrastructure. At your principal account level, you can optionally use stablecoin pre-funding for faster settlement and cross-border capabilities, while your customers' virtual accounts remain euro-only.

Additional use cases:

Virtual accounts also support the following scenarios:

• Neobanks: Issue named IBANs to customers for personal or business banking services
• Treasury management: Segregate funds across business units or projects using dedicated virtual accounts

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How to get started?

Virtual Accounts

During onboarding, BVNK learns your use cases, currencies, and geographies, then enables virtual accounts that match your business, vertical, and region. If you need more features later, such as support for additional currencies, contact support to enable virtual accounts in EUR, GBP, or USD.

Once a virtual account is enabled, you can create it through the API or BVNK Portal. For the steps, see Set up wallets.

Customer Virtual Accounts

Virtual accounts require approval from BVNK's compliance team. To qualify, your business must:

• Be a fully licensed financial services provider, for example, have a UK FCA license.
• Demonstrate a robust financial crime control framework, including AML policies, risk management, and transaction monitoring.
• Complete compliance checks, including documentation review and interviews.

Your business must be approved for the customer virtual accounts solution before you can request or create virtual accounts.

To request virtual accounts, follow these steps:

1. Contact BVNK through your Account Manager or sales contact to express interest in the VA product.

2. Submit required documentation:

   • Proof of regulatory status, for example, FCA license, MSB registration
   • AML/CTF policies and procedures
   • Risk management framework
   • Details of your business model and use case

BVNK's compliance team reviews your documents and may request additional information. Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) may be required, especially if your business operates in a higher-risk sector, such as gambling, gaming, or trading.

After BVNK's compliance team approves your application, your account will be configured for the use of a customer VA. After that, you are ready to integrate customer VA to your platform.

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Ready to start? After completing the setup process with BVNK, select the model that fits your business needs and proceed with integration:

• Virtual accounts for your business
• Provide virtual accounts to your customers