Settlement times by region: cash flow from capture to bank

A shopper in Germany and a shopper in Brazil each buy a EUR 100 jacket on the same Monday. Both payments are approved within seconds. The German payment can be in the retailer’s bank by the end of the week. The Brazilian one, if it was a domestic credit card, may not arrive for a month, and if the shopper chose instalments, it may arrive in pieces over most of a year. The revenue report shows two equal sales. The bank account does not.

This article explains what settlement means from capture to bank credit, the delays providers publish by country and method, why Brazilian card payments arrive per instalment, how reserves and currency conversion add time, and how to model the cash tied up. It is about timing and cash flow; for matching settlement files to orders, see payment reconciliation across PSPs, and for instalment plans themselves, see instalments in Brazil and LATAM.

What does settlement actually mean?

Settlement is the movement of money from the customer’s side to your bank account, and it happens in stages after the payment is approved.

Stage	What happens	Typical owner
Authorization	The issuer or method approves the payment	Issuer, wallet or bank
Capture	You confirm you are taking the money	You, often automatically
Settled to provider	The provider receives the funds	Acquirer or method operator
Available balance	The funds can be paid out	Your provider
Payout	The provider sends the balance to your bank	Your provider and your bank

Each step has its own clock. Adyen’s documentation says a payment can sit in SentForSettle for up to 10 days after capture, and that a Settled status means Adyen has received the funds, not that they have been paid out. Stripe defines settlement timing as the time it takes for funds to become available, expressed as T+X days, where T is the time the payment was confirmed or captured. It adds that your own bank might take additional time after receiving the funds.

How long do card payments take by country?

From 2 business days to a month, depending on the country and the provider. Stripe publishes its settlement timing per account country; these rows are from its payouts documentation:

Stripe account country	First payout	After that
United States	2 business days	2 business days
United Kingdom	7 calendar days	3 business days
Germany, France and most EU countries	7 calendar days	3 business days
Mexico	7 calendar days	3 business days
Japan	7 calendar days	4 business days
United Arab Emirates	5 business days	5 business days
India	2 business days domestic, 5 international	same
Brazil	30 days for domestic cards, 5 days for international cards	same

Stripe also says a merchant’s first payout is typically scheduled within 7 to 14 days of its first live payment, depending on industry, country and risk level.

Adyen publishes a payout delay rather than a table by country. Under its Sales day payout model, the delay is 2 business days when at least 80% of transactions are in AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, NZD, RON, SEK or USD and acquired in the country or region of that currency, and 3 business days for other accounts. Brands with longer settlement push it out: Adyen gives American Express, with a 7-day settlement delay, as its example. Bank holidays on the sales day, the payout day or in between add further days.

Two details matter for forecasting. Stripe counts some countries in business days and others in calendar days, so the same “3” can mean different lengths of time. And other providers and local acquirers set their own schedules, so treat these figures as reference points and ask each provider for its own.

How do local methods change the timing?

They split confirmation from settlement, and the gap can be longer than for cards.

Method	When you know it is paid	When the money settles (Stripe)
Pix, Brazil	Immediately	Up to 2 business days
Boleto, Brazil	When the customer pays the slip	2 business days in Brazil
OXXO, Mexico	By the next business day	Up to 4 business days; Tuesday to Thursday payments settle the following Monday, Friday to Monday payments the following Wednesday
SEPA Direct Debit	Delayed	6 business days
ACH Debit, US	Delayed	4 business days

Stripe explains the bank debit rows: these methods carry a higher risk of returns or reversals, which factors into the longer settlement period. Cash vouchers add a different delay, because the clock does not start until the customer walks into a store; our guide to OXXO and cash vouchers covers expiry windows. Mobile money and other wallets vary by provider and country; ask for the schedule per method, and see mobile money checkout in Africa for how those methods behave at checkout.

Why are Brazilian card payments paid per instalment?

Because the acquirer pays the merchant as the instalments fall due. Cielo’s merchant terms describe it for merchant instalment credit, where the store offers equal instalments to the cardholder: each instalment is set on the same day every month or every 30 days, according to the card network’s rule, and credited to the merchant within the payment term agreed with Cielo. In issuer instalment credit, where the card issuer finances the purchase, Cielo pays the merchant the full amount as a one-off.

Providers reflect this in their reporting. Adyen’s documentation says each instalment settles separately until all are complete. Stripe makes domestic card payments in Brazil available after 30 days, against 5 days for international cards.

A twelve-instalment sale on merchant instalment credit therefore reaches the merchant over roughly a year. The usual answer is anticipation of receivables: selling future card receipts early for a fee. Stripe describes an invite-only partner programme in Brazil where anticipated credit card sales are expected within one business day instead of 30 days, with pricing set by the partner and a cap on the share of sales that can be anticipated.

How do rolling reserves affect cash flow?

They hold back a slice of every sale on top of the settlement delay. Stripe’s guide to rolling reserves says processors usually withhold 5% to 15% of each transaction. It gives 30 to 90 days as the holding period for low-risk businesses, says six months to a year is more common, and notes that high-risk industries may face 180 days or more. Its example: on a USD 100 sale with a 10% reserve held for 90 days, USD 10 comes back after 90 days if nothing goes wrong.

Because the reserve rolls, the amount held grows until the first releases begin and then stays roughly level at daily sales times the percentage times the holding period. Ask for the percentage, the period and the conditions for review in writing before signing; our article on single-PSP risk covers what happens when a reserve is imposed later.

When do currency conversion and repatriation add time?

When the money is collected in one country and paid out in another. A foreign merchant taking Pix through Stripe, for example, settles in its account currency: USD for a US account, EUR for most EU accounts, GBP for UK and Swiss accounts. If the merchant chooses to absorb Brazil’s IOF tax, Stripe deducts it from settlement. The conversion is part of the provider’s settlement, so ask on which day the rate is fixed and whether a different rate can apply to refunds.

Holidays compound across borders. Adyen’s rule that a bank holiday on the sales day, payout day or in between extends the delay applies per currency, so a payment collected in one country and paid out in another can wait for both calendars. When a provider collects locally and transfers abroad, ask how often it repatriates, in what minimum amounts, and whether funds sit in a local account between transfers.

Worked example: how much cash is in transit?

Example figures, for illustration only.

An online electronics store sells in the EU, Mexico and Brazil. Each delay below is an assumption in calendar days, loosely based on the published schedules above, including weekends.

Market and method	Daily sales (EUR)	Delay (calendar days)	Cash in transit (EUR)
EU cards	20,000	5	100,000
Mexico cards	5,000	5	25,000
Mexico OXXO	1,000	7	7,000
Brazil Pix	3,000	4	12,000
Brazil domestic cards	6,000	30	180,000
Total	35,000		324,000

Brazilian cards are 17% of daily sales but 56% of the cash in transit. If the Brazilian card provider also holds a 10% rolling reserve for 90 days, that adds 6,000 × 10% × 90 = EUR 54,000, bringing the total to EUR 378,000.

Anticipating Brazilian card sales to about 2 calendar days would cut that row from EUR 180,000 to EUR 12,000, freeing EUR 168,000. Whether that is worth it depends on the anticipation fee against what the money costs the business: at a 10% annual cost of capital, EUR 168,000 is worth about EUR 16,800 a year.

How do you model settlement in your cash forecast?

Build it per provider, method and currency, not per country.

1. List each route’s terms. Settlement timing, business or calendar days, payout schedule, minimum payout and reserve.
2. Add the calendars. Weekends and bank holidays in both the collection and payout countries.
3. Separate confirmation from settlement. Vouchers and bank debits confirm late; Pix confirms early but still settles later.
4. Model instalments as a schedule. A Brazilian merchant instalment sale is several receipts, not one.
5. Compute cash in transit. Daily net sales times delay in days, plus reserve balance, per route.
6. Check against actuals monthly. Compare the contractual delay with the dates in each settlement report.

What are the common mistakes?

• Forecasting on approval date. Revenue is booked on approval; cash arrives on the payout date, which can be a month later.
• Mixing business and calendar days. Three business days over a weekend or holiday is five or more calendar days.
• Planning launch cash on steady-state terms. First payouts and initial settlement timing are longer.
• Treating instant methods as instant cash. Pix confirms at once but can still settle T+2.
• Ignoring reserves in the forecast. A 10% reserve held for months is permanent working capital while it rolls.
• Comparing providers on fees alone. A cheaper route with a longer delay or a reserve can cost more in cash.

How does Omno help with settlement and cash flow?

Omno does not hold or settle funds: each provider settles to you under its own contract, so settlement timing, reserves and anticipation are terms you agree with each PSP. Omno can route each country, method, currency and customer group to the provider whose terms suit it, and webhooks give the final status of every payment and payout. The dashboard compares providers by method and country, and data export gives finance transaction data to match against each provider’s settlement reports. See reporting and analytics.