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Glossary

Payments, in plain English

The vocabulary that comes up in every integration and every commercial conversation, defined without the marketing gloss.

AcquirerThe licensed institution that holds the merchant relationship with the card schemes and receives the funds from them. Flowa Pay is not the acquirer; it connects you to acquiring partners and routes traffic between them.
AuthorizationThe issuer's approval to reserve funds on a card. It is not the same as capture, and an authorized payment is not yet money you have received.
CaptureTaking the authorized amount. Can happen immediately or later, which matters when you ship or fulfil after the order.
SettlementThe movement of funds to your account, net of fees, refunds, chargebacks and any reserve, on the cycle agreed for your account and route.
ReconciliationMatching each transaction to the settlement line that paid it, so gross, deductions and net are all explainable.
InterchangeThe fee paid to the card issuer on a card transaction. Set by the schemes, it varies by card product, region and merchant category, and is passed through in pricing.
3-D Secure (3DS2)The protocol that lets an issuer authenticate a cardholder. Most authentications complete frictionlessly; some present a challenge.
Strong customer authenticationA regulatory requirement, in markets that impose it, to authenticate the customer. Exemptions exist and are used where they genuinely apply.
TokenizationReplacing a card number with a token that is useless outside the payment environment, so your systems store a reference rather than card data.
Network tokenA scheme-issued token that survives card reissue and expiry, which removes a common cause of failed recurring payments where it is available.
OrchestrationRunning several providers behind one integration, with rules deciding which route each transaction takes and automatic failover when one degrades.
CascadingRe-presenting a failed authorization to an alternative route in real time, within scheme and partner rules.
Soft vs hard declineA soft decline may succeed later, such as insufficient funds. A hard decline will not, such as a closed account, and retrying it is pointless and counterproductive.
Account-to-account (A2A)A payment made directly between bank accounts with no card network involved, and therefore no card chargeback right.
Open bankingRegulated interfaces that let a payment be initiated from the customer's bank with the customer authenticating inside their own banking app.
ChargebackA card payment reversed through the scheme dispute process. Ratios are monitored by schemes and acquirers, so trend matters as much as volume.
Rolling reserveA portion of settlement held for a period to cover future refunds and chargebacks, where underwriting determines one applies.
MIDA merchant identifier at an acquirer. Businesses often run several across brands, entities or routes, and routing can select between them.
Transaction, processing and settlement currencyWhat the customer pays in, what the route authorises in, and what reaches your account. They are often different on cross-border payments, and each conversion is its own line.
Idempotency keyA client-supplied key that makes a retried request safe: the same key returns the original result instead of creating a second payment.
Writing

From the blog

What payment orchestration actually means

Orchestration is not a buzzword for having several providers. It is the routing layer that decides, per transaction, which one should see it.

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Designing compliance-first payments infrastructure

Treating compliance as architecture rather than paperwork changes how onboarding, screening, monitoring and evidence are built.

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Real-time rails and what they change

Instant settlement is not simply faster. It changes reconciliation, treasury, refunds, risk and what you can build on top.

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FAQ

Common questions

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