#Payments101
The latest news and insights on how payments work for UK software platforms and the businesses they serve, covering settlement, chargebacks, onboarding, compliance and the operational detail in between.
Editors’ pick
- 01
How money moves from a card payment to your bank account
Payments explained · 7 min read
- 02
Acquirer, gateway, payment facilitator: who does what in a card payment
Product · 6 min read
- 03
What embedding payments actually asks of a software platform
Partners · 7 min read
Payments explained · 12 min read
Embedded payments in 2026: what the evidence actually says
Embedded payments have stopped being an add-on. Here is the UK and EU evidence for what that means for software businesses and for merchants, including the obligations most write-ups leave out.
Read articleMore reading
Sectors · 8 min read
How payments work in a school finance office
Thousands of small payments, term-time peaks and public accountability for every penny. Almost no payments advice is written for schools. This is.
Compliance · 7 min read
Safeguarding: what happens to merchant money if a payment firm fails
New FCA safeguarding rules came into force on 7 May 2026. Here is what safeguarding is, what went wrong before, and what it means for merchant money.
Compliance · 6 min read
Where UK payment fraud actually happens, and what it means for merchants
UK payment fraud reached £1.28bn in 2025. The shape of that number matters more than the size, and most of it never touches a merchant.
Product · 6 min read
What a business needs to provide before it can take card payments
Onboarding asks for company details, ownership information and bank verification. Here is the full list, why each item is needed, and what slows it down.