Benefit from a unified account backed by a payment API

European companies use Unified Account to automate reconciliation of all their credit card, bank transfer and SEPA direct debit payments, from all currencies and sales channels.

capture d'écran du BackOffice utilisateur CentralPay : informations générale du compte marchand

Unit payments

All payments unified in a single API

Discover the payment methods available from your CentralPay unified account

Credit card payment

Accept payments from any credit card, simplify your customers’ payment experience, and manage multiple currencies.

Bank transfer payment

Receive your customers’ SEPA transfers in your unified account, instantly identify the issuing customers via virtual IBANs, and automatically match them to your receivables.

Direct debit payment

Send SEPA direct debit requests to your customers, create online SEPA mandates in less than a minute, and automatically debit their bank accounts.

Payment initiation service

Take control of the initiation of customer bank transfers, integrate the payment process into your sales tunnel, and automate transaction reconciliation.

Recurring payments

Automated or managed recurring payments
by API

Discover the recurring payment management possibilities of CentralPay’s unified account

Subscription payment

Register credit cards and SEPA mandates, set up payment plans, and debit your customers’ payment methods in total security.

Installment payment

Divide a payment into several installments, debit your customers’ credit card or bank account, and automatically repeat several attempts if it fails.

Subscription payment

Installment payment

Register credit cards and SEPA mandates, set up payment plans, and debit your customers’ payment methods in total security.

Divide a payment into several installments, debit your customers’ credit card or bank account, and automatically repeat several attempts if it fails.

POS payments

Omnichannel customer identification, thanks to POS payment

Link your electronic payment terminals (EPT) to your CentralPay account so that every POS payment is automatically associated with an omnichannel customer profile. Frequent customers are identified by their credit card, whether they pay via the website, remotely or in-store.

schéma des 4 canaux de paiement possibles : lien, en magasin, email/sms et site web
schéma qui explique le fonctionnement des relances de paiement et de la relation client automatisée

Notifications

Payment reminders and automated customer relationship

Notify your customers and alert your staff automatically when an event occurs on your CentralPay account. You control the content of each notification from customized templates, and define how it’s sent: by email, SMS or Json format. You can automate your collections’ monitoring, customer payment reminders and database updates.

Security

Enhanced security and controlled financial risks

Secure payment card data processing without having to comply with complex PCI DSS standards (tokenization), and limit your financial risk by systematically employing strong authentication of your cardholder customers (3DS 2.0).

écran de téléphone qui annonce que l'authentification 3D Secure 2.0 a été validée

Frequently asked questions

Learn all about our Unified Account

By opening an account with CentralPay, each entity (individual or legal entity) is automatically assigned :

  • A CentralPay account corresponding to :
    • Contractualization: pricing, terms and conditions…
    • Administration: user profiles, rights and roles, interfaces…
    • Configuration: notification scenarios, points of sale, acceptance rules, etc.
    • Compliance: KYC / KYB, accreditations...
  • A payment account that technically enables funds collection in currencies, from any payment methods and through any channel. It is linked to the holder's bank account, to which payouts are sent.

Two types of operations are used within the CentralPay payment account:

  • Pay-in, the CentralPay payment account accepts funds from your customers via all sales channels (online, POS, email or SMS) and payment methods (credit card, SCT transfer, SDD direct debit and payment initiation).
  • Pay-out, the CentralPay payment account allows you to automate funds transfers to your personal bank account.

The balance of the CentralPay payment account cannot be negative. To make a repayment, you must have sufficient funds in your account. In some cases, it may be mandatory to keep a portion of your funds in reserve in your account, which guarantees the availability of funds in the event of a refund or dispute.

No. These two accounts differ in several respects:

  • Regulations: The Banque de France distinguishes between bank accounts, opened by a credit institution, and payment accounts, opened by a payment institution.
  • Their purpose and use: A bank account offers banking services such as loans, savings products or asset management services, unlike a payment account, which offers various online payment and cash management services (inpayments, outpayments, automation, etc.).
  • Fees and associated costs: Banks charge fixed fees (account maintenance, overdraft, etc.), while the fees associated with a payment account correspond to a percentage of the payment amount and differ according to each PSP.


Find out more about CentralPay pricing >

Partly. In addition to a CentralPay account and a payment account, platforms operating third party payments also have :

  • A unified escrow account for storing funds and initiating transfers to third-party wallets.
  • Third-party wallets, dedicated to platform users (payment wallets, e-money wallets and anonymous e-money wallets).

Each CentralPay payment account, backed by an online payment API, is associated with a unique French IBAN, enabling you to receive SEPA credit transfers and direct debits on your account, in addition to traditional card payments.

What's more, CentralPay's membership of the SEPA network means you benefit from repeated updates several times a day. You'll see your customers' transfers and direct debits arrive in just a few hours.