Frequently asked questions

AccessPay is the world’s leading integration platform that connects corporate businesses to any bank, payment scheme or system, whilst working in tandem with any existing back office system.

As a rule of thumb for UK payments, the time it takes to set up payments ranges from 24 hours to 8 weeks. For international payments, the time it takes to complete the set-up process depends on whether you’re connecting to banks via H2H (5 – 7 weeks) or SWIFT (3 – 6 months). Again, cash management depends on your choice of connection but can be achieved in 6 – 8 weeks.

There is no limit, technical or logical, on the number or value of transactions you can run through the AccessPay system. But there are value limits attached to specific payment schemes like Bacs and FPS.

There are no direct costs attached to processing payments with the AccessPay system. We charge a fixed yearly fee, even if the number of transactions you process through our system increases, on a one year rolling contract with no direct transaction fees. We offer free platform upgrades too.

Your bank or building society may charge their own costs for processing domestic or international payments. This often depends on how you connect to their portal e.g. via H2H or SWIFT.

We have been registered with the FCA since 2012. We are now also authorised by the FCA to serve as third party Account Information (AISP) and Payment Initiation (PISP) Service Providers, allowing us to offer open banking-related services. AccessPay also holds a small business user license, as well as ISO27001, ISO22301, Bacs, FPS and SWIFT certifications.

As an alternative to sFTP upload, we also offer API access upon request; allowing for easy legacy system integration. This will provide you with the ability to carry out tasks like creating payment instructions, checking the status of payments and retrieving bank balances, all of which will offer greater cash management capabilities.

We’ll make sure your files always reach your bank in the correct format. Due to our powerful mapping engine, the AccessPay system is yet to encounter a file format we cannot work with. Common file types we accept include CSV, XLS, MT, DAT and XML.

Our platform allows for encrypted, automated file transfers. Our robust suite of security tools also includes two factor authentication for secure logins, segregation of duties and visibility tools, as well as data masking tech which assures data confidentiality and GDPR compliance.

Yes. AccessPay is highly involved with Pay.UK, which is driving the roll out of the NPA. We are already leveraging tech which underpins the NPA such as ISO20022 standards and RESTful APIs. Over the next decade, we will strive to make sure the AccessPay platform is fully aligned with the NPA.

Our team is here to support you 24/7. We guarantee that our service will be available 99.5% of the time, with an actual availability rate of 99.9% and no unplanned outages in the last 2 years. We release planned maintenance and platform upgrades once a month as standard, outside our core hours to ensure minimal disruption.

A SUN (Service User Number), also known as an Originator ID, is a six-digit number granted to a business which allows them to connect to Bacs, Direct Debit and Faster Payment Services.

Yes. As a cloud-based solution built on APIs, AccessPay is ideally placed to integrate our platform with open banking and other PSD2-related tech. We are also authorised, as registered TPPs (Third Party Providers), to act as Account Information (AISP) and Payment Initiation (PISP) Service Providers, allowing us to display your bank account data in one place.

We should also note that our cash management solutions use open banking APIs to collect statement information, giving you greater oversight and control over your cash management data.