Transfer and Cards: how it works and the plan

A shared map for the Cleo team. Built from the code and the team's analysis on 3 Nov 2026. It contains no credentials, no customer data and no internal addresses.

Product	What it is	Status
Transfer	A wallet for merchants: their customers pay in by bank transfer, and merchants pay out to customers. Chile, Mexico and Peru.	live runs today at the current provider (UKAD) and moves to Cleo's own cloud (target 17-18 Nov)
Cards	Card payments through Cleo's API, with Payku handling the card side.	live running, light use so far (a first merchant)

1. Transfer: money in and money out

flowchart TB
  subgraph Merchant
    MS[Merchant site]
  end
  subgraph Cleo_Transfer[Cleo Transfer]
    S[Payment session] --> B[(Merchant balance
a running ledger)]
    PO[Pay-out request] -->|reserve amount + fee| B
    RR{Risk review
when needed}
    CB[Signed callback
to the merchant, with retries]
    MAN[Manual bank file
daily at noon, if no provider]
    ST[Settlement
merchant withdraws its balance]
  end
  subgraph Providers_in[Pay-in providers]
    PI[Chile: Fintoc, Floid, ETpay
Mexico: ETpay, Fintoc
Peru: Floid]
  end
  subgraph Providers_out[Pay-out providers]
    POUT[Chile: Radar, Shinkansen if Radar is off
Mexico: ETpay or Fintoc
Peru: Floid]
  end
  C[Customer] -->|1. pays from own bank| PI
  MS -->|asks for a session| S
  PI -->|2. webhook: paid| S
  S -->|3. balance + amount minus fee| B
  S -->|4. notify| CB --> MS
  MS -->|5. pay someone| PO --> RR --> POUT
  POUT -->|6. paid: debit / failed: release| B
  PO -.-> MAN
  B --> ST

Balance = pay-ins + top-ups − pay-outs − login/KYC charges − settlements. "Reserved" is the pay-outs still in progress.
Three facts that are never mixed up: the provider said "paid", Cleo booked it, and the merchant got the callback.
Refunds are a pay-out linked to the original pay-in.

2. Cards: a card payment from start to end

flowchart TB
  subgraph Merchant
    M[Merchant shop]
    MP[Merchant portal
transactions, refunds, keys, payouts]
  end
  subgraph Cleo_Cards[Cleo Cards]
    API[Cards API
payments + refunds] --> DB[(Cards database)]
    WH[Webhook receiver] --> API
    REC[Reconciliation every 15 min
asks about pending payments]
    RP[Refund follow-up every 5 min]
    NOTIF[Notice to the merchant
signed, with retries]
    OPS[Cleo ops portal
merchants, fees, payouts]
  end
  subgraph Card_provider[Card provider]
    PSP[Payku
card side, Cleo never sees card data]
  end
  M -->|1. creates payment| API
  API -->|2. creates purchase| PSP
  K[Customer] -->|3. pays with card| PSP
  PSP -->|4. result| WH
  REC --> PSP
  RP --> PSP
  API -->|5. final status, once| NOTIF --> M
  M -->|6. refund, full amount| API
  DB --> MP
  DB --> OPS
  OPS -.->|7. payout to the merchant
open part| M

live Cards API, reconciliation, refunds built, not deployed merchant portal, ops portal open payouts to merchants, chargebacks, partial refunds

3. The plan

flowchart TB
  A[0. Access
read access to the Transfer data, provider ownership table] --> E[1. Evidence
balances vs ledger per merchant, stuck items]
  E --> P[2. Our copy of the Transfer code
brought up to date, built, tested]
  P --> T[3. Target cloud ready
database size, network]
  T --> R[4. Rehearsals
full copy, staging test, timed cutover]
  R --> X[5. Cutover
17 or 18 Nov, early morning Chile time
one system at a time, short stop]
  X --> F[6. After
daily reconciliation, old system kept read-only 30 days]
  C0[Cards: decide what Cards should be] --> C1[Close the gaps
merchant notice queue, amount check, refund alarm, webhook signature]
  C1 --> C2[Merchant portal to staging, then live]
  C2 --> C3[Payouts and chargebacks
rules and fees with finance]
  C3 --> C4[Next merchants
after the gaps are closed]

4. Who does what

Role	What
Builder	Writes the change, tests first.
Independent verifier	Checks every change. Never verifies their own work.
Data and reconciliation	Balances per merchant, stuck items, a daily check.
Database move	Copies, comparisons, the cutover script and rollback.
Watch	Watches logs and stuck payments, raises alarms.
Support (Cleo)	The single point of contact for the team, merchants and providers.

5. What we want to align with you

Your Jira for Transfer and Cards: which issues are in progress with Develrox, so the plan follows them.
Transfer: the cutover window (17 or 18 Nov) and what Develrox still has open before 20 Nov.
Cards: partial refunds, the payout model for merchants, chargebacks, more card providers and a white-label checkout. Which of these matter first?
Which merchants come next on Cards, and when.