Before you start building the integration, you need to understand the account structure of Adyen Capital, as well as the general account structure of Adyen for Platforms.
The following diagram shows an example of an account structure that supports Capital.
Adyen for Platforms structure
Capital is currently available only for merchant accounts with an Adyen for Platforms integration. With Adyen for Platforms, your merchant accounts are connected to your balance platform. The balance platform is an accounting system that manages the flow of funds within your business.
In your balance platform, you can:
- Onboard users of your platform and request capabilities for them.
- View grant offers available for your users.
- Pay out grants to your users.
- Manage all existing grants in your balance platform.
To enable your users to use Capital, you must create the following resources for them:
- Account holder: specifies what your user can do in your platform, for example, receive fund transfers to their balance account and payouts to their verified transfer instrument (bank account). An account holder must be linked to your user's balance account and main legal entity.
- Balance account: holds the funds of your user. All financial activities in your platform, such as paying out to a bank account, happen through balance accounts.
Capital structure
Capital allows you to provide business financing in units called grants. Grants are conceptually similar to the funds paid out to the user and the conditions they need to meet to repay the funds.
When you start using Capital, we create the following resources in your balance platform:
- Grant account: allows you to track the total amount of outstanding receivables that Adyen has in relation to grants in your balance platform.
- Grant reference: tracks the balances related to specific grants. These references are created when a grant is paid out.
Grant account
For your balance platform, we create a new type of account — grant account. This account doesn't hold any funds, it allows you to track the total amount of outstanding receivables that Adyen has has in relation to grants in your balance platform. You can view the total of all outstanding grants on your balance platform on your grant account.
We assign one currency per grant account. If you need to offer grants in multiple currencies, you will need multiple grant accounts — one for each currency.
For example, if Adyen pays out five grants worth EUR 10,000 with a fee of EUR 1,000 each to your users, then this account will have a total of EUR 55,000.
The grant account has an ID starting with CG, for example, CG00000000000000000000001, where CG stands for Capital Grant Account.
Grant reference
For your users, we create a grant reference that has a one-to-one relationship with the grant. This means that every time a new grant is paid out, a new grant reference is created.
The grant reference tracks the total balance, the principal balance, and the fee balance to keep a record of the outstanding grant. The grant reference has an Active status until the grant is fully repaid. Once the grant is fully repaid, the grant reference is closed—status Repaid.
For example, if Adyen pays out a grant worth EUR 10,000 with a fee of EUR 1,000 to your user, then this reference will have a total of -EUR 11,000. The negative balance decreases as the user repays the grant until the balance is EUR 0.
The grant reference has an ID starting with GR, for example, GR00000000000000000000001.
Legal entity management
As required by payment industry regulations, Adyen must verify the users of your balance platform before you can process payments and offer business financing to them.
To verify your users, you must create legal entities and associated resources. When you create these resources, you provide Adyen with the information we require to verify your users.
To enable your users to receive business financing through Capital, you must create the following resources for them:
- Legal entity: contains information about your user, for example, the legal name, address, and tax information of the organization. Adyen uses this information to perform verification checks as required by payment industry regulations.
- Transfer instrument: your user's verified bank account where they can receive grant payouts.
- Supporting document: a document that allows us to verify the information provided about your user's legal entity or transfer instrument.