Introducing Payment Limit Management

We're introducing a Payment Limit Management system on the Merchant Portal and API, giving you direct control over the transaction and daily limits applied to your outgoing fiat payments and the outgoing fiat payment of your clients..

This update helps you strengthen fraud prevention and manage liquidity more effectively, all from a single, easy-to-use screen in your Merchant Portal and via dedicated API.

The big benefit: you decide how much can move, and how often, at both a merchant level and an individual client level. Limits you set take effect immediately, so you're always in control of your outgoing payment activity.

Take note that the Payment Limit Management system currently applies to fiat pay-outs only. All incoming transactions are accepted by BVNK regardless of the amount.

How it works

A three-tier limit structure

Every outgoing fiat payment is checked against limits set at, up to three levels. Wherever limits overlap, the most restrictive limit always applies:

For example, if BVNK's global limit for a payment method is €750,000 per transaction but you've set your own merchant daily limit to €20,000, your merchant limit will kick in first — even though the transaction is well within the global limit. 

Two limit types

For each payment method and currency, you can configure one of the following limits. it is not possible to apply both at the same time:

• Transaction limit – the maximum amount permitted for a single payment.

or

• Daily limit – the maximum cumulative amount permitted within a calendar day.

Note: Limits are inclusive, therefore, a payment exactly equal to your configured limit is approved and only amounts exceeding the limit are rejected.

How daily limits are calculated

• By default, your daily limit resets at 00:00 and runs until 23:59 UTC. You can choose a different timezone if this suits your business better (for example, US Central Time).
• Your daily limit is reduced as soon as a payment is processed, irrespective of whether it later succeeds or fails, to prevent multiple simultaneous payments from breaching your limit.
• If a payment is created on a certain day but stays pending in an approval state for several days, it still counts against the limit for the day it was originally created.
• When you set up a daily limit for the first time, tracking starts from the moment you create it. BVNK does not retroactively apply it to that day's earlier transactions. However if you update an existing limit, it takes effect immediately and takes that day's already-processed transactions into account.
• Transaction limits, by contrast, always take effect immediately, whether newly created or updated.

How to set up your payment limits

1. Log in to your BVNK Merchant Portal.
2. Go to Manage account > Manage payment limits.
3. Select ‘+Add limit’ and complete the fields to select a currency, payment method, limit type and value.
4. Once completed, click ‘Submit’ and it will now show under the list of current limits. 

How to edit existing payment limits

1. Log in to your BVNK Merchant Portal.
2. Go to Manage account > Manage payment limits.
3. Click on the kebab menu (three vertical dots) on the right side of the limit you want to update.
4. Click on ‘Edit limit’, update the value and click ‘Change limit’ once completed.
5. Follow the same steps to delete an existing limit.

Your new or updated limit will take effect immediately. You can also modify a limit, or switch between transaction and daily limit types at any time.

Example case

Here's how the three-tier structure plays out in practice:

• Global limit (set by BVNK): €750,000 per transaction, EUR SCTInst payments via Centrolink.
• Merchant limit (set by you): €20,000 daily limit, EUR SCTInst.
• Client limit (set by you): €25,000 per transaction, EUR SCTInst.

If a client sends a €13,000 payment, it's approved as it's within all three limits, and merchant daily usage is now €13,000 of €20,000.

If that same client then attempts a €15,000 payment the same day, it's rejected even though it's under both the global (€750,000) and client (€25,000) transaction limits. It would push merchant daily usage to €28,000, thus breaching the €20,000 merchant daily limit.

Important details

The limit hierarchy is strict: Limits configured by BVNK at the global level cannot be overridden by merchants or clients, and client or merchant limits can never exceed the global limit. Client-specific exceptions above your merchant or the global limit aren't currently supported.

Limits set by BVNK Ops can't be edited by merchants: If BVNK has configured a limit on your account directly, it will take precedence and can't be overwritten from the Merchant Portal.

What isn't counted toward your limits:

• Returns and recalls: A returned or recalled payment is treated as a new, separate transaction. It does not restore your daily limit.
• Next-day rejections: If a payment is rejected on the same day it was executed (for example, due to insufficient funds or a banking partner rejection), your daily limit is released. If the rejection happens on a later day, it does not restore the limit for that original day.

Please refer to the below video demo’s for a walkthrough of how limits can be applied:

Configuration

Payment Submission

Mass payouts

Need help?

For questions about setting up your payment limits reach out to your Account Manager or email support@bvnk.com.