Since 7 May 2026, every FCA payment and e-money firm must reconcile safeguarded funds every business day — internal and external. I run that reconciliation for you and hand you an audit-ready pack. No new hire. No connection to your bank.
Illustrative — not live data.
Internal & external reconciliation of safeguarded funds
Every business day — what you must safeguard vs what you actually hold, and your records vs your bank statements. A shortfall is topped up with your own funds the same day.
Regulatory reporting to the FCA
Assembled from your banking, ledger and settlement data.
Independent safeguarding audit
Required above a £100,000 relevant-funds threshold, with the first report due within months of your first period end.
Framework: FCA Policy Statement PS25/12 · CASS 15, in force 7 May 2026.
The gap isn't knowing what the FCA requires. It's running it correctly, every single business day, with proof you did. A finance team of three now carries an obligation set built for a bank — while consultants leave a document and vendors sell a six-month platform. Neither runs your reconciliation tomorrow morning. That's the space I work in.
What you should be safeguarding — relevant funds owed to your customers — against what you actually hold. Your daily client-money reconciliation, done right: commission stripped first, funds routed within the day-one window, nothing stranded on a non-bank rail.
Your internal records against your bank statements — currency by currency, at actual balances. The moment the two disagree, you know — before the auditor does, and with the record that you checked.
Every reconciliation, every exception, every resolution — timestamped. The thing your auditor actually asks for, ready before they ask.
You send an export; I run the check. No open-banking access, no credentials — so your vendor review stays light.
Safeguarding runs on ledger and settlement figures, not KYC files. GDPR-safe by design.
Most firms start with the daily safeguarding reconciliation. The same engine — and the same expert eye — extends across the rest of your finance-and-compliance operation, added only when you need it.
Internal — your client-money reconciliation — and external, every business day, with the audit-ready evidence pack.
The monthly safeguarding return, assembled from data that is already reconciled.
Provider statements against your records — recovering fees and timing differences that usually pay for the work.
What you owe merchants and what you hold in reserve, kept straight and evidenced.
Once the numbers underneath are trustworthy — a forward view of liquidity you can take to the board.
Get the framework and evidence in order before the auditor arrives.
See the readiness pack →Three steps. No connection to your systems.
Your accountant or treasurer sends the data — from QuickBooks, Xero, Odoo, or a bank statement. By hand, or via a standing export set up once.
The relevant-funds logic — fee separation, the day-one window, non-bank exposure — is applied to every line, internal and external.
Each payment cleared or flagged, with the timestamped evidence pack. Every business day, you know you're clear.
Step one
One week
Step two
Two to four weeks
Step three
Keep it running
Your treasurer runs the daily check; I keep the logic correct and current.
Email the export; a dedicated operator runs it and you see, every day, that you're clear. No new hire, no load on your team.
Preparing for CASS 15? See the CASS 15 Readiness pack →
Today I run your reconciliation as a service. Next, the same logic becomes self-serve monitoring: daily adequacy at a glance, settlement-window alerts, one-click board-ready reports.
It's in development. Early clients shape it — and move onto it first, once it ships.
Safeguarding position
Surplus
Resources exceed obligations
Internal recon
✓ reconciled
External recon
✓ matched
Settlement timing
All settlements within the day-one window
Illustrative preview — not live data.
0
Client assets safeguarded at an FCA PSP
0
Audits delivered, zero findings
0
Saved through structure optimisation
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Years in finance & compliance
I started at Deloitte, auditing energy and natural-resources groups, then spent a decade as Head of Finance at a FTSE 250 group — multi-entity reporting across jurisdictions, 80+ audits with zero findings.
I moved into fintech as Interim Finance Director at a blockchain investment platform, then Head of Reporting at an FCA-regulated payment service provider — where I protected £50M+ in client assets and built the safeguarding controls from scratch. This is the work, not a slide about it.
A short, no-pitch look at where your safeguarding process stands against the daily obligation — and whether the diagnostic is worth doing. Fifteen minutes.
Or email info@saffintech.com · 020 4577 0212