Core Concepts

This section covers the fundamental building blocks of the Verto platform. Whether you are building a payout flow, an embedded finance product, or a currency conversion integration, these concepts underpin every part of the Verto API.

How it fits together

At its simplest, the Verto platform works like this:

Fund a wallet — receive funds into a Verto wallet via local rails, SWIFT, mobile money, or stablecoins
Hold a balance — manage multi-currency balances across one or more wallets
Convert if needed — use FX to convert between currencies, either before or at the point of payout
Pay out — send funds to an external beneficiary via local rails, SWIFT, mobile money, or stablecoins

For currencies you do not want to hold, or cannot hold, Inline FX combines steps 3 and 4 into a single atomic operation.

Sub-accounts add a layer of isolation on top of this — each sub-account operates as an independent financial unit with its own wallets, funding details, and payment flows.

Accounts & sub-accounts

A Verto account can operate standalone as a parent account, or with sub-accounts that sit underneath it. Sub-accounts are isolated financial units — each with their own wallets, collection accounts, and payment flows — and are required for embedded finance use cases where client funds need to be segregated.

Verto offers two sub-account models depending on your regulatory setup and the nature of your underlying clients:

Atlas for Fintech (SUB_CLIENT) — reliance-based onboarding, auto-approved on data submission, more limited currency coverage
Atlas for Platform (PARTNER_REFERRED) — full Verto KYB/KYC per sub-account, director consent required, broader currency coverage, FX markup available

See the Sub-accounts guide for full details, and the Atlas for Fintech and Atlas for Platform guides to get started with each model.

Wallets

Wallets are single-currency balances within your Verto account. Each account can hold multiple wallets across different currencies, and multiple wallets in the same currency. The first wallet created for a given currency becomes the default wallet, used for billing and post-funded FX deals.

Not all currencies can be held in a wallet. Verto distinguishes between holdable currencies (where a wallet balance can be maintained) and non-holdable currencies (where funds must be converted and paid out in a single Inline FX step).

See the Wallets guide for full details including default wallets, nicknames, and currency availability.

Funding wallets

Wallets can be funded via multiple methods depending on your currency and market. A single wallet can hold multiple sets of account details simultaneously — for example local, SWIFT, and pooled account details all active at the same time.

Funding methods include:

Local virtual accounts — unique account details on local payment rails, auto-credited on receipt
SWIFT virtual accounts — unique international account details for SWIFT transfers
Pooled accounts — shared Verto accounts where the SmartWallet ID must be included in the payment reference
Mobile money — Kenya (M-Pesa) and Tanzania (Tigo, Airtel, M-Pesa)
Stablecoins — USDC/T deposits, auto-converted to USD on receipt (not available to all clients)
Wallet-to-wallet — instant transfers from another Verto wallet or account

Inbound funding rules (first vs third party, individual vs corporate senders) are set automatically based on your compliance risk profile and apply to all account types.

See the Funding Wallets guide for full details including how to generate account details and inbound payment webhooks.

Making payouts

Verto supports payouts across a range of rails depending on the destination market and currency. Payouts can be made from a pre-funded wallet (same-currency) or using Inline FX (convert and pay in a single step).

Supported payout types:

Local payouts — domestic payment rails, fastest and most cost-effective
SWIFT payouts — international transfers to most markets worldwide
Mobile money — Kenya (M-Pesa) and Tanzania (Tigo, Airtel, M-Pesa)
Stablecoins — outbound USDC/T to external wallet addresses (coming soon)
Wallet-to-wallet — instant transfers within Verto, real-time between Verto accounts

All external payouts require a beneficiary to be created first. For fintech and FI clients paying on behalf of underlying customers, a sender object is required.

See the Making Payouts guide · Bank codes & market requirements · Sender object guide

FX

Verto's FX capability allows you to convert between currencies using a quote-and-book flow. All FX flows follow the same pattern — get a rate, lock it with a vfxToken, and book the trade — with the key difference being the funding model and whether a payout is included.

Instant FX — pre-funded wallet, rate locked for 30 seconds, executes immediately
Fund Later — rate locked now, fund within 24 hours, executes automatically on receipt
Held Rate — extended rate window of 20–30 minutes for e-commerce checkout use cases (pre-agreed commercial setup required)
Inline FX — convert and pay out in a single step, for currencies you do not hold or cannot hold
Indicative quotes — bulk rate lookups for display and analytics use cases, not bookable

See the FX overview for a full guide to each flow and when to use each one.