The platform
Every rail that moves business money — routed, settled and reconciled daily. Phase 1 in build.
The rails
Named rails, not abstractions. Each one is there because a business needed it.
Pay-out
PayShap
Real-time push to any PayShap-enabled account.
Settlement is immediate, around the clock. Value ceiling: R5,000,000 per transaction — the right instrument for supplier disbursements, contractor payments, and time-sensitive transfers.
RTGS — Real-Time Gross Settlement
Real-time gross settlement for high-value transfers.
Above R5,000,000, settled in real time on a gross basis. The instrument for high-value inter-company and settlement flows.
EFT — Electronic Funds Transfer
T+1 batch settlement at the lowest per-transaction cost.
Where timing is flexible and volume is high, EFT delivers. Processed in overnight batch cycles, with T+1 credit to the beneficiary. Structured for payroll runs, recurring supplier payments, and large-volume disbursement programmes.
TCIB — Transactions Cleared on an Immediate Basis
ZAR-denominated cross-border transfers into six SADC corridors.
A single rail reaching Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Botswana in ZAR — without foreign exchange conversion at the border. Orchura captures Travel Rule data on every TCIB transfer as required.
SWIFT outbound
International wire settlement in USD, EUR, and GBP.
For transfers beyond the SADC footprint, SWIFT carries the instruction to the correspondent network. Orchura originates SWIFT outbound in three currencies, with Travel Rule data captured on every transfer.
Pay-in
PayShap Request-to-Pay
Initiated collection via PayShap's request-to-pay scheme.
Orchura issues the collection request; the payer authorises in their own banking environment. Funds settle in real time on confirmation — a cleaner collection path than push-to-pay for receivables workflows.
SWIFT inbound
Receiving USD, EUR, and GBP from the correspondent network.
Inbound international wires arrive against per-customer virtual accounts in each currency. Orchura reconciles receipts against expected payment instructions automatically.
7 rails at exit — Phase 1 target.
Routing
Every payment instruction is assessed against four variables — amount, currency, destination, and priority — before a rail is selected. Where multiple rails qualify, the lowest-cost or fastest option is chosen in accordance with the instruction's priority setting. Each rail is monitored continuously, with per-rail circuit breakers that detect degraded performance and route around it automatically. If a rail becomes unavailable, the instruction moves to the next eligible rail without operator intervention. The routing logic is part of the platform's core operations, not a configuration exercise for each customer.
Ten currencies
Multi-currency transfers priced and executed with precision — 6 SADC corridors via TCIB, the rest of the world via SWIFT.
10 currencies
6 SADC corridors via TCIB, plus SWIFT
FX & treasury
Quote, lock, execute — positions netted and hedged at bank treasury level daily.
Quote → lock → execute
When an instruction requires a currency conversion, Orchura quotes a live rate with the customer's configured margin applied. The quote is locked for a 30-second window. During that window, the rate is committed — the customer's treasury desk can confirm against a known number, not an estimate that drifts while the instruction is in flight. Margin is configured per customer at the account level, and the quoted rate is presented before confirmation — the desk commits against the number it sees.
Position management
Per-currency positions are tracked continuously. At the close of each business day, open positions across all customer instructions are netted and hedged at bank treasury level. Orchura does not carry FX exposure overnight on behalf of its customers; the hedging cycle runs daily.
Quote latency p95 under 100ms — Phase 1 target. No live performance data is published until Phase 1 operations are established.
For the trade desk
- When does the rate lock?
- At instruction confirmation, for 30 seconds.
- What rate do I see?
- Mid-market plus the customer-configured margin, quoted before commitment.
- When does the position close?
- The hedging cycle runs daily; open positions are not carried overnight.
- Where does the money sit?
- At a licensed sponsor bank, in per-customer virtual accounts denominated in the instruction currency. Orchura instructs and reconciles; it does not take custody.
- What happens if the quote window lapses?
- A fresh quote is issued. The lapsed quote is discarded; no instruction settles against a stale rate.
The lifecycle
Every transfer follows the same five stages, whatever the rail. State is visible at each one.
- Instructed Amount, currency, destination and purpose captured up front — and validated against the account's authorisation rules.
- Screened & quoted Active stage Sanctions and PEP screening on every instruction; FX quoted and locked when currencies differ.
- Routed Rail selected by size, urgency, destination and rail health.
- Settled Funds move inside the rail's defined window.
- Reconciled The movement lands in the single daily feed.
Instructed
The payment instruction is received and validated. Amount, currency, beneficiary details, and settlement priority are confirmed against the account's authorisation rules.
Screened & quoted
Sanctions and PEP screening runs against every instruction before any funds are committed. Where a conversion is involved, the FX rate is quoted and locked — the quote holds for 30 seconds.
Routed
Rail selection runs against amount, currency, destination, and priority. Rail health is assessed at the moment of selection; if the preferred rail is degraded, the next eligible rail receives the instruction.
Settled
Settlement proceeds on the rail's own window. Real-time rails settle within seconds; EFT batch settles the following business day; TCIB and SWIFT settle per their correspondent windows.
Reconciled
Each morning, a three-way reconciliation matches the ledger against the bank statement, and optionally the customer's own records. Nothing unmatched ages silently.
Worked example — USD balance, ZAR beneficiary, real-time priority.
IllustrativeA platform holds a USD balance and instructs a ZAR payout to a domestic beneficiary. At stage 2, the USD/ZAR rate is quoted and locked for a 30-second confirmation window. On confirmation, the instruction advances to stage 3: because the ZAR instruction falls below R5,000,000 and carries real-time priority, PayShap is selected. Settlement completes within seconds. The instruction appears in the morning reconciliation statement matched against the bank's confirmation record.
This example is illustrative. Settlement timing on live instructions reflects each rail's published windows.
Settlement, charted
How settlement timing distributes across rails in a typical operating day.
Settlement timing by rail type
IllustrativeStructure & compliance
POPIA-aligned data handling, scoped per integration. Specifics are part of every scoping conversation.
Where the money sits
Customer funds are held at a licensed sponsor bank under one virtual account per customer, per currency. Orchura instructs the bank to move those funds; it does not hold them and does not carry them on its own balance sheet. Orchura maintains the double-entry ledger as the authoritative record of obligations — what is owed to whom, and in which currency — and reconciles that ledger against the bank's records each day.
The morning ritual
Three parties, one reconciliation. Each morning, Orchura's ledger is matched against the bank statement, and optionally against the customer's own ledger. The target: 100% matched — or in active investigation — by 08:00 SAST, T+1. Nothing is declared closed until every line balances. Daily settlement statements are delivered in CSV, PDF and JSON. The format is the customer's choice; the cadence is non-negotiable.
The machinery of compliance
Every customer undergoes corporate KYB before production access is granted. Every transfer is screened against sanctions lists and PEP databases. Cross-border transfers on SWIFT and TCIB carry Travel Rule data. The audit trail is retained for seven years. Data handling operates under POPIA-compliant controls. A SOC 2 Type II observation window is scheduled for Phase 1 exit. Operations run across two regions with automatic failover. Per-rail availability target: 99.95%. System status is published at status.orchura.com.