The honest payment processor for independent UK retail
We charge the minimum viable rate that keeps us sustainable — not the maximum your contract allows. IC++ pricing. No lock-in. Built by a family business, for family businesses.
Independent UK retailers pay between 0.5% and 2.0% per transaction — fees that have barely moved in a decade — while being locked into long contracts and left to figure it all out alone.
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No transparency
Merchants receive opaque blended rates with no breakdown. Interchange, scheme fees, and processor margin are bundled into one number — designed to obscure, not inform.
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Lock-in contracts
12–24 month minimum terms with expensive exit fees. 73% of small UK retailers have never switched provider despite being eligible for a better deal.
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Zero training
Terminals arrive with no onboarding or education. Merchants don't know what interchange is, what their rights are, or that switching is even possible.
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Abandoned post-sale
No account manager who knows their business. No proactive advice. No help when chargebacks spike or a terminal fails on a busy Friday evening.
£18k/yr
Average overpayment vs best available rate for a supermarket processing £500k/month
73%
Of small UK retailers have never switched provider despite being eligible for better rates
0 of 8
Top UK payment providers offer proactive merchant education or training as standard
Our Solution
IC++ pricing — the most transparent model in payments
Every transaction has three cost layers. Most processors bundle them into one number and hide the margin. We show you all three, separately, on every statement.
How £100 is processed
Customer pays
£100.00
Interchange — Visa/MC cap (UK consumer debit)
−£0.20
Scheme fee — Visa/Mastercard network
−£0.15
CorePayment markup
−£0.10
Merchant receives
£99.55
With a typical 1.5% blended rate: That same £100 costs the merchant £1.50 — not £0.45. On £50,000/month that's £6,300 per year returned to your business.
Savings calculator
£50,000/month
1.50%
Your current annual fees—
CorePayment annual fees—
Annual saving with CorePayment—
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AI Fraud Engine — live from Year 1
Built entirely in-house. Real-time ML scoring on every transaction under 10ms. Behavioural analytics, adaptive rules, and chargeback prediction — before disputes are raised.
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Developer-built infrastructure
No outsourced gateway. No third-party processor markup. PCI DSS Level 1 compliant from launch. Lower cost base means lower fees — the savings pass directly to merchants.
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Merchant education, not just onboarding
Before going live, every merchant understands exactly what they're paying and why. How to read a statement. How chargebacks work. What their rights are under FCA regulations.
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Rolling monthly contracts
Cancel anytime — no exit fees, no lock-in. We earn your business every month. Next-day payouts 7 days/week including weekends and UK bank holidays.
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PAX terminal hardware
Android-based PAX A920 Pro devices running a custom CorePayment app. PCI PTS certified. WiFi primary, 4G LTE failover, 50-transaction offline queue. Industry-standard hardware used widely across UK payment providers.
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UK-based support, multiple languages
We answer the phone. Phone and chat support in English and other languages for our UK community merchants. Not an overseas call centre.
Pricing
One model. Three tiers. No hidden fees.
As your business grows, we automatically move you to lower rates. No need to ask. No negotiation. We're on your side.
Standard
0.10% + 5p
All merchants — from day one
Full IC++ pricing breakdown
Itemised monthly statements
Next-day payouts 7 days/week
Rolling monthly contract
UK phone & chat support
No setup fee, no exit fee
Most common
Growth
0.08% + 5p
>£100k/month GMV
Everything in Standard
Dedicated account contact
Quarterly business review
Auto-upgrade when you qualify
Priority support queue
Volume rebate programme
Supermarket
0.05% + 5p
>£500k/month GMV
Everything in Growth
Same-day settlement option
Multi-location management
Custom reporting & API access
Dedicated integration support
SLA-backed uptime guarantee
No setup fee. No monthly fee. No exit fee. We are not building to maximise our margin. We are building to maximise what stays with the merchant.
The Saving
How much could you keep every year?
Most UK independent retailers pay between 0.75% and 2.0% in card processing fees. Drag the slider to see what switching to CorePayment puts back in your business.
£10k£50,000 / month£500k
0.5%1.50%2.0%
You currently pay
—
per year
With CorePayment
—
per year
Annual saving
—
Annual fees paid — visual breakdown
CorePayment rate: IC++ 0.10% + 5p per transaction. Typical UK provider rates range from 0.75% to 2.0% blended. All figures are indicative estimates based on stated rates.
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Transparent IC++ pricing
Every statement shows exactly what Visa/Mastercard charged, and what CorePayment charged. Nothing bundled, nothing hidden.
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Rolling monthly contract
No lock-in. No exit fees. Cancel any time. We earn your business every month — not through a contract that keeps you trapped.
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UK-based support
We answer the phone. Real support from people who understand independent retail — not an overseas call centre.
Technology
A payments stack built the right way, from day one
Every component built in-house by our CTO. PCI DSS Level 1 from launch. No outsourced gateway. No third-party processor markup.
1
PAX Terminal — merchant-facing
Android-based, PCI PTS certified, custom CorePayment app via PAXSTORE SDK
PAX A920 Pro devices running our custom Android application. WiFi primary connection with automatic 4G LTE IoT SIM failover and a 50-transaction offline queue as last resort. TLS 1.3 + certificate pinning + P2PE means card data is encrypted before it leaves the hardware. Tap-to-Pay on iPhone added as a zero-hardware option in Year 2.
FastAPI, EKS, mTLS, tokenisation-first architecture. UK data residency.
REST API gateway running on AWS EKS in London for UK data residency and GDPR compliance. Every card number (PAN) is immediately tokenised before any database write — raw card data never stored. ISO 8583 message processing for EMV chip, contactless NFC, and 3DS2 for card-not-present. BIN lookup via Redis cache (<5ms) to identify card type for IC++ rate application.
FastAPI / PythonAWS EKSISO 8583Tokenisation-firstRedis BIN cache
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3
AI Fraud Engine — 4 modules, live Year 1
Real-time ML scoring sub-10ms. Behavioural analytics. Chargeback prediction.
Module 1 — ML Scoring: XGBoost + neural network ensemble trained on IEEE-CIS fraud dataset. Every transaction scored 0–100 risk in under 10ms, inline with authorisation — zero UX impact on merchants or customers.
Amazon MSK (managed Kafka) handles the full message chain: payment-requests → authorisation-responses → fraud-scores → settlement-events → merchant-notifications. Exactly-once delivery guarantees a payment can never be processed twice even if a service crashes mid-transaction. Aurora PostgreSQL stores all transactions with every IC++ fee component as separate columns — the foundation for transparent merchant statements.
FIPS 140-2 Level 3. EMV ARQC verification. PIN encryption. Keys never leave hardware.
A Hardware Security Module is mandatory for PCI DSS Level 1. AWS CloudHSM is FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified — the same standard Visa and Mastercard use. All cryptographic operations (EMV chip cryptogram verification, PIN block encryption, MAC signing of ISO 8583 messages) happen inside the HSM. Keys never exist in application memory.
Year 1: via sponsor bank (ISO 8583). Year 2+: direct VisaNet Connect + Mastercard MIP.
Year 1 connects via a sponsor bank gateway using ISO 8583 over mTLS — faster to launch and how most new processors start. Year 2+ moves to direct scheme connections once we hold our own Visa/Mastercard scheme membership, giving us full control over routing and better margins. 3DS2 server (EMVCo certified v2.2.0+) ensures SCA compliance on all card-not-present transactions.
ISO 8583ISO 200223DS2 EMVCo v2.2+mTLSSCA compliant
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FastAPI / Python
Backend services
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Aurora PostgreSQL
Transaction ledger
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Redis / ElastiCache
BIN cache & blacklists
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Amazon MSK / Kafka
Event streaming
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AWS EKS
Container orchestration
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AWS CloudHSM
Key management
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Terraform / IaC
Infrastructure as code
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React
Merchant dashboard
Go-to-Market
Built for long-term trust, not short-term growth
We are not building CorePayment to sell it in five years. We are building it to still be here in twenty — as the trusted payment infrastructure for independent UK community retail.
1
Phase 1 · Months 1–12 · Now
Community Launch
Convert our pre-committed network of 100+ businesses to live merchant accounts post-FCA licence. Near-zero customer acquisition cost — every pound goes toward compliance and infrastructure, accelerating our path to sustainability without a sales spend.
2
Phase 2 · Year 2
Referral Growth
Merchant referral programme with credit per successful referral. Referrals from existing community and independent supermarket networks. The first payment company to genuinely earn the trust of UK community retail will not need a sales team — the community does it for them.
3
Phase 3 · Year 3
Vertical Expansion
Independent retailers, ethnic supermarkets, convenience store chains. Trade association partnerships and direct sales team. Enterprise account management and white-label gateway offering.
4
Phase 4 · Years 4–5
Scale — 1,000 Merchants
Multi-location retail groups, franchise networks. Direct scheme membership with Visa and Mastercard. The permanent, trusted payment infrastructure for independent UK community retail — returning millions per year to the merchants who trusted us first.
Community Impact
This is the number we measure ourselves by
Not our valuation. Not our GMV. How much money we have returned to the independent UK merchants who trusted us.
£7.5M
Returned to independent UK retailers per year at 1,000 merchants — money that stays in communities, reduces pressure on margins, and doesn't get passed on to the customer at the till.
£6,300/yr
Saved by a typical merchant processing £50k/month, switching from 1.5% blended to CorePayment
£18,000/yr
Saved by a supermarket processing £500k/month — moving from 0.5% to CorePayment's 0.20%
100+
Pre-committed UK businesses in our community network — built through years of shared experience, not a sales campaign
Regulatory & Compliance
Fully compliant from launch
All regulatory work led by Sedah Akbas (ACCA Qualified, CFO). We apply for FCA authorisation as early as possible — average decision time is 12 months.
In progress
FCA Payment Institution Authorisation
Full PI authorisation enabling CorePayment to issue payment instruments and execute payment transactions in the UK. We are working through the FCA's authorisation process, including regulatory business plan, safeguarding policy, and capital adequacy requirements.
Application in progress · Avg FCA decision: 12 months
Planned
PCI DSS Level 1 Certification
The highest level of PCI DSS certification. Our tokenisation-first architecture minimises audit scope — card numbers are never stored. AWS CloudHSM (FIPS 140-2 Level 3) provides the cryptographic foundation required by Visa and Mastercard.
Gap analysis underway · QSA formal audit planned Year 1
Planned
AML / KYC Programme
HMRC Money Service Business (MSB) registration. Sedah Akbas appointed as MLRO. AML Policy & Procedures Manual. Full merchant KYC onboarding checks and transaction monitoring programme in production before go-live.
HMRC MSB registration · Full KYC onboarding checks live before go-live · Ongoing transaction monitoring
Planned
Visa & Mastercard Scheme Membership
Associate Member via sponsor bank route (Year 1). Applying to Mastercard Start Path and Visa Fintech Fast Track accelerator programmes. Direct Principal membership with own scheme certificates targeted for Year 2–3 alongside FCA licence.
Sponsor bank route (Year 1) · Direct Principal membership targeted Year 2–3 · SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance applied
Funding
Seed Round: £500,000
To achieve FCA Payment Institution authorisation, PCI DSS Level 1 certification, and our first live merchants. SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance — 50% tax relief for SEIS investors, 30% for EIS.
£500,000
Seed round to achieve FCA Payment Institution authorisation, PCI DSS Level 1 certification, and our first live merchants. SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance — 50% tax relief for SEIS investors, 30% for EIS.
Regulatory (FCA, PCI DSS, legal)
~50%
Infrastructure & technology
~24%
Working capital & operations
~16%
Founder salaries (Year 1)
~10%
Working capital & operations
£120,00024%
Founder salaries (12 months)
£80,00016%
Funding Timeline
Pre-Seed (Now)
SEIS angels · British Business Bank Startup Loan (up to £25k per founder)
Seed (Month 6–12)
£500k · VCs, EIS angels, Techstars Barclays Accelerator
Series A (Year 2–3)
£2–5M · Post FCA licence + live merchant traction
Accelerators Targeted
→ Barclays / Techstars Fintech Accelerator
→ Mastercard Start Path
→ Visa Fintech Fast Track
→ FCA Regulatory Sandbox
The Founders
Built by people who lived the problem
CorePayment was not born in a boardroom. It was born behind the counter of a family business.
OA
Onur Akbas
Co-founder & CTO
Full-stack developer with 10+ years of experience across enterprise software, cloud infrastructure, and payments technology. Grew up working in the family business. Building the entire CorePayment technology stack from scratch — payment gateway, AI fraud engine, HSM integration, ISO 8583 scheme connectivity, merchant dashboard, and PAX terminal application. Responsible for all FCA tech requirements and PCI DSS architecture.
ACCA Part-Qualified Finance Professional with a strong background in accounting, financial management, compliance, and business operations. Serves as the appointed MLRO and leads key financial, regulatory, and risk management initiatives while managing seed fundraising and accelerator applications. Demonstrates strong commercial awareness, strategic thinking, and the ability to balance financial oversight with business growth objectives.
Whether you're an independent merchant, a potential investor, or a community network — we'd love to talk. Our first 100 merchants pay nothing to onboard.
