Answer first
Bank receipt reconciliation proves whether a PSP-reported settlement reached the intended bank account for the correct amount and within the expected availability window.
A matched amount can still represent an unhealthy settlement when it arrives late.
Verify source completeness before declaring a missing bank entry.
Measure overdue value and duration without presenting exposure as liquidity cost or credit risk.
What is bank receipt reconciliation?
Bank receipt reconciliation compares the amount and expected arrival window of a PSP settlement with the actual credit recorded by the destination bank. It is the second stage of payment reconciliation: the PSP can report a correct settlement while the corresponding cash is still missing, short, or late at the bank.
This distinction prevents a common control error—comparing internal gross transaction value directly with a bank credit and treating every valid fee deduction as an exception.
A settlement may match to the cent and still miss its contractual availability window by hours or days.
Verify amount and time independently
The result should carry an amount status and a timing status. Expected amount is compared with the bank credit after known bank fees and contractual adjustments. Expected time is compared with the time the funds became available—not merely the file creation time or provider-reported initiation time.
| Dimension | Expected | Actual | Possible result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount | PSP expected net: SGD 9,815,000 | Bank credit: SGD 9,815,000 | Matched |
| Time | T+0 by 18:00 SGT | T+1 at 12:00 SGT | Delayed 18 hours |
| Exposure | No overdue value | SGD 9,815,000 overdue for 18 hours | Timing exposure |
Model real bank relationships
Bank matching is rarely one record against one record. Providers may combine multiple settlements into one bank credit, split a settlement across accounts, net bank fees, or use references that differ from the PSP batch ID. A useful model supports one-to-one, many-to-one, one-to-many, and controlled manual relationships.
Every relationship should retain the matched amount and the reason it was accepted. An override must never destroy the original candidates or the prior automated result.
Check source health before raising an exception
A missing bank file is not evidence of a missing settlement. Before creating a financial exception, confirm that the bank source is healthy, complete through the relevant cutoff, and parsed without blocking errors.
- Track source states such as healthy, delayed, partial, failed, and disconnected.
- Record the completeness watermark for every source used in a reconciliation run.
- Mark a run partial when the bank source is incomplete; do not report the entire expected amount as missing cash.
Define settlement delay and exposure carefully
Settlement delay is the elapsed time between the contractual expected availability time and actual availability. Settlement exposure is the value still outstanding after that window, measured together with duration and currency.
Exposure is an operational control measure. It does not by itself state a funding cost, available liquidity, probability of default, counterparty credit score, or legal loss. Those conclusions require separate treasury, risk, and accounting analysis.
This means SGD 4.2M remained overdue for 18 hours against the expected settlement window. It does not mean SGD 4.2M was lost.
What a defensible close contains
A closed reconciliation should show expected settlement, actual PSP settlement, bank received, resolved differences, open differences, timing exceptions, source completeness, and the person who signed off. Low-risk cases may remain open only under an explicit policy and must stay visible in the report.
- No open critical cases unless an approved exception policy permits it.
- All amount and timing differences classified or escalated.
- Evidence, calculation, rule version, and human decision preserved.
- Report snapshot immutable and attributable after sign-off.