Munro Banting Payments Studio
Payments product development for fintech teams in Canada and the US
We help fintech teams decide how money should move through their product, then build the systems that record and reconcile it. Our work covers partner and rail selection, regulatory preparation with your counsel, and the ledger, payout and reconciliation code in your repository.
Munro Banting advises, designs and builds. Client funds are held and moved only by licensed partners. Munro Banting does not hold, transmit or exchange client funds.
- Engagements
- 3 weeks to phased builds
- Based in
- Oakville, Ontario
- Works with
- ACH · EFT · Interac · Cards
Who we work with
Fintech companies from seed to Series B, and established software companies adding payments to their product. Most clients have a product in market or in build, a first partner relationship, and an engineering team that will own the code after we leave.
- Payroll, contractor and gig platforms paying people across borders
- Marketplaces collecting and splitting payments
- B2B payments and accounts-payable software
- Wallets, stored value and remittance products
- Software platforms adding embedded payments
- Staffing and services firms paying overseas workers
- Stablecoin payment infrastructure and on- and off-ramp integrations
Not a fit
Bank-wide transformation programs that need a large team; mandates that require us to take legal ownership of a compliance program; crypto trading, custody or token advice.
The problems we are hired for
- 01
Partner selection
Choosing a processor, partner bank, BaaS provider or ramp provider, and planning for what happens if one of them exits the relationship.
- 02
Licensing position
Working out whether the business must register under the RPAA, with FINTRAC or for US money transmitter licences, or can operate under a licensed partner for now.
- 03
Bank access
Preparing the flow diagrams, safeguarding description and reconciliation evidence a Canadian bank asks for before opening an account. [Source: CBG-A, link]
- 04
Ledger of record
Deciding who holds the ledger of record, and being able to prove every customer balance at the end of each day.
- 05
Payout failures
Payouts that return, fail after conversion or need manual repair by the operations team.
- 06
Payments ownership
No one on the team owns partners, roadmap and compliance readiness until a Head of Payments can be hired.
Four engagements, each with a defined output
Most clients start with the Money Movement Audit. Its final deliverable is a written scope and price for the next step, so you can decide with the facts in front of you.
| Engagement | Duration | Model | Main deliverables | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Money Movement Audit | 3 weeks | Fixed scope, fixed price | Flow-of-funds map (current state) · Partner and rail review · Licensing position summary for your counsel · Ranked risk register · Scope and price for the next step | CAD [OWNER: 5,000 proposed; founding rate offered on the call] |
| Payments Strategy Sprint | 6 weeks | Fixed scope, fixed price | Partner shortlist and RFP pack · Target flow-of-funds design · Ledger model · Compliance flow design · Licensing path agreed with counsel · Phased build plan | Scoped and priced in writing after the audit |
| Product development | Fixed phases, from 12 weeks | Phased, each phase scoped and priced in writing | Working software per phase: ledger, payouts, partner integrations, reconciliation, operations tooling · Tests, runbooks and documentation | Scoped and priced in writing per phase |
| Fractional Head of Payments | About 1 day a week; reviewed each quarter | Monthly retainer | Partner management · Roadmap ownership · Design review before build · Bank, auditor and regulator readiness · Monthly written report | Scoped and priced in writing |
If you start a Strategy Sprint or a build within 30 days of the audit, we credit the audit fee [OWNER: confirm].
Technical capabilities
We design these components and build them in your codebase, with your engineers. Licensed partners hold and move the funds; our systems instruct, record and reconcile.
Ledger design
Double-entry ledgers with append-only entries, balances derived from entries, idempotency keys on every write, and accounts per customer, partner, fee and suspense. Multi-currency entries with explicit FX legs.
Payouts
Payout state machines covering creation, compliance checks, submission, settlement, return and reversal. Retry rules that cannot pay twice, and handling for a payout that fails after currency conversion.
Reconciliation
Daily matching of the internal ledger against partner reports, settlement files and bank statements. Break queues with owners and ageing, and the reports a safeguarding review asks for.
Partner and processor integrations
Processors, partner banks, BaaS providers and ramp providers: API and webhook handling, settlement-file ingestion, sandbox testing and production certification.
Compliance flows
KYC and KYB onboarding, sanctions screening at onboarding and at payout, transaction-monitoring hand-offs and record keeping, built around the vendors and policies your compliance officer owns.
Stablecoin on- and off-ramps
Ramp provider evaluation by corridor, quote method, fiat settlement time, licences and liquidity; integration of the conversion step into the ledger and the payout flow. Travel Rule data where it applies [LEGAL].
Rails
ACH in the US, including return-code handling. EFT in Canada. Interac e-Transfer through a participating institution or, for PSPs registered under both the RPAA and with FINTRAC, through Interac's PSP access [Source: Interac, Sept 2025, link]. Card acquiring and card issuing through program managers. Wires for high-value and cross-border settlement.
Preparation for RPAA registration, FINTRAC registration and US money transmitter licensing
We prepare the operational material regulators, banks and partners review: flow-of-funds diagrams, safeguarding and reconciliation descriptions, risk-management framework inputs, and data for applications. Your counsel decides the licensing position and files.
- Canada, Retail Payment Activities Act. Registration with the Bank of Canada; risk-management and safeguarding framework requirements in force since 8 September 2025; annual report due by 31 March. [Source: Bank of Canada, link · Last checked: Nov 2026]
- Canada, FINTRAC. Money services business registration and the compliance program that goes with it. [Source: FINTRAC, link] [LEGAL]
- United States. FinCEN registration and state money transmitter licences, or operating under a sponsor bank or licensed partner while licences are pursued. [LEGAL]
Good to know
This is preparation, not legal advice. Registrations, filings and legal opinions are handled by your counsel. [LEGAL]
How an engagement runs
- 01
Consultation15 minutes
Your product, your partners, your markets and your timeline. We say on the call whether we are the right firm.
- 02
Money Movement Audit3 weeks
We map the current flow of funds, review partners and licensing position, and rank the risks.
- 03
Strategy Sprint6 weeks
We design the target flow of funds, the ledger model and the build plan, and agree the licensing path with your counsel.
- 04
BuildIn phases
We build in your repository, alongside your engineers. Each phase ends with working software in your staging environment and a written handover.
- 05
Quarterly reviewEach quarter
For build and fractional clients, we review reconciliation breaks, payout failure rates and partner issues against the audit baseline.
Working terms
- Code, documentation and diagrams are yours
- We work under your licence or your partner's; we are not a regulated entity
- Weekly written status
- One accountable lead for the engagement, named in the engagement letter
Case study: FinoGrid, our cross-border payouts SDK
We designed and built FinoGrid to pay contractors in Canada from US balances on stablecoin rails. The case study covers the ledger design, the payout states, the compliance checks in the flow and the partner model. FinoGrid is in early access.
FinoGrid is owned by Munro Banting. We say so whenever we recommend it.
Read the case study- SDK or MCP
- Limits and policy
- Identity, AML, sanctions
- Settlement ledger
- Licensed partner
- Payout in CAD
Funds are held and moved only by the licensed partner.
What we do not do
- We do not hold, move or exchange client funds. Licensed partners do.
- We are not a law firm. We work alongside your counsel on registrations and legal opinions.
- We cannot commit a partner, a bank or a regulator to a decision. We prepare you for their review.
- We disclose any referral fee from a partner in the engagement letter, and we disclose that we own FinoGrid whenever we recommend it.
Frequently asked questions
Do you build under our licence or yours?
Yours, or your partner's. We are not a regulated entity.
Do you hold or move funds?
No. Munro Banting advises, designs and builds. Client funds are held and moved only by licensed partners. Munro Banting does not hold, transmit or exchange client funds.
Can you work with our engineering team?
Yes. We work in your repository, follow your review process and hand over with documentation and runbooks.
We're at seed stage. Is the audit too early?
The audit is sized for early teams. It is most useful before the first partner contract is signed or the ledger is built.
Do you work outside Canada and the US?
Our strongest experience is Canadian and US rails and the corridors between them. We will tell you on the consultation if a market is outside it.
Who owns the code?
You do, from the first commit.
Do you take referral fees?
Sometimes. When we do, the engagement letter names the partner and the fee arrangement.
Book a 15‑minute call
Tell us what you are building, your stage, the rails or countries involved and your timeline. We'll set up a 15‑minute call. If we're not the right firm, we'll say so and suggest someone who is.