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Card class: Non-Hero • Category: Payment Gateway

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At a glance

The average number of days between transaction date and settlement date in the period: how long money waits in Viva’s holding before reaching your bank. Viva-IBAN merchants see ~ 0 days (instant rail); non-Viva-IBAN merchants typically see T+1 to T+3 (SEPA cycle). High average settlement days means working-capital trapped in the rail.
What it countsAVG(SettlementDate - TransactionDate) over all settled transactions in the period, in calendar days. Weekends and EU bank holidays included.
API endpoint/api/transactions plus settlements API; InsDate (transaction) and SettlementDate join.
CurrencyCurrency-neutral (days). Multi-currency settlements may have different cycles per currency rail; we report the blended average.
Refunds / disputesExcluded from the calculation (refunds are debits not settlements; disputed funds held until resolution).
Failed / declined paymentsNot relevant.
Recurring rebillsCounted. Rebills settle on the same cycle as one-time payments.
ChannelsOnline + POS unified. POS card-present typically settles end-of-day on the day of capture for Viva-IBAN; online settles within minutes (instant) for Viva-IBAN. Non-Viva-IBAN settles via SEPA T+1 to T+3 for both.
Time window30D rolling.
Alert trigger>5 days warn (suggests reserve hold or non-IBAN bottleneck); >10 days critical.
Rolesowner, finance, operations

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Calculation

Calculated automatically from your Viva Payments data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

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Worked example

A Greek SMB (“Athens Apothecary”) with a Viva-IBAN account. Window 03 Apr 26 to 02 May 26.
ChannelTransactionsAvg settlement (days)Notes
Online checkout (Viva-IBAN settle)1,4200.04 (about an hour)Instant rail, settles to merchant balance within minutes
Smart POS (Viva-IBAN settle)9200.6End-of-day batch settlement
Recurring rebills (Viva-IBAN)3200.05Same as online
Compared to a hypothetical scenario where the same merchant used a third-party (non-Viva) IBAN:
ChannelAvg settlement (days) on non-Viva IBANNotes
Online checkout2.1 daysSEPA T+1 to T+3, weekend bridges
Smart POS1.8 daysSame SEPA cycle
Recurring rebills2.1 daysSame
Athens Apothecary blended average (Viva-IBAN):
  Weighted = (1420 × 0.04 + 920 × 0.6 + 320 × 0.05) ÷ 2,660
           = (56.8 + 552 + 16) ÷ 2,660
           = 0.235 days  (about 5.6 hours)

Comparison non-Viva-IBAN scenario:
  Weighted = (1420 × 2.1 + 920 × 1.8 + 320 × 2.1) ÷ 2,660
           = ~ 2.0 days

Working-capital impact (1.8 day swing × EUR 460k 30-day volume / 30):
                                  ≈ EUR 27,600 trapped in float
What the merchant should notice:
  1. 0.235-day blended average is the Viva-IBAN signature. Compare to Stripe’s standard EU schedule (T+7 default, with T+2 / T+1 available as merchant negotiates). Viva-IBAN is structurally faster than every major competing PSP for EU merchants.
  2. Non-Viva-IBAN merchants pay a 1.8-day working-capital premium. For a EUR 460k/month merchant, that’s roughly EUR 27,600 trapped in transit at any moment, working capital that could be financing inventory, marketing, or AP.
  3. POS is slightly slower than online. End-of-day batch settlement for POS captures versus per-transaction instant settlement for online. Fully expected; not a problem.
  4. Holidays and weekends bridge differently. Greek public holidays add 1 to 3 days for non-Viva-IBAN merchants because SEPA rails close. Viva-IBAN instant rail operates 24/7. Easter and August holidays in Greek retail are particularly impacted on non-Viva-IBAN setups.
  5. JP Morgan acquisition relevance: settlement infrastructure is unchanged. The Viva-IBAN instant rail and SEPA fallback continue under existing Viva regulated entities; JP Morgan parent ownership does not change settlement timing.

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Sibling cards merchants should reference together

CardWhy pair it with Avg Settlement Days
viv_payouts_pendingWhat’s currently in flight; high pending volume + high avg days = working capital problem.
viv_payout_age_daysThe oldest pending payout, the tail-risk signal.
viva_pending_payoutsSibling pending-payouts view.
viva_payout_ageSibling payout-age view.
viv_total_volumeThe volume base; settlement cost scales with it.
viva_total_revenueRevenue framing; settlement timing affects when revenue becomes cash.
Stripe payout schedule / PayPal payout cardsCross-PSP working-capital comparison.

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Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look in the Viva Payments Dashboard: viva.com/business/account/login. Closest comparable views:
Viva Business → Sales → Settlements (per-batch settlement detail with timestamps)
Viva Business → Account → Settlement schedule (your configured cadence)
The Settlements view shows per-batch lag; this card is the period average across all batches. Why our number may legitimately differ:
ReasonDirectionWhy
Bank-holiday inclusionMarginalWe use calendar days. Viva Dashboard occasionally shows business-day equivalents. For non-Viva-IBAN accounts the difference can be 1 to 3 days during holiday weeks.
Reserve holdOurs higher if active reserveSome merchants have a percentage of settlement held back as a rolling reserve; the Settlement Date for reserved portion can be deferred. We compute the average of actual settlement dates, including any held portion.
Currency mixPer-currency rails differEUR settles via instant rail or SEPA; GBP via Faster Payments or BACS; RON via local Romanian rails. Each has slightly different cycle. Blended figure averages across the mix.
Cross-connector reconciliation:
ComparisonExpected relationshipWhen divergence is legitimate
viv_avg_settlement_days ↔ Stripe avg payout scheduleViva structurally faster for Viva-IBAN merchantsStripe’s default EU is T+7; standard merchants negotiate to T+2. Viva-IBAN is sub-1-day.
viv_avg_settlement_days ↔ PayPal avg payout scheduleViva typically fasterPayPal balance to bank takes 1 to 5 business days depending on currency / region.

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Known limitations / merchant FAQs

“What’s the difference between Viva-IBAN and a regular bank IBAN?” A Viva-IBAN is an electronic-money IBAN issued by Viva.com itself, where your merchant balance lives. Funds move from acquiring to your Viva-IBAN within minutes (instant rail), and you can spend or sweep from the Viva-IBAN at your discretion. A non-Viva-IBAN is a third-party bank account (e.g. National Bank of Greece, Santander, Deutsche Bank); funds move from Viva to that account via SEPA T+1 to T+3. “Should I switch to a Viva-IBAN?” For working-capital optimisation, yes. The 1.8 to 2.5-day faster settlement frees up cash that’s otherwise trapped in transit. For merchants doing EUR 100k+/month, that’s typically EUR 6,000+ in additional working capital available. Most CFOs find the operational change minor (you can sweep from Viva-IBAN to your primary bank account on your own schedule). “Why doesn’t Stripe offer instant settlement in the EU?” Stripe uses partner banks (rather than holding its own EU e-money licence at the time of writing). Funds bridge through Stripe’s holding accounts and then SEPA to your bank, which takes 2 to 7 days. Viva’s regulated entity holds funds directly, which enables sub-day settlement. “Does the JP Morgan acquisition speed up or slow down settlement?” Neither, expected. Settlement infrastructure (Viva-IBAN instant rail, SEPA fallback) continues under existing Viva regulated entities. JP Morgan parent ownership is balance-sheet credibility, not operational change. “Reserve hold, when does Viva apply one?” Newly-onboarded merchants in higher-risk verticals (travel, digital goods, subscription) may have a 5 to 15% rolling reserve held for 30 to 90 days. Established merchants typically have no reserve. If your average settlement days is structurally above 5, check whether a reserve is in place. “Recurring rebill settlement, same as one-time?” Yes. Rebills settle on the same cycle as their underlying flow (Viva-IBAN instant or SEPA T+1 to T+3). “What about non-EUR currencies?” Viva natively settles in 13+ currencies. GBP settlements via UK Faster Payments (typically T+0 to T+1 for UK accounts), RON via Romanian instant rail (instant for Viva-IBAN, T+1 for local bank). Each currency has its own cycle; the blended average masks this, use the Settlements view in the Dashboard for per-currency detail. “Holidays, how do they affect this?” Viva-IBAN instant rail operates 24/7 including weekends and holidays. SEPA closes for weekends and EU bank holidays; non-Viva-IBAN merchants see settlement delayed by the holiday count. Greek Orthodox Easter and August holidays are particularly impactful in Greek-issuer-heavy merchants. “My settlement days jumped, what to check?” (1) Reserve: did Viva apply a new reserve due to risk-event? (2) Bank: did your destination bank change processing cadence? (3) Currency mix: did a slow-rail currency increase its share of volume? (4) Holiday: was there an EU bank holiday in the period? “Can I see settlement timing per transaction?” Yes, in the Viva Dashboard’s Settlements view. Each row shows Transaction Date, Settlement Date, Amount, Net (after fees), Currency, IBAN destination.

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Avg Settlement Time (days) is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Viva Payments and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.