ScalePoint Research · Process map · Cluster
Matching what should have arrived with what did, and working out why the two differ. Ten processes on the map come down to the same job, from a merchant's card income to an EMI's safeguarding account and a stablecoin firm's on- and off-ramps.
Click a process to see what the work involves.
Match the acquirer's settlement files to the money received in the bank and the sales in the ledger, and explain each difference.
Check the card schemes' settlement reports against the firm's own clearing records, including the interchange and scheme fees charged.
The same job for payment methods other than cards, such as wallets, bank transfers, buy now pay later and local methods, where references and timing differ from cards.
Match payments received from customers to the invoices they pay.
Check that each payout to a merchant equals its transactions less fees, refunds, chargebacks and reserve movements.
Check that each payment split between sellers, the platform's commission and fees adds up, and that every seller was paid the right amount.
Each day, check that the money held in safeguarded accounts covers what is owed to customers, and explain any shortfall.
Match accounts held at banks in several currencies against the firm's own ledger, including the FX conversions between them.
Match money coming in and going out in normal currency against the stablecoins bought, sold or sent on the blockchain.
Check that the reserves backing a stablecoin match the number of coins in circulation.
Reconciliation has five steps, and AI helps with some more than others. Matching records (step 02) is already done well by software rules. Most of the time goes on the differences left after matching, called breaks. Finding and valuing the breaks takes one model call. Tracing each break to its cause takes several steps across different systems, which is where an AI agent helps.
Note: Step 03 is shaded because it's the one step we test AI models on. The other steps are covered by the vendor scan.
Every process on the process map is rated against the same five tests. Reconciliation passes all five, which is why it's rated Agent workflow.
Each break needs a look in two or three places: the settlement file, the bank line, the ledger and sometimes the contract.
Breaks turn up every day and most fall into a few recurring types: timing, fees, refunds, chargebacks and missing settlements.
The month balances, and every break has a cause and an amount. Either the agent got there or it didn't.
Matching rules (step 02) clear the records that agree. Working out why the rest don't agree (step 04) takes judgement, which rules can't do.
AI agents still make mistakes, so a process suits them better when a person can check the result before it costs money. Here the agent proposes adjustments and claims, and a person approves them before anything is posted. Little in reconciliation is real time, so that check doesn't slow things down.
The rating holds across the cluster with two exceptions. Cash application, matching customer payments to the invoices they pay, is rated Agent-assisted. Existing software already matches most payments on amount and invoice number, so an agent only helps with the few that don't match. Stablecoin reserve checks are a single step: two data sets compared once a period.
Two or three findings from the vendor scan and the model test, such as where single products stop for each type of firm and which steps firms are still left to build themselves.
The scan covers every vendor selling reconciliation into any of the ten processes: reconciliation platforms, AI-first start-ups, modules in ERP and finance suites, and features built into PSP and acquirer platforms. For each vendor it records which processes and which steps the product covers, and how far its AI goes:
No vendor pays to be included. If you sell reconciliation software and want to be covered, email me at martin@scalepointpartners.com.
A month of an invented merchant's settlement files, bank lines and ledger in one go. Each model has to find and value every break. Models are scored on money missed and false alarms, against price per run.
Chargebacks debited without a case show up as reconciliation breaks first.
The same investigate-and-explain step, on failed and missing payments.
Fees at the wrong rate are found by reading the statement against the contract. Read the paper →
I can run the same scan and test on your own reconciliation: your files, your volumes and the vendors you're talking to.
Email me