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Markets, payments and financial infrastructure

Payments company financial model, built free.

A three-statement Excel model for a payments company, built from your own figures and checked to balance.

  • Free account
  • No card
  • Usually ready within the hour

We use generative AI in parts of our process, so mistakes can occur. Every model should be checked by a person before it is relied on. Read more

The business

Merchant acquirer, processor or issuer-processor earning a take rate on payment volume or a fee per transaction; buy-now-pay-later receivables are modelled with the lender jobs.

See the sampleHow the model works

In short

  • 01

    Three linked statements

    Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, linked in every period.

  • 02

    Valued two ways

    Discounted cash flow and trading multiples, side by side.

  • 03

    Monthly to annual

    Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual periods, for up to 30 years.

  • 04

    Checked every period

    A Checks sheet shows the balance sheet balances and the cash reconciles.

The sample

The sample, as Excel draws it.

Built by the same system and checks as yours, on illustrative figures: every sheet as Excel draws it, or live.

Annual · 10 years · Low detail
Payments company sample model.xlsx
The Summary sheet of the sample payments company model

Illustrative figures: the sample describes no real business. The live preview shows values; your model’s Excel file has every formula.

How it works

How the model works for a payments company.

  1. How it earns revenue3 formulas
    Payment volumes and take rate · The business
    Payments revenueMerchant service feesIncome on settlement float
    Payment volumes and take rate · The business
    Interchange, scheme fees and lossesInterchange and scheme feesChargeback and fraud losses
    Payment volumes and take rate · The business
    Total payment volumeAverage merchantsTPV per merchant a yearshare of the year
  2. What drives its costs3 formulas
    Operating expenses · The business
    Total FTEsOperations and deliverySales and marketingTechnologyFinance, HR and administration
    Operating expenses · The business
    Total average FTEsOperations and deliverySales and marketingTechnologyFinance, HR and administration
    Operating expenses · The business
    Total staff costsSalariesOn-costsOther costs per FTE
  3. What it invests in3 formulas
    Corporate fixed assets
    Capital expenditureRevenuefrom statementsCapex as % of revenueAdditional planned capex
    Corporate fixed assets
    DepreciationDepreciation of the opening asset baseDepreciation of new capex
    Corporate fixed assets
    Closing net book valueOpening net book valueCapital expenditureDepreciation
  4. How it is funded3 formulas
    Debt
    RepaymentsScheduled repaymentsPrepayments from an equity raise and the cash sweep
    Debt
    Closing balanceOpening balanceDrawdownsRepayments
    Debt
    Interest expenseOpening balanceAll-in interest rateshare of the year
  5. How profit becomes cash3 formulas
    Working capital
    Trade receivablesRevenuefrom statementsDebtor daysDays in period
    Working capital
    InventoryDirect costs (positive)from statementsInventory daysDays in period
    Working capital
    Trade payablesCash operating costs (positive)from statementsCreditor daysDays in period
What it covers

18 parts, each one tested.

Every part is a tested building block with its own checks: yours is put together from the ones your business needs.

  • CPI forecastConsensus curve with long-run anchor
  • Exchange rate (US dollar)Exchange rate by financial year
  • Operating expensesHeadcount build by function
  • Corporate costsFixed cost base indexed to CPI
  • Working capitalFull working capital
  • Income taxCorporate rate with tax losses
  • Corporate fixed assetsStraight-line over remaining life
  • DebtAmortising term loan
  • Equity raisingDistribution reinvestment plan
  • Dividends and distributionsPayout of net profit
  • Discounted cash flow valuationDCF on free cash flow to the firm
  • Multiples valuationEV / EBITDA multiple
  • Payment volumes and take rateTPV × take ratePayments revenue from total payment volume or transactions, and the interchange and scheme costs against it.
  • Licence capital and liquidity requirements (non-banks)NTA and liquidity requirementMinimum capital, net tangible assets and liquid funds required of licensed non-bank firms, and the surplus available for dividends.
  • Key-metric summaryLast-twelve-month and run-rate metrics
  • Case selectionStackable stress toggles
  • R&D and capitalised developmentGross R&D × capitalisation rate
  • Interest-rate forecastMarket forward curve
Key numbers

The numbers it tracks.

  1. 01TPV
  2. 02net take rate (bps)
  3. 03transactions
  4. 04merchants
  5. 05gross profit
  6. 06float income
  7. 07EBITDA margin
Used for

What it is used for.

Also used for
  • Scenarios and sensitivities
Related models

More in markets, payments and financial infrastructure.

Every financial services model

Looking for a payments company financial model template? Ours arrives built for your business, with your figures in it.

See a finished model, sheet by sheet

The sample is built on illustrative figures and describes no real business. Models are calculations prepared from the information you provide. They are not financial advice and must be independently verified. See our terms.