Money waiting to move still earns something. The question is who. Whenever balances sit in correspondent or settlement accounts, the income on them — the float — accrues to someone. In traditional correspondent banking, that someone is usually the institution holding the account, not the one whose money it is.

The economics of the float

A participant prefunds a corridor so a payment can be made on demand. Between the moment the balance is placed and the moment it is used, it earns a return for whoever holds it. Spread that across many corridors and the float becomes a meaningful revenue line for account-holders. For the participant, it is a cost that never appears as an invoice.

Netting changes the amount

If offsetting flows cancel internally before leaving the network, participants need to hold less. The float shrinks at the source, because there is less idle balance to earn on in the first place. That is the more honest saving: not a shared return on a large buffer, but a smaller buffer overall. Routing then sends only the net remainder along its best path.

Sharing what remains

Where balances do sit, the network can align incentives rather than quietly capture the income. SUPA's main revenue engine is a share of partner commissions on unit turnover, which ties its income to real flow rather than to holding someone's money. Participants and their clients stay clients of their own institution; SUPA does not compete for them, and before a banking licence it does not hold client money in its own name. This is general information, not investment or financial advice.

In short

  • Idle balances earn a float, and someone always captures it.
  • Prefunding costs the participant what it earns the account-holder.
  • Netting reduces the idle balance that generates the float.
  • Aligning fees to turnover beats depending on the float.

Understand the revenue model behind the protocol → /investors/