Where are my Funds Stored?
Stripe: Stripe is the processor of Emburse Cards, and the party who holds funds.
How funds are held at Stripe:
- Stripe selects its banking partners for their ability to provide scale and stability for the services we provide to you, therefore, Stripe holds user funds with banking organizations subject to the highest tier of supervision and regulation applicable to globally systemically important banking organizations. Accordingly, Stripe predominantly holds user funds with FDIC backed financial institutions such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America (for the U.S.), and Barclays, Citigroup, and Banking Circle (in the U.K and EMEA).
- Stripe holds user funds (including Emburse) in pooled custodial accounts owned by Stripe’s licensed payments subsidiaries: in the U.S., Stripe Payments Company (“SPC”)., in the E.U., Stripe Technology Europe, Limited (“STEL”) , and in the U.K., Stripe Payments UK Ltd. (“SPUKL”).
- For user funds, our accounts are titled “FBO” or “safeguarded” or “client money” to indicate that they are Stripe’s customer funds. These accounts are not titled for any individual named customer (including Emburse).
- The balances of Emburse's (and all other users’) funds are tracked via a Stripe ledger.
Protection of funds and FDIC:
- The services Stripe provides to Emburse is structured so that Emburse's assets would be separated from Stripe’s bankruptcy estate in the very unlikely event of its insolvency. Stripe’s ledgering supports prompt identification to whom funds are owed and subsequent disbursement of those funds.
- In the United States and as described above, Stripe holds user funds in segregated, pooled deposit accounts that are titled and structured as “FBO SPC Customers”. The titling and structure of our FBO accounts: (1) indicate that the funds held in the accounts belong to the beneficiaries of the account, i.e., SPC users, and not Stripe; and (2) serve as an instruction to a bankruptcy court to set aside those funds from Stripe’s bankruptcy estate.
- In non-U.S. jurisdictions, user funds are held either in similarly titled accounts or in safeguarded accounts in accordance with applicable local regulatory requirements. In EMEA, STEL and SPUKL hold local user funds in segregated safeguarding accounts established in accordance with safeguarding requirements under payments and e-money regulations. As per the applicable regulations, the funds in the safeguarding accounts will not form part of STEL or SPUKL’s assets until all user claims against STEL or SPUKL respectively have been discharged.