Quick heads up — I've confirmed the Q1 Quarterly Business Review with Thornfield for March 28. We'll be presenting to Anya and her ops team. @alex can you start pulling together the product update slides? I'm thinking platform performance, settlement accuracy, and what's on the roadmap. @chris can you prepare the settlement performance metrics for the quarter?
On it. Any specific product areas Anya wants to cover, or the usual overview?
The usual — platform performance, settlement accuracy, what's on the roadmap. She also mentioned on our last call that she'd like to hear about our European plans. I'll cover that in the strategic update section, but useful to have some product context behind it.
I'll pull the settlement numbers together — aiming to have them ready by end of next week. Thornfield's been clean this quarter. No settlement exceptions since January.
Q1 billing reconciliation is complete. Invoice sent to Thornfield's finance team this morning. All matched — no discrepancies.
Thanks Nina, great. Good start to the week.
Anya confirmed this morning that she's received the invoice. She mentioned she'll have a few questions about the volume breakdown — they're reconciling with their own internal figures for the quarterly board pack. @nina can you make sure the invoice includes the transaction-level volume summary? I think she'll want that detail.
The volume summary was included as an appendix — page 3 of the invoice pack. I can send Anya's finance team a separate standalone version if that's easier for their reconciliation.
Yes, please send the standalone version directly to their finance contact. Thornfield are thorough with this — better to have it ready than to be chased.
Daniel — for the QBR slides, would it be helpful if I flagged the items that are further out on the roadmap separately from what's production-ready? Thornfield tends to ask follow-up questions if we mix the two.
Yes, good call. Keep them clearly separated. Anya's team is thorough — they'll notice if we're vague about what's live versus what's coming.
Quick check-in on QBR prep — where are we? I'd like to have everything reviewed internally by Thursday so there's time for any revisions before the 28th.
Settlement numbers are on track. Should have them formatted and ready for review by Wednesday. Just double-checking one figure on the end-of-quarter batch — want to make sure it's attributed to the right settlement window.
QBR Agenda — March 27, 10:00–11:30 1. Welcome & Q1 overview (5 min) 2. Operational performance — settlement accuracy, SLA adherence, volume review (20 min) — Chris leading 3. Product update — live features, roadmap preview (20 min) — Alex supporting 4. Strategic discussion — European expansion plans, partnership outlook (25 min) — Daniel leading 5. Q&A and actions (20 min) Please review and flag anything I've missed. @chris and @alex — let me know if the time allocation works for your sections.
Agenda looks good. Product update slides are ready for review. I've included: API v2 improvements (in progress), enhanced reporting module (live), settlement engine optimisation (live). Roadmap section covers SEPA capability and EU market expansion — kept the language measured.
Settlement metrics are ready. 99.97% accuracy rate for Q1, average settlement time well within SLA across all Thornfield payment types. One minor exception in January — a processing delay on a Friday afternoon batch — resolved same day, no financial impact. Happy to walk through the detail on the call.
Recap from Friday's QBR with Anya and her team. They're happy with operational performance — no complaints, strong satisfaction with the accuracy and reliability numbers. The interesting part: Anya asked specifically about our SEPA capability and EU expansion plans. She mentioned that Thornfield is 'evaluating options for European payment operations' and would love to consolidate with Acme if the capability is there. I gave a positive overview — told her we have a SEPA pilot running and we're building out the compliance framework. She asked for a timeline on production readiness. I said I'd come back to her with something more specific.
That's a big opportunity. Do we know what volumes they'd be looking at for EU? That changes the picture significantly in terms of what infrastructure we'd need.
She didn't give specifics but Thornfield currently processes across 6 European markets through a mix of providers. Even capturing 2-3 markets would be significant. I want to give her a credible answer on timeline though — @alex where are we on SEPA production readiness? I need to know what I can honestly say.
The SEPA pilot with our EU infrastructure is live but it's early days. Production-ready for a Tier 1 customer is realistically H2 at the earliest, and that depends on the compliance framework being in place. Happy to put together a more detailed view if that would help before you respond to Anya.
Following up on yesterday's EU discussion — I want to send Anya a short note acknowledging her interest and proposing a deeper conversation for late April. Before I do, I need us aligned on what we can credibly say. @alex can you put together a one-pager on our EU capability status? Where we are today, what's in flight, realistic timeline for production. I want to send something to Anya by end of this week.
Sure. I'll draft something this week. Just to flag — the honest picture is that SEPA is in pilot, the compliance framework isn't finalised, and we don't have a confirmed EU banking partner for the full rollout. I want to make sure we're being accurate with what we put in front of Thornfield.
Absolutely — I don't want to over-promise, especially with Anya. But I also want to show momentum and a clear plan. Can we frame it as a phased roadmap — what's production today, what's in pilot, what's planned for H2? Draft by Friday?
Will do.
EU capability one-pager is drafted. Three sections: (1) what's live today — core SEPA Credit Transfer capability in pilot, EUR settlements processing, (2) what's in flight — compliance framework review with external counsel, sanctions screening EU extension, data processing addendum, (3) roadmap — SEPA Instant (H2 2026 target), Netherlands market launch. I've been careful with the language. Let me know if you'd like to review before you share anything with Anya.
This is exactly what I needed, thank you. The structure is right. I'll review this afternoon and adapt it into the note to Anya. Good work.
EU note sent to Anya last week. I kept it high-level — pilot running, compliance framework with external counsel, roadmap targets for H2. I've proposed a call in the third week of April to go deeper on specifics. She responded quickly: 'Thanks Daniel, this is helpful context. Looking forward to the April call and the more detailed view.' She's engaged. I want to make sure we have something more substantive ready for that conversation.
Had a follow-up call with Anya this morning. She appreciated the EU update note I sent but she had more detailed questions than I was expecting. She wants to understand: (1) what's our PSD2 compliance status for cross-border payments, (2) do we have a data processing framework that covers EU data subjects, (3) what sanctions screening coverage do we have for EU-specific lists. These are pointed questions — she's clearly done her homework and this isn't general curiosity.
Those are all open items on the EU expansion work. Honestly we're early on all three. I'm not aware of a completed PSD2 compliance review or a finalised EU data processing framework.
I know. I told her the compliance framework is under review with external counsel and we expect to have clarity by end of May. She was polite about it but I could tell she was noting the vagueness. She said 'we'd need to see the framework documented before we could evaluate Acme for our European operations.'
@tom Anya also asked about SEPA Instant specifically — whether it's in our near-term plans. What can I tell her?
sepa instant is on the roadmap for h2 but it's dependent on api v2 which is behind schedule. wouldn't commit to a specific date on that. 'planned for h2 2026' is the most i'd say and even that's optimistic.
Thanks Tom. I'll frame it as 'H2 target, subject to technical roadmap progress.' Anya is thorough — she'll ask again if I'm vague.
Heads up — Good Friday is April 18 and Easter Monday is April 21. BACS won't process on either day. I'll send Thornfield the adjusted settlement schedule for the Easter period so they can plan accordingly.
Thanks Chris. Can you send it directly to Anya's ops team? They like to have bank holiday schedules early — it affects their internal processing deadlines.
Anya's asked for a written summary of the key points from our April 7 call — specifically the EU compliance timeline and the SEPA Instant roadmap. I want to make sure we're aligned on the language before I send anything in writing. @alex can I credibly say 'external counsel review expected to complete by end of Q2' — or is that too optimistic based on what you know?
Honestly I'm not sure Q2 is realistic. The review has multiple open items. I'd be more comfortable with 'expected Q3' — that gives the compliance team time to complete the work properly. 'End of Q2' feels like it could slip and then we're in a difficult position with Thornfield.
Agreed. I'll go with 'Q3 2026 expected' for the compliance timeline. Better to give a date we can actually hit.
Sent the Easter settlement schedule to Thornfield's ops team. They confirmed receipt and have adjusted their processing schedule accordingly. No issues expected over the bank holiday period.
Perfect, thanks Chris.
Short note to share — Anya emailed to mention that Thornfield hit an internal milestone in Q1: they processed over £185M through Acme in the quarter. She's pleased with the operational side. Her exact words were 'the core platform has been faultless.' Still waiting for us on the EU capability discussion, of course, but good to hear the foundation is solid.
Post-Easter check — all Thornfield settlements processed cleanly. No exceptions or delays over the bank holiday period. Back to normal schedule from Tuesday.
Important update from my call with Anya today. Thornfield is entering their annual planning cycle for 2027 budget and partnership decisions. Part of that process is evaluating payment partners for their European operations. She said — and I'm quoting because the phrasing matters — 'we would love to consolidate with Acme across our European markets but we need to see the EU capability mature before we can recommend that internally.' She's asked for a capability roadmap by mid-May that she can include in their planning materials.
That's both exciting and a bit daunting given the timeline. What specifically does she need in the roadmap?
Timeline for SEPA production readiness, compliance framework completion, which EU markets we'll support and when, whether we'll have SEPA Instant. Essentially she needs to be able to tell her board that Acme is a credible European payments partner. That's the bar.
I can put together the product and technical side. But the compliance timeline is the hard part — that needs Rachel's team to give us a realistic date. Without that we have a gap in the most important part of the document.
I know. I'll work on getting those answers internally. To put the stakes plainly — Thornfield is £510k/year today. Their European payment volumes across 6 markets would easily double that if we win it. This is worth the effort to get right.
happy to contribute on technical capability. just be honest about what's production-ready versus roadmap. banks can tell the difference and vagueness damages credibility more than an honest limitation.
Team — I need to start building the capability roadmap for Thornfield's planning cycle and this has to be a priority this week. I need honest answers on a few things: (1) @alex — SEPA production readiness timeline. When can we confidently say SEPA is out of pilot and production-grade for a Tier 1 customer? (2) @tom — API v2 and SEPA Instant timeline. What can I credibly put in writing? (3) On the compliance side — I need to understand where we are on PSD2 sign-off, the EU data processing framework, and sanctions screening EU coverage. I don't have direct visibility on this and I need answers before I commit anything to Thornfield.
On SEPA production readiness — honestly it depends significantly on the compliance framework. Technically the pilot is running and it works, but there are open remediation items from the external legal review. I'd say production-ready for a Tier 1 customer is Q3 at the earliest, and that assumes the compliance work completes on schedule. I don't want to put a date down that we then can't hit — that would be worse than giving a later date.
api v2 is behind schedule. we've lost two sprints to incident work and one sprint to a scope change on core infrastructure. sepa instant is dependent on v2 being stable. realistically h2 2026 is the earliest and even that depends on whether we recover the sprint slippage. i wouldn't put anything more specific than 'second half of 2026' in a client document.
OK. What about compliance? Does anyone have visibility on where things stand with the PSD2 review and the remediation items? I know the relevant teams are working on it but I don't have clear answers and Anya's questions are precisely in that area.
I don't have direct visibility on the compliance timeline either. I know there are open workstreams but I can't give you a date. You'd need to go to the compliance team directly for that.
Right. I'll chase that. The challenge is that Anya's questions are precisely the ones where we're least prepared. She's not asking about API uptime or settlement accuracy — areas where our story is genuinely strong. She's asking about compliance maturity and EU regulatory readiness. Those are the areas where I can't give her a clear answer yet.
that's the fundamental problem. the technical integration works. the compliance and regulatory framework isn't there yet. for what it's worth, banks respect transparency about limitations more than optimistic timelines that slip. if we say 'Q3 for compliance completion' and we mean it, that's better than 'Q2' that we can't deliver.
You're right. I just need to work out how to frame 'we're not ready yet' in a way that keeps Thornfield in the conversation rather than prompting them to look elsewhere. That's the balance I'm working on.
Anya followed up by email yesterday asking whether we have an anticipated date for when the compliance framework will be 'client-ready' — her phrase. She wants to include it in her planning timeline. I want to make sure we're aligned before I go back to her. The compliance side is genuinely the blocker here.
Can we say 'Q3 2026' for the compliance completion? Is that realistic?
I've been trying to confirm that internally and I can't get a firm date. I'm going to respond to Anya with 'expected Q3 2026' and note that we'll have more detail in the roadmap document. It's the most I can credibly say right now.
Update on the compliance timeline chase. The short version: PSD2 remediation has three open workstreams, they're progressing but slowly, and I can't get a confirmed completion date I could share with Thornfield. I've spoken to the relevant people and the message is that work is underway. Not the crisp answer I needed. I'm going to have to frame the roadmap around what we know is solid — the technical capability and the product roadmap — and be upfront that the compliance timeline is 'expected Q3 2026, subject to workstream completion.' Not ideal but it's honest.
Happy to help draft the roadmap document. We can be genuinely positive about the technical capability — that story is strong — and measured on the compliance timeline. Want to work on it together early next week? I can have a first draft by Monday afternoon.
Yes, let's do that. I want to have something ready for Anya by May 16. That gives us a week to draft and refine.
Quick note — Thornfield's May settlement schedule is standard. No bank holidays to plan around. Everything running smoothly on the ops side.
Anya sent a follow-up note over the bank holiday — she's being more direct now. She asked whether Acme can 'confirm a production readiness date for SEPA' and whether we have 'documented compliance sign-off or an expected sign-off date.' She said Thornfield's planning cycle needs these details to evaluate us as a European partner. I'm relaying this so the team has the full picture. Want to make sure we're aligned before I respond.
That's a harder ask. 'Documented compliance sign-off' is something we don't have yet. The roadmap document needs to be very carefully worded.
I know. I'll acknowledge her questions and tell her the roadmap document will address them directly. I'm buying a week. We need to make sure the document is solid enough to give her what she needs.
Anya replied — she acknowledged the message and said she'd look forward to receiving the roadmap. She added: 'I should be transparent that we're also in early conversations with one or two other providers on the European side — not as a preference, but as part of a responsible evaluation process.' She's been straightforward about it. I appreciate that. It does raise the stakes on getting the roadmap right.
That's an important signal. She's giving us a fair chance but she's not waiting indefinitely.
Exactly. The roadmap has to be substantive. I don't want to lose Thornfield's EU business because we couldn't give them a clear enough picture of where we're headed.
Starting work on the Thornfield capability roadmap today. This is the most important thing I'll produce this quarter. If we get it right, there's a real chance Thornfield consolidates their European payment operations with us. If we can't give them sufficient confidence, they'll start evaluating alternatives. I need input from the team:
@alex — can you draft the product capability section? Current state of SEPA, what's in the pipeline, timeline for SEPA Instant and API v2 in the context of EU capability.
@tom — once Alex has the technical section drafted, can you review it? I want to make sure we're not overstating anything. Your instinct on this is right — Anya's team will know if we're inflating the claims.
On the compliance section — I'm going to frame it as 'regulatory framework in active development with external counsel, expected completion Q3 2026.' That's the most honest thing I can say given what I know. Open to challenge on the wording.
I'll get the product section drafted by Wednesday. One question — do we want to reference the SEPA pilot as evidence of technical integration capability? It's real, the integration works, and it demonstrates we're not starting from zero.
Yes, we should reference it. That's genuine evidence of capability. Just don't reference the compliance status of the pilot — frame it as 'pilot processing EUR payments, scale-up to production planned for Q3.'
i'll review it. one thing: don't describe sepa instant as 'coming soon' or give the impression it's imminent. it's behind api v2 which is behind schedule. 'planned for late 2026, timeline subject to technical roadmap' is the most i'd put.
Understood on SEPA Instant. I'd rather under-promise and over-deliver with Thornfield — Anya will hold us to whatever we put in this document, so precision matters more than optimism.
Daniel — heads up: Thornfield's contract renewal is in 8 months. If we're discussing expanded EU scope, we should start the commercial conversation early rather than waiting for renewal. Want me to pull together the current contract terms and put together an outline for what an EU expansion addendum might look like?
Yes please, Nina — good thinking. If we can tie the EU expansion into the renewal conversation, it strengthens the case on both sides and gives Thornfield a cleaner commercial path. I'll plan a call with Anya on commercial structure once we've sent the capability roadmap.
Here's the product capability section for the Thornfield roadmap — please review when you have a chance. I've been careful with the language throughout. Everything described as 'production' is production. Everything described as 'roadmap' or 'planned' is in the roadmap but not live. I've avoided grey areas deliberately. Happy to discuss any section.
Thanks Alex, reviewing now. First read looks strong — the structure is exactly right. I'll come back with comments by end of day.
@tom Can you take a look at Alex's product section when you have time today? I want a sanity check on the technical claims before we finalise.
will do, give me an hour.
reviewed. two small things: the sepa transaction limits section should note the current pilot caps rather than implying they're not there. and i'd soften the api v2 language from 'advancing' to 'in development' — advancing implies more progress than we have. everything else is accurate.
Good catches, thank you. I'll make both of those changes.
Spent yesterday evening going through the full roadmap document. It's shaping up well — the technical and product sections are strong and I think will give Anya confidence in the core capability. But I keep coming back to the same problem: the compliance section is the weakest part of the document and that's exactly what she'll focus on. 'Regulatory framework expected Q3 2026' is honest, but it will prompt questions I can't fully answer yet.
can you get a more specific timeline from the compliance team? even an indicative one would give you more to work with than a quarter.
I've asked. The problem is they're stretched across multiple workstreams and can't commit to specific dates right now. I understand why, but it makes my position harder when Anya pushes for specifics. I'll keep pushing but I may have to send the document without that detail.
I've incorporated Tom's edits. The product section reads well now — clear, honest, structured. I'm going to work on the compliance section this afternoon and see if the 'three-stage programme' framing that Alex suggested holds up when I map it against what we actually have. If it does, it'll give the document more structure than a bare quarter date.
One thought — could we frame the compliance section around the process rather than the date? Something like: 'three-stage compliance programme, stages 1 and 2 complete, stage 3 (PSD2 certification and data processing sign-off) in progress with external counsel.' At least it shows structure even if the completion date is uncertain.
That could work. It's more substantive than just a quarter date and it shows we have a methodology. Let me look at whether the stages map accurately to where we are. Good idea.
Nina — do you have the contract renewal outline ready? I want to have it available when I speak to Anya next week, in case she wants to discuss commercial terms alongside the capability roadmap.
Yes — current contract terms summary and an outline EU expansion addendum are ready. I'll send them over now.
Thank you Nina.
Working on the final version of the Thornfield roadmap this morning. Meeting with Alex at 10 to do a final review. Goal is to send to Anya by end of Wednesday. I'm slightly anxious about the compliance timeline gap but if the rest of the document is strong enough — and I think it is — it should buy us time while we work towards Q3. Thornfield won't make their planning decision overnight. We just need to stay credibly in the conversation.