RecoupIQ • UK Merchant & Counterparty Risk Infrastructure
Executive Risk Briefing: Handepay
UK Entity: HANDEPAY LTD. (CRN: 05504126) • Segment: Merchant Acquirers & Smart POS
Prepared for Leadership: Neil McHugh (Director) • Andrew Peake (Director)
CONFIDENTIAL BRIEFING
Prepared by Alex • Founder, RecoupIQ
Statutory Accounts Basis: FYE 31 March 2025
What RecoupIQ Offers Handepay • At a Glance
Stop UK Merchant Defaults & Section 75 / Chargeback Write-Offs Before Payout Leaves Your Bank
1. What We Provide
<150ms Pre-Payout Gate
Pass any UK CRN before T+1 payout, reserve release, or advance. Returns ALLOW, HOLD, or BLOCK with a SHA-256 audit certificate.
2. Why You Need It Now
30–60 Days Ahead of Bureaus
Experian/Creditsafe & card fraud tools miss live London Gazette Rule 7.10 Winding-Up Petitions, Section 127 void dispositions, and sudden director resignations.
3. Modeled Value
15%–22% Default Reduction
1 intercepted UK merchant collapse (£48.5k–£85k) pays for 2.5+ years of the API on day one (32x ROI).
4. How To Start & Cost
£0 Backtest → £1,495/mo
Test 10–50 past merchant write-offs for £0 today. Production shadow pilot is £1,495/mo (or £0.05/check) with zero lock-in.
The Settlement & Default Timing Gap: Across both B2B (merchant cash advances, trade credit, corporate payouts) and C2B (consumer card acquiring, BNPL, POS retail finance, and Open Banking checkout), when a UK merchant collapses, legacy credit bureaus update 30 to 90 days late. During that window, Handepay continues sweeping T+1 payouts or carrying unhedged consumer Section 75 / Visa & Mastercard “Services Not Rendered” chargeback liability against an insolvent UK limited company. RecoupIQ closes this window with a synchronous
<150ms pre-payout and pre-onboarding gate across 5.3M UK companies.1. Statutory Risk Profile & Modeled Annual Savings (HANDEPAY LTD.)
B2B & C2B Settlement Risk
T+1 Payout & Chargeback Exposure
Unrecovered scheme chargebacks, Section 75 claims, and negative merchant balances when UK merchants fail.
Section 127 Freeze Trap
Insolvency Act 1986 Void Dispositions
Post-petition account movements after a London Gazette Winding-Up Petition are void without a court validation order.
Pre-Payout Gate Impact
15% – 22% Default Reduction
Automatically holds payouts or increases rolling reserves the day a statutory distress signal appears.
Audited Turnover & Result: £23,974k • Operating Result: £12,772k • Net Result: £9,703k
Wholesale / Senior Debt Facilities: Total borrowings: £0k. The Company has no internal or external borrowings and therefore no covenants to comply with. (Note 2.4 Going Concern).
Statutory Audit Note Disclosure: Customer default risk: The Group has significant exposures to large clients/retailers, redemption partners and other counterparties. Cost of living pressures may impact the client and retail estate. However, robust monitoring is in place to reduce default rates and impacts. Client retention and customer concentration risk are ongoing risks. (Strategic Report, Page 9, Risk 9 and Page 6, Risk 4). Merchant settlement risk: Managed through effective counterparty risk management, with ongoing credit reviews and enhanced controls. (Strategic Report, Page 9, Risk 9). Chargeback exposures: Not specifically mentioned as a key risk in the strategic report.
2. What Payment Teams Use Today vs. Why Merchant Collapses Still Slip Through
| Existing Tooling Layer | What It Checks | The Structural Blind Spot | How RecoupIQ Closes It |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Legacy Credit Bureaus Experian, Creditsafe, Equifax, Dun & Bradstreet | Day-0 onboarding KYB & static annual balance sheets | 30-to-60 day batch lag on Gazette Winding-Up Petitions, High Court claims, and director resignations (TM01) | Day-1 Court, Gazette Rule 7.10 & Companies House streaming triggers before T+1 payout |
| 2. Transaction Fraud Engines Stripe Radar, Adyen RevenueProtect, Sift, Featurespace | Stolen consumer cards, BIN velocity, device fingerprinting | Zero visibility into whether the UK merchant (CRN) receiving the payout is about to enter liquidation | Scores the UK corporate counterparty (CRN) in <150ms (`ALLOW` | `HOLD` | `BLOCK`) |
| 3. Open Banking Consents Plaid, TrueLayer, Yapily AIS feeds | Merchant bank account balances (when connected) | 90-day OAuth re-authentication drop-off; distressed directors revoke bank feeds first | Zero merchant consent required; 100% continuous coverage across all 5.3M UK companies |
3. Commercial Pricing & Unit Economics (30x+ Single-Collapse ROI)
Step 1 • Proof of Value
£0 Historical Backtest
Test 10 to 50 of Handepay’s past merchant write-offs or chargeback defaults right now. We show the exact date RecoupIQ would have triggered
HOLD or BLOCK prior to collapse.Step 2 • Shadow Pilot / Growth API
£1,495/mo (or £0.05/check)
Includes 30,000 synchronous pre-payout checks/month + daily Gazette Rule 7.10, CCJ & director-exodus webhooks across your active UK merchant book.
The Payback Math
1 Intercept = 32x ROI
Preventing a single mid-sized UK merchant default or C2B chargeback wave (£48,500–£85,000 average loss) pays for 2.5+ years of the RecoupIQ API on day one.
Direct Founder Access • Zero NDA Required to Test
Run a 60-Second Backtest or Speak Directly With Alex
Paste 10 to 50 UK Company Registration Numbers (CRNs) into our self-serve backtest workbench, or email contact@recoup-iq.tech with your phone number and Alex will call you directly for a 10-minute walkthrough of Handepay’s statutory exposure model.