Retail Wallet Card — programme overview for acquirers
Who the parties are, how money moves, the consent screens and the customer terms — everything an acquirer or PSP needs to complete a supportability review.
Retail Wallet Card · programme overview
A UK stored-value card programme for in-store rewards, operated by Retail Wallet Ltd.
Customers top up a Retail Wallet Card — or link their own bank card — then tap to pay in person, in store at participating merchants, where a discount or cashback is applied automatically. Retail Wallet Ltd is the Stripe customer, payment acceptor and merchant of record, and controls the server-side payment integration. Wallester UK Ltd is the FCA-authorised EMI and Visa issuer. Partner consumer apps are a distribution channel only — they never hold funds or receive payment proceeds.
Merchant of record: Retail Wallet LtdIssuer: Wallester UK Ltd (FCA EMI)UK only · in-store onlyTop-ups: customer-initiated (AFT · CIT)No automatic or balance-triggered top-ups
Answers for your supportability review
The standard questions an acquirer asks about a card-funded stored-value programme, answered up front.
1
End-to-end funds flow — Stripe, Retail Wallet, the issuer, the end user and partner apps
Mapped leg by leg in End-to-end funds flow below, for both scenarios: A — prepay (card → Stripe → Retail Wallet → safeguarded e-money at Wallester) and B — post-pay (purchase leg plus same-moment reimbursement leg).
2
The legal entity contracting with Stripe and acting as merchant of record
Retail Wallet Ltd — England & Wales, company no. 09858276, 228a First Floor, High Street, Bromley BR1 1PW, VAT 425704310. Retail Wallet is the Stripe customer, the payment acceptor and the merchant of record, and controls the server-side payment integration.
3
Card type, where it can be used, and whether funds can be withdrawn or transferred
A Visa card issued by Wallester UK Ltd with limited acceptance: in person only, only at participating merchants shown in the app. No online or remote purchases, no ATM use, no cash back. The card has no IBAN or account number, and value cannot be transferred or sent to any other card, person or account.
4
Whether top-ups are user-initiated, scheduled, balance-triggered, or all three
User-initiated only. Every top-up is started by the customer in the app, so each is a customer-initiated transaction (CIT). There is no auto-reload, no scheduled top-up and no balance-triggered top-up — the programme contains no merchant-initiated transactions. Limits: minimum £1, maximum £200 per top-up and £400 per calendar month.
5
Customer terms and consent screens for saved cards and automatic top-ups
The Card Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy are linked below, and the consent screens are shown in Issuing the card. Consent is explicit and unbundled — separate tick-boxes per document, recorded with a timestamp and the version accepted. As there is no automatic top-up, no MIT mandate is required.
6
Countries of cardholders, payment cards, issuing entity and top-up acceptance
Cardholders: UK residents aged 18+. Funding cards: UK-issued. Issuing entity: Wallester UK Ltd (UK). Card use and top-up acceptance: United Kingdom only.
7
The partner app’s precise role — whether it holds funds or receives proceeds
Distribution channel only. The flow is presented inside the partner’s app but operated by Retail Wallet. The partner holds no funds, receives no payment proceeds, is not a payment service provider and is not a party to any payment. Retail Wallet remains the payment acceptor and controls the server-side integration.
Account funding & card-network requirements
We treat top-ups as account-funding transactions (AFT), not ordinary purchases, and will complete the required card-network registrations and account-funding data requirements before launch. The Stripe account ID is supplied to your team directly.
Programme documents
Customer-facing terms, privacy policy and the end-to-end funds flow — for Stripe / PSP review.
Both documents are in force as Version 1.0 (10 August 2026). Card issued by Wallester UK Ltd (FCA-authorised EMI) · card charges processed by Stripe Payments UK Ltd · programme managed by Retail Wallet Ltd.
End-to-end funds flow
Who the parties are, how the customer journey runs, and the two funds-flow scenarios — for Stripe / PSP review.
Parties involved
All payments are made in person, in the merchant’s store. There are no online or remote payments.
Us
Retail Wallet Ltd
Our company — the Stripe customer, payment acceptor and merchant of record. Programme manager. Company no. 09858276.
Processor
Stripe Payments UK Ltd
Our card-payment processor, used to charge the customer’s card. Company no. 08480771.
Issuer
Wallester UK Ltd
The licensed Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and Visa card issuer; holds the safeguarded e-money balance in Scenario A. FCA-authorised EMI.
App
Embargo Lifestyle Limited
The partner consumer app in which the card is issued and used. Distribution channel only — it holds no funds and receives no proceeds.
Customer
The end user
The customer (buyer of goods from the merchant), who is also the cardholder.
Merchant
The merchant
A participating retailer — together with its own acquiring bank, which settles each in-store purchase to the merchant’s account.
How the app works — customer journey
1
Download the partner app
The customer installs the partner consumer app.
2
Issue the card
In the app the customer taps “Issue card” and is issued a virtual “Retail Wallet Card”, which is added to Apple Pay / Google Wallet.
3
Choose how to fund payments
Either (A) top up the card — prepay, held as a stored balance; or (B) link their own bank card — charged at the moment of payment.
4
Pay in store only
All payments are made in person at the merchant’s store. There are no online or remote payments, no ATM use and no cash withdrawal.
5
Tap to pay
The customer taps the card at the merchant’s terminal. We receive the authorisation request in real time and then either charge the linked payment method (B) or debit the stored balance (A).
The two funds-flow scenarios
Scenario A — PrepayStored value / e-money balance
The customer chooses to top up in the app (customer-initiated). Economically, a top-up is equivalent to buying a gift card / store credit that can only be spent within a defined circle of participating merchants.
Funding
Customer’s bank cardStripeRetail Wallet LtdSafeguarded e-money balance at Wallester
Spending — customer taps the card in store
Wallester (issuer, drawing on stored balance)Visa networkMerchant’s acquirerMerchant’s account
Scenario B — Post-payLinked card, no stored balance
The customer links their normal bank card in the app. The card is linked to that payment method through Retail Wallet and charges it directly after automatically applying any discount. There is no stored balance and no top-up in this scenario.
Reimbursement leg — same moment, discount already applied
Customer’s linked bank cardStripeRetail Wallet Ltd
Each charge to the customer’s saved card is a direct payment for that specific in-store purchase, actively initiated by the customer’s tap — not a top-up of any balance. There is no stored value, no balance-triggered charge and no merchant-initiated charge.
Account-funding note
In Scenario A, funding the customer’s stored balance is an account-funding flow (AFT), and every top-up is initiated by the customer (CIT). We will put the required card-network registrations and account-funding data in place for that flow. Scenario B funds no stored balance, so it is a set of ordinary customer-initiated, card-present purchases rather than account-funding transactions.
Issuing the card — identity & consents
From the in-app prompt through explicit consent to the issued card in Apple Wallet — the complete onboarding sequence, left to right.
1Home — no card
First-time user — prompt to get Retail Wallet Card.
16:54
Hello Ara 👋
Retail Wallet Card
Get your Retail Wallet Card
Start saving with automatic cashback & exclusive discounts — apply at checkout, no vouchers.
Get Retail Wallet Card
What you'll unlock
🎟️
Stamps
🪙
Cashback
🏷️
Discounts
Offers near you
H
Hermanos Barnes
−50% · Dine In
BJ
Boulangerie Jade
+8% Cashback
Home
Wallet
Stamp
Venues
Settings
2Onboarding — issue card
Full-screen, 3 steps to issue the card.
16:54
Welcome
Tap, pay — savings applied.
No vouchers, no awkward moments.
1
Find an offer
Explore the best restaurants with offers near you.
2
Set up Retail Wallet Card
Add Retail Wallet Card to Apple / Google Wallet and link a payment method. One time, ~2 mins.
3
Tap to pay, save instantly
Tap to pay; savings apply to the whole bill automatically. Staff won't even know.
Get Retail Wallet Card
3Create account & consents
The customer accepts the Card T&Cs and Privacy Policy here — explicit, unbundled tick-boxes; optional ones are separate.
9:41
← Back
Create your Wallet Account
Sign up to start earning cashback with the Retail Wallet Card card.
Phone
Email
ara@example.com
I agree to the Privacy Policy
I agree to the Card Terms & Conditions
I agree to the Cookie policy(optional)
I agree to the Rewards terms(optional)
I agree to receive marketing communications (optional)
Consent is recorded with a timestamp and the document version accepted.
Agree and continue
4Personal details (KYC)
Name, date of birth and phone — collected by Retail Wallet, which runs KYC/AML and passes results to Wallester.
9:41
← Back
1 of 2
Tell us about yourself
We need a few details to set up your account securely.
First name
Ara
Last name
Khachikyan
Date of birth
28 November 1990
Phone number
+44 7700 900000
Continue
5Address
Residential address for KYC and billing match. UK residents only — the card is UK-only.
9:41
Enter an address
United Kingdom
Flat 5, Chelsea House
White Hart Lane
London
United Kingdom
SW13 0PX
Search for an address instead
Confirm
6Review & issue
Details confirmed, consents captured — the customer taps Issue card and KYC/AML runs before issuance.
9:41
PERSONAL PROFILE
Personal Details
We collect your details to confirm your identity and match it with your billing information.