Multibanco Reference is a payment method that allows customers to complete a payment using a generated reference at an ATM, home banking platform, or mobile banking application within the Multibanco network.

In a one-off payment scenario, the merchant generates a payment reference for a specific transaction amount. The customer completes the payment separately using the provided entity, reference, and amount. The transaction is finalized only after the payment is executed by the customer.

Unlike real-time payment methods, Multibanco Reference payments are completed asynchronously.

How It Works

In a typical Multibanco Reference one-off payment flow:

1. The merchant initiates a payment request through the SIBS Payment Gateway.
2. A unique Multibanco entity and reference are generated for the specified amount.
3. The reference details are presented to the customer.
4. The customer completes the payment through an ATM, online banking, or mobile banking.
5. Once the payment is processed within the Multibanco network, the transaction is confirmed.
6. The final payment result is confirmed through webhook notifications and, where needed, Status Inquiry.

Customer interaction occurs outside the merchant’s checkout environment, and payment completion depends on the customer executing the reference payment within the defined validity period.

Workflow Characteristics

The Multibanco Reference one-off flow has the following characteristics:

• Customer-initiated payment
• Asynchronous confirmation
• Payment completed outside checkout
• No real-time authorization step
• Settlement triggered upon confirmed payment

The transaction remains pending until the customer executes the payment. If the reference expires without payment, the transaction is marked accordingly.

Multischeme Support

Multibanco Reference payments support multischeme configurations when enabled for the merchant and configured accordingly.

This capability allows reference generation to operate across multiple supported schemes when configured for the merchant.

From an operational perspective, this means:

• Reference generation behaviour may vary depending on merchant configuration.
• Available payment schemes may depend on contractual setup.
• Reference attributes returned during generation may vary depending on the enabled scheme.
• Merchants should validate supported schemes during onboarding and implementation phases.

This capability does not change the overall Multibanco Reference lifecycle. Merchants must still manage reference generation, expiration handling, payment confirmation, and reconciliation processes.

Transaction Lifecycle

The following diagram illustrates the operational lifecycle of a Multibanco Reference one-off payment within the SIBS Payment Gateway, including reference generation, customer payment execution, transaction confirmation, expiration handling, and merchant reconciliation.

The lifecycle of a Multibanco Reference one-off payment typically includes:

• Payment reference generation
• Pending payment
• Paid (successful)
• Expired

The transaction is considered successful only after confirmation is received from the Multibanco network.

The SPG transactionID should be treated as the authoritative identifier for transaction monitoring, webhook correlation, reconciliation, refund operations, and Status Inquiry requests throughout the transaction lifecycle.

Use Cases

Multibanco Reference one-off payments are commonly used in:

• E-commerce environments where customers prefer offline or banking-channel payments
• Invoice-based payments
• Government and public sector services
• Utilities and recurring billing with manual payment
• High-value transactions requiring customer confirmation outside checkout

This payment method is particularly suited for environments where:

• Customers prefer not to use cards
• Payment does not need to be confirmed instantly
• A delayed or manual payment experience is acceptable

For transaction lifecycle monitoring and transaction status follow-up, refer to E.2 – Status Inquiry / Get Status.

For webhook delivery and asynchronous transaction notifications, refer to E.1 – Webhooks (Notifications).

Practical implementation examples, Postman collections, Multibanco Reference payment scenarios, and integration examples are documented in F. Technical Examples and Best Practices.

The Sandbox Payment Simulator may also be used to validate Multibanco Reference payment flows, reference generation behaviour, transaction lifecycle progression, expiration scenarios, payment confirmation processing, and operational request/response payloads in the sandbox environment.

Example sandbox simulator entry point

Particularities in the SIBS Context

When working with Multibanco Reference one-off payments in SIBS SPG, several platform-specific aspects should be considered:

• Payment confirmation is asynchronous and depends on customer execution of the generated reference within the defined validity period
• A transaction remains in a pending state until payment confirmation is received from the Multibanco network or until the reference reaches its final expiration state
• Expired references do not generate webhook notifications when expiration occurs and should be monitored through Status Inquiry and reconciliation processes
• Webhook notifications and, where needed, Status Inquiry should be implemented for reliable transaction lifecycle monitoring and operational reconciliation
• Multischeme behaviour may vary depending on merchant configuration and contractual setup
• Proper expiration handling and reconciliation procedures are important to support accurate transaction state management
• For expiration and reconciliation scenarios, Status Inquiry should be used as a monitoring and recovery mechanism when webhook notification is not available or when additional status confirmation is required.

Integration Context

Within the SIBS Payment Gateway, Multibanco Reference is supported as an asynchronous one-off payment method.

The merchant system must use Status Inquiry and/or webhook notifications to determine when a transaction reaches its final state.

The following sections describe the technical integration flow for Multibanco Reference payments.

For annotated request and response examples, refer to F.2.5 – Multibanco Reference – Annotated Requests and Responses.