This section introduces the key elements required to start integrating with the SIBS Payment Gateway, including the role of the platform in the payment ecosystem, the involvement of financial partners, and the prerequisites for moving from testing to production.

Integration Prerequisites

Before starting the integration process, ensure that the following elements are in place:

• Access to the SIBS Payment Gateway sandbox environment
• Assigned credentials, including Client ID, Client Secret, and API access configuration, provided during the onboarding process
• Definition of the payment methods to be supported
• Alignment with a financial partner (e.g., acquirer) for production processing

These prerequisites are required to ensure a smooth transition from initial testing to production deployment.

The selection of payment methods and integration approach directly impacts how these prerequisites are implemented. See B. Integration Models for details on the available integration options.

Financial Partners and the SIBS Payment Gateway

Financial partners, including acquirers for card payments, are responsible for executing the financial operations associated with each transaction, including debiting customer accounts and settling funds to the merchant.

The SIBS Payment Gateway connects to SIBS-managed payment services and financial partners, enabling the processing of multiple payment methods through a single integration. This eliminates the need for merchants to establish direct technical integrations with each underlying financial entity.

Supported payment methods and their specific behaviors are detailed in D. Payment Methods.

Payouts

Payouts are performed by financial partners and not by the gateway itself. Transactions are typically aggregated and transferred to the merchant’s bank account according to the settlement schedule defined with the financial partner. In most cases, payouts occur on a daily basis, although this may vary depending on the contractual agreement.

Test Account and Going Live

Integration should begin in the sandbox environment, where transactions can be executed without real financial impact. Access to the sandbox environment, including credentials such as Client ID, Client Secret, and API configuration, is provided during the onboarding process.

The sandbox environment replicates the behavior of the production environment from an integration standpoint, allowing full validation of payment flows, status handling, and notification mechanisms without involving real financial transactions.

This includes validation of asynchronous transaction handling through both webhook notifications and status inquiry mechanisms. See E. Notifications and Transaction Status for details.

To move to production and accept real customer payments, the following conditions must be met:

• A valid contract must be established with at least one financial partner (e.g., acquirer)
• The integration must be completed and validated in the sandbox environment
• The merchant account must be configured and approved for production use

Once these conditions are satisfied, access to the production environment can be activated.

Before going live, it is recommended to review the guidelines in F.6 – Production Readiness Guidelines to ensure proper handling of transaction lifecycle, retries, and operational resilience.

In the production environment, transactions involve real financial processing through the configured financial partner, and all operations are subject to the contractual and operational conditions defined during onboarding.