Payment Partners

To facilitate global e-commerce, process digital payments, and reliably settle funds between buyers and subscribing merchants, Ruba integrates with industry-leading, regulated financial infrastructure providers.

This document provides comprehensive transparency into how payment transactions are routed, authorized, secured, and settled across the Ruba platform, as well as the legal frameworks governing our payment processing partnerships.

1. Overview & Role of Payment Infrastructure

1.1. Financial Orchestration. Ruba operates as a comprehensive billing engine and merchant of record enablement platform. To execute credit card charges, local payment methods, tax remittances, and merchant payouts seamlessly, Ruba collaborates with specialized, highly regulated payment processors. 1.2. Regulatory Compliance. Our payment partners operate under strict financial oversight and maintain licenses as money transmitters, acquiring institutions, and payment service providers across global jurisdictions. This structure ensures that every transaction executed on Ruba complies with international banking regulations, anti-money laundering (AML) laws, and card network operating rules.

2. What is a Payment Processor?

2.1. Definition & Function. A payment processor is a regulated financial service provider that acts as the critical technical and operational bridge between e-commerce applications, credit card networks (such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover), issuing banks (the buyer’s financial institution), and acquiring banks (the merchant’s financial institution). 2.2. Core Capabilities. Payment processors are responsible for securely capturing payment credentials, conducting real-time fraud evaluation, verifying account balances, obtaining transaction authorizations from issuing banks, clearing funds, and executing final settlement into merchant bank accounts.

3. The Checkout & Settlement Lifecycle

When a buyer initiates a transaction through a Ruba-powered checkout interface, the payment lifecycle proceeds through the following standardized stages:

1. Secure Credential Ingestion: The buyer's sensitive payment details (such as primary account numbers and expiration dates) are encrypted in the browser and transmitted directly to our payment processor’s secure tokenization servers. Raw card numbers never touch or traverse Ruba’s internal infrastructure.
2. Network Routing & Risk Scoring: The payment processor evaluates the transaction against automated fraud detection models and routes the authorization request through the appropriate card network to the buyer's issuing bank.
3. Authorization Decision: The issuing bank verifies available funds, checks fraud signals, and returns an approval or decline code in real time.
4. Clearing & Settlement: Upon authorization, the transaction is cleared. Settled funds are transferred to the designated Ruba account or routed directly to the merchant’s bank account via automated payout infrastructure (such as Stripe Connect), deducting applicable billing and tax withholdings.

4. Ruba's Primary Payment Processor: Stripe

4.1. Strategic Infrastructure Partner. Ruba utilizes Stripe, Inc. and its global affiliates (including Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd.) as our core technology partner for payment processing, card gateway routing, and financial settlement. 4.2. Scope of Services. Across the Ruba ecosystem, Stripe powers:

• Global credit, debit, and wallet payment processing;
• Real-time transaction authorization and automated clearing;
• Advanced machine learning fraud prevention (via Stripe Radar);
• Compliance with regional Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and PSD2 mandates;
• Automated tax calculation and invoicing integration;
• Execution of customer refunds, disputes, and chargeback representation;
• Payout routing and identity onboarding via Stripe Connect. 4.3. Independent Governance. All monetary transactions processed through Ruba are executed by Stripe in strict accordance with Stripe’s regulatory obligations, security policies, and financial operating licenses.

5. Stripe Connected Account & Legal Framework

5.1. Stripe Connect Integration. Subscribing merchants utilizing Ruba's automated payout and settlement infrastructure must onboard and maintain an active account via Stripe Connect. 5.2. Binding Terms. By establishing a connected account, utilizing Ruba’s checkout services, or executing the Ruba Master Services Terms, you expressly agree to be bound by the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, which incorporates the Stripe Terms of Service (collectively, the “Stripe Services Agreement”). These terms may be updated or modified by Stripe from time to time in accordance with their provisions. 5.3. Information Sharing Authorization. To ensure seamless underwriting, fraud prevention, and regulatory reporting, you agree to provide Ruba with complete, accurate, and up-to-date business identity and banking information. You formally authorize Ruba to share such onboarding data, transaction telemetry, and account metadata directly with Stripe.

6. Authorized Payment Processing Partners

The following table details our authorized payment processing entities, the categories of data they ingest, their lawful processing purposes, and their primary processing jurisdictions:

7. Security, PCI DSS & Cryptographic Standards

7.1. PCI DSS Level 1 Certification. Ruba relies exclusively on payment processing partners who have achieved and continuously maintain PCI DSS Level 1 certification—the highest standard of payment card security recognized by the global financial industry. 7.2. Tokenization & Zero Card Storage. Ruba employs advanced client-side tokenization (such as Stripe Elements and PaymentIntents). When a buyer enters payment credentials, the card data is encrypted and exchanged for a secure, non-reversible alphanumeric token. Ruba never stores, logs, or processes raw credit card numbers or card security codes on its servers or databases. 7.3. In-Transit Encryption. All communication between Ruba’s checkout interfaces, our servers, and our payment partners is strictly enforced over modern Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.2 or higher) protocols, ensuring that financial data is fully shielded from eavesdropping or man-in-the-middle interception.

8. Partner Updates & Merchant Notifications

8.1. Infrastructure Evolution. As Ruba expands its global reach and introduces new regional payment methods, we may evaluate, onboard, or replace payment processing partners to optimize transaction approval rates, reduce latency, and enhance financial resilience. 8.2. Notice of Modifications. This page is maintained as a living record and will be updated promptly whenever changes occur within our payment processing network. If we add a new primary payment processor or make material changes to our financial routing partners, subscribing merchants will receive formal notification via email or through their administrative dashboard.

9. Contact & Inquiries

If you have questions concerning our payment infrastructure, transaction settlement, or financial partner compliance, please contact our legal and support teams at:

• Support Inquiries: support@getruba.com
• Legal & Compliance: legal@getruba.com