FinToken XArchitectureBroker
Commercial Finance Broker
The introducer. Brokers know Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) borrowers personally and refer them to FinToken X for invoice finance, earning a commission on funded volume. They have a Score Application Programming Interface (API) for prequalification at scale and a referral pipeline portal. They never replace our checks — every referred SME still passes Gates 1–3 themselves.
Why brokers but not "white-label retail aggregators"
FinToken X distinguishes between two kinds of intermediary that look superficially similar.
- Brokers introduce a specific SME for a specific receivables-finance need. Conversation-led, relationship-led, named. Earn commission on funded volume. Allowed.
- Retail-style aggregators (price-comparison-style websites pushing leads at volume) blur the line between regulated intermediation and pure marketing. Not supported on this venue. An aggregator must onboard as a Partner with their own white-label deployment — see partner flow.
The distinction is enforced via an attestation in Form E ("you maintain a relationship-led model and do not aggregate retail leads at scale"). Breach is a contractual termination event.
Flow map
| Step | What the broker sees | Channel | State event |
|---|---|---|---|
| K1 | Sign up, choose role | Browser | SUBJECT_CREATED |
| K2 | Onboarding (Form E — Know Your Business (KYB), FCA reference, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policy attestation, agent list) | Browser | ONBOARDING_SUBMITTED |
| K3 | Gates 1–3 + FCA register confirmed | RISK_PASSED | |
| K4 | Welcome — broker portal access, commission structure set | Email + dashboard | SUBJECT_ACTIVE |
| R1 | Refer an SME | Browser + Score API | REFERRAL_CREATED |
| R2 | Track in pipeline | Browser | — |
| R3 | Prequalify via Score API | API | SCORE_RUN |
| R4 | SME onboards (off-stage on the SME side) | Email notifications | REFERRAL_CONVERTED |
| R5 | Track funded volume + commissions | Browser + monthly statement | COMMISSION_ACCRUED |
Onboarding · K1–K4
5–10 Business Days (BD). The FCA register check verifies that Salford carries an active CCA permission for credit-related activities; the AML policy attestation captures a copy of Salford's own anti-money-laundering policy on file.
K2
ONBOARDING_SUBMITTED
Broker onboarding (Form E)
Five steps: 1) firm details (Companies House (CH) lookup), 2) FCA reference + permissions, 3) AML policy upload, 4) named agents (each broker who'll send referrals), 5) commission structure choice + terms.
🔒 app.fintokenx.uk/compliance/onboarding/broker
Salford Commercial Finance Ltd
Step 4 of 5 — Named agents
Agents who will send referrals
Each agent gets their own login and a tagged referral link. We KYC each agent under your firm's umbrella.
Name
Email
Role
Dan Egglestone
dan@salfordcf.co.uk
MD
Verified
Priya Khatri
priya@salfordcf.co.uk
Senior broker
Pending KYC
Mike Coggins
mike@salfordcf.co.uk
Broker
Pending KYC
Commission structure
Standard Selected
0.30% of funded volume, paid monthly
Volume tier (≥ £2m / quarter)
0.45% of funded volume, paid monthly
Important. You're attesting your firm runs a relationship-led model — not retail-style lead aggregation. Volume aggregators must use the Partner deployment instead.
Per-referral · R1–R5
R1
REFERRAL_CREATED
Refer an SME
Dan creates a referral record by entering the SME's company number and primary contact. FinToken X sends the SME a tagged invitation; once they sign up, the referral is attributed to Salford.
🔒 app.fintokenx.uk/broker/referrals
Refer a small business
Company number (UK Companies House)
07452983
Lookup: Coppergate Joinery Ltd · York · Active
Primary contact name
Aisha Mahmood
Email
aisha@coppergate.co.uk
Approximate monthly invoice volume
£40,000 – £60,000
Note for our compliance team (optional)
Existing 8-year client of Salford. Excellent payment history. Northwind Retail is their largest customer.
R2
Pipeline · /broker/pipeline
Funnel view. Where each referral is in the SME onboarding process. Brokers don't see the SME's actual KYC outcomes (privacy + tipping-off rule); they see only the high-level state.
🔒 app.fintokenx.uk/broker/pipeline
Referral pipeline · last 90 days
Invited
42
Started onboarding
31
Approved
22
First invoice funded
17
Company
Invited
Stage
Funded YTD
Coppergate Joinery Ltd
20 Apr
Active
£28,420
›
Halton & Crane Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
22 Apr
Active
£42,100
›
Marlow Print & Pack
02 May
Onboarding
—
›
Westgate Cabling Ltd
10 May
Did not complete
—
›
Penzance Cold Chain
11 May
Could not approve
—
›
"Could not approve" deliberately gives no further detail (Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) §333A tipping-off prohibition). Brokers learn the pattern at portfolio level — repeat declines from the same referrer can flag the broker themselves to compliance.
R3
SCORE_RUN
Prequalify via Score API
For brokers who want to qualify SMEs in their own CRM before sending an invitation. Returns a soft score and indicative approve / can't-approve / would-need-Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO). Optional, plan-gated.
POST
/v1/broker/prequalify
R3 · prequalify
// Request { "ch_number": "07452983", "primary_contact": { "email": "aisha@coppergate.co.uk", "name": "Aisha Mahmood" }, "approx_monthly_invoice_volume_pence": 5000000 } // 200 OK { "prequalification_id": "pq_88kxz…", "verdict": "LIKELY_APPROVE", "score": 784, "score_band": "A", "signals": { "ch_age_years": 12, "directors_count": 2, "prior_insolvencies": 0, "sic_industry_band": "LOW_RISK", "sanctions_screen": "CLEAR" }, "caveats": [ "Final approval requires the SME to complete Form A and MLRO sign-off.", "Score is a soft indication; do not rely on it for credit decisions." ] }
Allowed verdict values:
Plan-gated: Score API requires Salford on a paid plan; the route guard is
LIKELY_APPROVE, LIKELY_DECLINE, NEEDS_MLRO, BLOCKED (sanctions hit — broker should not invite). The API never reveals why in the case of BLOCKED beyond the high-level signal — same tipping-off discipline as the pipeline view.
Plan-gated: Score API requires Salford on a paid plan; the route guard is
ComplianceGateGuard action="BROKER_API". Both /broker/prequalification (UI) and /broker/api-keys (key management) are wrapped in the same guard so a downgraded broker cannot reach the keys page by URL.
R4
REFERRAL_CONVERTED
Email · referral converted
Sent when the referred SME completes their own onboarding and submits their first invoice.
FinToken X · transactional
FromFinToken X <noreply@fintokenx.uk>
Todan@salfordcf.co.uk
SubjectCoppergate Joinery just funded their first invoice — your commission has started accruing
Coppergate is live ✓
Dan,
Your referral, Coppergate Joinery Ltd, completed onboarding on 22 May and just had their first invoice funded for £10,000. Your commission of 0.30% (£30.00) is accruing on this invoice.
Track funded volume and accrued commission at your dashboard.
R5
COMMISSION_ACCRUED
Commission tracking · /broker/commissions
Running total per referred SME, paid monthly. Statements available for download for the broker's own ledgering.
🔒 app.fintokenx.uk/broker/commissions
Commissions
Accrued this month
£1,247
£415,420 funded volume
Paid YTD
£8,124
Active referred SMEs
22
Effective rate
0.30%
Standard tier
SME
Funded volume MTD
Rate
Commission
Coppergate Joinery Ltd
£28,420
0.30%
£85.26
Halton & Crane LLP
£42,100
0.30%
£126.30
Yorkshire Schools Trust
£22,500
0.30%
£67.50
Commission anti-fraud: commission is paid only on funded invoices, never on submitted-but-unfunded invoices, and is clawed back on disputes upheld against the originator. Statement reconciliation: monthly CSV export of commission accruals + payments, signed and timestamped, suitable for the broker's own audit and tax.
Where it can go wrong
| Branch | What the broker sees | State | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referred SME fails Gate 2 (sanctions) | Pipeline shows "Could not approve" — no detail, no explanation. Auto-rolled to compliance. | REFERRAL_DECLINED_SANCTIONS | None brokerside; recurring declines from the same broker open a broker-monitoring case. |
| Broker FCA permission lapses (Gate 4) | Score API + new referrals frozen; existing pipeline unaffected, commissions continue to accrue on already-funded SMEs. | BROKER_FROZEN_FCA | Broker-side: re-affirm with FCA; FinToken X-side: alert in compliance broker monitoring. |
| Aggregator-pattern breach (sudden spike of 200 leads in a week, low conversion) | FinToken X compliance opens a review; broker may be asked to migrate to Partner deployment instead. | BROKER_REVIEW_AGGREGATOR | Negotiated. |
| SME defaults on a funded invoice | Commission clawed back proportional to the loss in the next monthly statement. | COMMISSION_CLAWED | Visible on the statement. |
| Broker tries to access /broker/api-keys after API plan downgrade | 403 page: "API access requires the Score plan. Upgrade." | — | Self-service upgrade or downgrade-and-revoke. |
/broker/agents. FCA register continuous check: like the lender, Salford's FCA reference is queried every 24h post-onboarding; permission downgrade or removal opens an alert in compliance broker monitoring.