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An account number for every customer, order or invoice.

Dedicated account numbers per customer or per invoice, credited as transfers land.

Talk to us about virtual accountsAPI reference →
Illustrative
Why it matters

What it changes for you.

Bank transfer is how most Nigerians pay, and it has one weak point: matching. A customer sends ₦47,500 with the narration 'payment', and someone has to work out who they are and what it was for.

Virtual accounts give each customer, order or invoice its own account number. Whatever arrives in that number belongs to that customer or that order, without anyone reading narrations. Payers see whose account they're paying before they send, because name enquiry returns your business and their reference.

Credit notices are verified before anything posts, and a notice received twice posts once.

How it works

Step by step.

  1. Issue an account number

    Per customer, per order or per invoice, through a partner bank connected to Bridge.

  2. The payer transfers

    From any bank app. Name enquiry shows your business and the reference, so they know they're paying the right place.

  3. The credit is verified

    The bank's notice is checked before anything posts, and a repeated notice posts only once.

  4. Matched and posted

    The money lands in the customer's account or against the order, and you get a signed webhook.

What you can switch on

Built in, not bolted on.

Per customer, order or invoice

Long-lived numbers for customers to top up, or one-off numbers that close when an order is paid.

Name enquiry that reassures

Payers see your business name and their reference before they send, which cuts wrong transfers.

Verified credit notices

Every notice from the bank is checked before it moves money on Bridge.

Safe replay

A credit notice delivered twice posts once, so retries from the bank never double-credit a customer.

Partial and over-payments

Amounts that don't match the order are flagged with what was expected and what arrived.

One event per credit

Each matched credit reaches you as a signed webhook with the customer or order it belongs to.

  • A dedicated account number per customer, per order or per invoice
  • Inbound transfers credited to the right account automatically
  • Safe replay: a credit notice received twice posts once
  • Name enquiry so payers see who they are paying
Use cases

How businesses use it.

Illustrative businesses, not customers. Figures are made up to show the flow.

A home-fittings store selling online in Lagos · Merchants & e-commerce

Orders paid by transfer, matched automatically

Customers pay by transfer and send a screenshot on WhatsApp. Staff spend hours matching screenshots to orders, and some orders ship before the money has really arrived.

  1. Checkout shows a one-off account number for each order
  2. The customer transfers from their bank app
  3. The credit is verified and matched to the order
  4. The order is marked paid and the warehouse is notified

No screenshots, no matching by hand, and nothing ships until the money has really landed.

Illustrative

A wallet app with customers across the South-West · Fintechs & neobanks

Top-ups into a wallet app

Customers want to add money from their existing bank apps, not by card. The app needs every top-up credited to the right person, fast, without a support ticket.

  1. Every customer gets a permanent account number at sign-up
  2. They save it as a beneficiary in their bank app
  3. Each transfer is verified and credited to their wallet
  4. The app shows the top-up as soon as the webhook arrives

Customers top up from any bank app, and every naira lands in the right wallet.

Illustrative

A group of private schools in Abuja · Merchants & e-commerce

School fees by student

Parents pay fees into one school account. The bursar matches hundreds of transfers to students at the start of every term, by narration.

  1. Each student gets their own account number
  2. Parents pay from any bank, in instalments if they like
  3. Each payment is credited to that student's fees
  4. The bursar sees what each family still owes

Fees match students on their own, even when parents pay in parts.

Illustrative
What it won't do

Honest limits.

  • Account numbers come through a partner bank; availability depends on that bank.
Bridge Payments

Accept bank transfers at checkout with Bridge Payments

See Bridge Payments
Who uses it

Built into these products.

Fintechs & neobanks

Launch a full money app without building the plumbing.

Fintechs & neobanks

Banks, MFBs & PSBs

Add offline payments and new products to the channels you already run.

Banks, MFBs & PSBs

Marketplaces

Collect, hold and split, so buyers and sellers both trust you.

Marketplaces
For developers

Create a virtual account at each of the named banks.

Endpoints in the Virtual accounts API reference, with every parameter and response.

State changes arrive as signed webhooks. How webhooks work

POST /account/virtual

curl -X POST "https://api.bridgemoni.com/account/virtual" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BRIDGEMONI_TOKEN" \
  -H "X-Tenant: $BRIDGEMONI_TENANT" \
  -H "X-Environment: $BRIDGEMONI_ENV" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "financialInstitutionCodes": [
      "financial institution code"
    ],
    "currencyCode": "NGN",
    "category": "category"
  }'

Questions about virtual accounts

Which bank issues the account numbers?

A partner bank connected to Bridge. The bank's name appears in the payer's app; availability depends on that bank.

What if someone pays the wrong amount?

The credit still posts, and the difference is flagged against the order or invoice so you can decide what to do.

Can a number be used once and closed?

Yes. Issue one-off numbers per order or invoice, or permanent ones per customer.

What if the bank sends the same notice twice?

It posts once. Credit notices are replay-safe.

Related capabilities

Collections

Live

Bank transfer to account numbers, wallet, agent cash and offline devices, with split settlement and refunds.

Direct debit

Partner required

Mandates and scheduled pulls. Moves money once a processor is connected.

Card acceptance

Partner required

Card and mobile-money acceptance. Moves money once a processor is connected.

Bridge for Business

Tell us what you're building.

We'll come back with what's live for you today, and what's next.

Talk to usRead the docs