Configurable time zones is a new Checkout.com feature that lets you configure settlement time zones for different entities in your business and align your Dashboard reporting to your chosen time zone.
For example, if you have a business entity in Singapore, it may be simpler for your local team to view settlements and reports from midnight to midnight in SGT (Singapore Time) instead of from midnight to midnight in GMT.
To update your Dashboard time zone, simply click the time zone in the top right of the Dashboard and choose your preferred time zone:
All reports will then be generated in your selected time zone to ease reconciliation.
To change your settlement time zone for an entity, you’ll need to have the Administrator Owner or Administrator role in Dashboard. You can set a settlement time zone for each entity in your client account.
Note that to avoid settlement disruptions during the week, we recommend changing your time zone on Fridays after 5am local time if you’re contracted with any of the following:
To change the settlement time zone:
Your time zone is immediately updated and effective for the next settlement run.
You may receive a short or extended settlement based on your geographic location. The first local time settlement in geographies ahead of UTC (such as Europe or MENA) will be less than 24 hours. For geographies behind UTC (such as US), the first settlement will be longer than 24 hours. After that, the settlement schedule will be normalized.
If your settlement time zone is in UTC, we generate settlements at 2am UTC. For all other time zones, we generate settlements are at 5am based on the regional Checkout.com entity you contract with.
When you change your settlement time zone, plan for missing or duplicated Checkout.com transactions, if the report from the previous period and the report from the current period are in different time zones.
For example, you download a report ending at the end of the day on December 31, 2024 in UTC time zone and another report beginning at the start of the day on January 1, 2025 in America/Los Angeles time zone then some of your Checkout.com transactions will not appear on either report because of the different time windows.
To reconcile, download reports for the time period in both UTC and your selected time zone.
You’ll see changes to the timing and schedules of your reports:
Additionally, the content of the reports will change:
Typically, we generate one settlement per day at 02:00 (UTC), or at 05:00 local time if configured for local time settlements. However, generating a local time settlement at 05:00 local time in APAC could coincide with the previous day’s UTC settlement.
This overlap means the first local time settlement in APAC is skipped until the following business day.
For APAC clients, we therefore recommend changing your settlement time zone between Friday 05:00 local time and before Monday 02:00 (UTC).
For APAC customers setting their local time zone on a Friday, the first settlement will occur at 05:00 local time on Monday. This settlement will include transactions from Friday (adjusted for the time difference to UTC), Saturday, and Sunday.
Europe and MENA customers will see their first local time settlement reduced by their time difference to UTC. For example, Dubai has a 4-hour difference, making the first settlement 20 hours long.
US customers, on the other hand, will have their first local time settlement extended by their time difference to UTC. For example, New York under Daylight Saving Time has a 4-hour difference, resulting in a 28-hour first settlement.
Daylight Saving Time (DST) alters the time difference between your local time zone and UTC. This change impacts the 24-hour period used to batch your transactions when transitioning into or out of DST, temporarily affecting the length of this period before returning to the standard 24 hours.
Our settlement and reporting processes automatically adapt to DST if supported by your time zone, settling your balance as of the previous day's local midnight. Note that not all regions observe DST, so it's important to verify whether this applies to your area. You can check if your settlement time zone supports DST by referring to the settlement details page, which shows the time difference to UTC under both standard and DST times.
Tom is the Merchant Communications leader for Checkout.com, responsible for keeping merchants aware of product changes, scheme updates, and regulations. With 12 years of payments industry experience, Tom also writes blogs on general industry topics across all the solutions we offer.
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