Delicato

What Delicato is

Delicato is an independent consultancy based in London that introduces adult and dating businesses to third-party banks, acquirers and payment institutions. Its legal notice is direct about the role: it provides independent introduction services, it is not a financial institution, it holds no banking or payment license, and it does not open accounts, process payments or hold client funds. The terms of use repeat that any merchant account, IBAN, gateway or crypto-payment service comes from an independent provider under that provider's own terms, and that Delicato itself offers no banking, acquiring, e-money, legal or tax services. The site is aimed at operators of adult sites, dating platforms, cam and creator sites, live streaming services and adult games publishers who have trouble keeping a bank account or a card processor. It says it brings more than 20 years of combined experience in banking, finance and compliance. For a site operator, Delicato is a matchmaker for payment and banking infrastructure, with the contract always signed with the provider it names.

What it sells an operator

The offer spans banking and payments. On the banking side, Delicato says it arranges multi-currency IBAN business accounts with full SEPA and SWIFT capabilities. The home page frames the need plainly: many banks decline adult and dating businesses, hold funds but refuse international transfers, or support only major currencies, and it names CNY, INR and AED as examples that are hard to trade in elsewhere.

On the payments side, the site describes card acquiring through adult merchant accounts with 3DS2 authentication for European customers, tokenized card storage, and one API that connects the payment methods. The home page also lists a gateway built for mature content and subscription platforms, with recurring billing, fraud protection and routing aimed at higher authorization rates.

The alternatives are broad. Pay-by-bank is delivered through Open Banking and account-to-account payments, with SEPA transfers for European transactions and SWIFT for cross-border ones. Among the benefits it lists for its bank-payment and crypto options are no chargebacks, no rolling reserves and near-instant settlement through SEPA Instant. Crypto processing is described with global access, fast settlement, lower processing costs, no chargebacks and no reserve requirements. Alternative and local payment methods, including local wallets, mobile payments and vouchers, are pitched for markets such as LATAM, Africa and Asia. The home page also states 200+ payment methods and coverage in 150+ countries, along with PCI DSS Level 1 certification, as the site's claims.

Billing tools cover trials and paid trials, membership levels, failed-payment retries and a portal where subscribers update their own billing details. One-time payments for single pieces of content or bundles are supported, with upsell offers to turn buyers into subscribers. Webhooks can grant or remove access based on payment status, and renewal reminders are available. For cam and creator sites, a credits or token wallet handles top-ups, balance tracking and spending.

The terms that decide the choice

The pages publish no acceptable use policy and no list of allowed or forbidden content. What the site states is its selection rule: it says it only partners with digital banks and acquirers that support adult and dating businesses, and the terms add that it does not guarantee approval, onboarding, pricing, availability or continued service from any provider, since onboarding, compliance, risk assessment and approval decisions belong to the provider.

Pricing is by quote only. The FAQ tells operators to contact Delicato for a personalized quote, saying that pricing depends on the project's scope, volumes, GEOs and other terms. No rate, fee, reserve percentage or minimum is published. The site does describe how terms are meant to read: it says the contracts of its partner gateways spell out rates, chargeback fees and volume pricing upfront, and that rolling reserves follow predictable schedules with clear release terms, so the merchant knows when funds arrive and what holdbacks apply.

On disputes, the site lists early-warning alerts that give time to refund before a dispute becomes a chargeback, evidence organized for each case and response templates meant to improve the win rate. It also describes compliance support: 3DS2 and SCA handling for Europe, and KYC and AML workflows that connect with identity verification partners so an operator does not build verification from scratch. These are product descriptions, and the mechanics depend on the partner provider.

The FAQ lists what opening an adult merchant account takes: business registration documents, detailed service descriptions, processing history if there is any, bank statements and ID verification, along with clear terms of service, a privacy policy and a description of the business model. The pages do not give approval timelines, payout schedules, contract lengths, refund terms for Delicato's own service or the names of the acquirers and banks, and the application form says information may be shared with selected third-party providers for preliminary assessment and introduction.

Getting started and support

The process on the home page runs in order: describe the company, business model, operating GEOs and volumes in an application, submit the supporting documents, receive a review and match with providers, work with the team through onboarding and integration, and then start accepting payments. Delicato says it will not refer and walk away, and that operators speak directly to account managers who give personalized guidance and continued optimization.

On integration, the hosted checkout is described as live within hours without coding: customers pay on secure pages and return to the operator's site. WordPress users can install a plugin, and operators who want full control can use the API to build their own checkout. Reporting covers daily dashboards of volumes, approval rates and revenue trends, reconciliation exports for accounting software, refunds issued from the dashboard, a dispute workflow that keeps case details together and bulk operations for cancellations, plan changes and promotions. The contact page lists an email address and a London phone line, hours of Monday-Friday, 09:00-18:00 UK time, and a reply within 48 hours.

Company and track record

The company gives its address as 43 Bedford Street, London, United Kingdom, and its terms are dated 1 May 2026. The home page claims more than 20 years of combined experience among its team and carries short references from roles such as the CBDO of a subscription-based dating platform, the co-founder of an adult games publisher and the CEO of an international streaming platform; the quotes are unattributed by name. A partners page lists named companies without describing the relationship. The site gives no founding year, no licensing detail of its own, which fits its stated position as an introducer, and no figures on how many merchants it has placed.

Who it suits

Under high-risk merchant accounts, Delicato fits an adult or dating operator, especially one selling to European customers, that needs a human guide through bank and acquirer selection instead of applying provider by provider. Under adult payment processors, it points to card acquiring, pay by bank, crypto and local methods through one API, along with subscription and token billing. Under e-wallets and banking, its distinctive offer is the multi-currency IBAN business account with SEPA and SWIFT, which sits next to the processing side so an operator can arrange banking and acceptance together. The caveats are the lack of published prices, reserve terms and timelines, and the fact that everything contractual is with a third party. Its strength is a clear scope: banking, cards, alternatives and billing arranged for adult businesses by a team that says it partners only with banks and acquirers that support adult and dating businesses.