A Payments Account is a sub-account that lives inside your merchant account and is used to accept and manage payments. A merchant can have one or several Payments Accounts (for example, one per store, brand, or payment flow) all sitting under the same merchant.
A Payments Account is where payment activity lands. For holding, receiving, and moving funds in a specific currency, see Treasury Accounts.

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How funds move across your Payments Accounts

How money moves across your Payments Accounts is governed by your account’s balance model, which is set during onboarding and cannot be changed afterwards.

Under Aggregated Balance

All Payments Accounts share a single balance per currency. Money earned by any Payments Account flows into one shared pool, and Settlements and Withdrawals are taken from that pool without selecting a specific account.

Under Dedicated Balance

Each Payments Account holds its own separate balance and transaction history. Settlements and Withdrawals are taken from the specific account you select.
For the full behaviour of each model (including how incoming payments, payouts, Settlements, and Withdrawals are handled) see balance models.

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Common ways to use Payments Accounts

One per store

Give each storefront its own Payments Account to keep activity clearly separated.

One per brand

Run several brands under one merchant, each with its own Payments Account.

One per payment flow

Separate different kinds of payment activity into their own accounts.
Whether these accounts share a balance or keep separate ones depends entirely on your balance model. If keeping each store’s money separate matters to you, that is a reason to choose Dedicated Balance during onboarding.