Excellent comment @alonicus and thank you so much. This is exactly the sort of thing I want people to challenge me on because it makes the review better.

I’ve done some more digging since you posted this, and there’s one important bit I can confirm from my own actual use of Ribbon rather than from their marketing...
I was given a Griffin Bank account in my own name. I first sent my 1p test payment into that account, and then I sent the £680 rent payment into the same Griffin account. From there, the money was forwarded on to my landlord.

So in my case the practical flow was..
My normal bank → my Griffin Bank account → my landlord

I’ve also checked the current legal wording. Ribbon/Ribbon Rewards are trading names of Scraye Technologies Ltd, company number 12424477, and the current terms say Scraye provides access to the platform while Griffin provides the operating account for the customer’s funds.
You were also right to raise the company-name question... There was a separate Scraye Rent Ltd, which was dissolved in February 2025. Companies House shows it was controlled by Scraye Technologies Ltd, while the current Ribbon terms name Scraye Technologies Ltd as the company behind the service.

I still agree with your wider point that simply saying “Griffin is regulated” isn’t enough by itself. The roles of Scraye, Ribbon and Griffin — and exactly what protection applies at each stage — are worth spelling out properly.

I’ve now updated both this Hive post and the full MMOnline review with a section covering who actually holds the money and what I found.
Thanks again for your genuinely useful comment, that's exactly the sort of extra scrutiny I want MMOnline to have.