Category
Payment Processing & Acquiring
Payment processors and acquirers let you accept card, wallet and bank payments across channels — with acquiring licences, PCI scope, 3DS, chargebacks and settlement handled for you. Compare on scheme coverage, geographic acquiring, checkout options, authorization rates, fees and payout speed.
In one minute
What it is
The infrastructure to accept card, wallet and bank payments online, in app and in store, with an acquirer settling the funds to you.
What you get
Checkout components or APIs, authorisation and settlement, 3-D Secure, tokenisation, local payment methods, payouts, reporting and dispute handling.
What you still own
Your checkout experience, your fraud appetite, customer service, refunds policy and — depending on the integration — part of your PCI DSS scope.
When you need it
Whenever customers pay you, or your platform's users, by card, wallet or bank payment.
How it works
Many providers are both PSP and acquirer; others connect you to several acquirers. Orchestration layers sit above several PSPs. Establish who the acquirer of record is in each market — it decides settlement, pricing and risk appetite.
Who does what
| Task | You | Provider | Acquirer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checkout interface | Owns | Supplies hosted or embedded components | — |
| Card data handling | Minimised by integration choice | Tokenises and stores | — |
| Merchant onboarding and underwriting | Supplies data | Collects | Approves |
| Authorisation routing | Configures rules | Operates | Processes |
| 3-D Secure | Presents challenge | Operates | — |
| Settlement and payouts | Reconciles | Reports | Settles |
| Refunds | Initiates | Executes | Processes |
| Disputes | Provides evidence | Manages workflow | Handles with the scheme |
| Fraud screening | Sets appetite | Supplies tooling | Monitors portfolio |
Checkout interface
- You
- Owns
- Provider
- Supplies hosted or embedded components
- Acquirer
- —
Card data handling
- You
- Minimised by integration choice
- Provider
- Tokenises and stores
- Acquirer
- —
Merchant onboarding and underwriting
- You
- Supplies data
- Provider
- Collects
- Acquirer
- Approves
Authorisation routing
- You
- Configures rules
- Provider
- Operates
- Acquirer
- Processes
3-D Secure
- You
- Presents challenge
- Provider
- Operates
- Acquirer
- —
Settlement and payouts
- You
- Reconciles
- Provider
- Reports
- Acquirer
- Settles
Refunds
- You
- Initiates
- Provider
- Executes
- Acquirer
- Processes
Disputes
- You
- Provides evidence
- Provider
- Manages workflow
- Acquirer
- Handles with the scheme
Fraud screening
- You
- Sets appetite
- Provider
- Supplies tooling
- Acquirer
- Monitors portfolio
Use cases
Accept online card payments
Add hosted checkout, drop-in or a fully custom card form with 3D Secure, wallets and stored credentials.
Read the use caseEnable in-store or unattended payments
Combine online acquiring with SoftPOS, terminals or QR code payments across markets.
Read the use caseRun marketplace split payments
Split a single buyer payment across multiple sellers with automated payouts and reconciliation.
Read the use caseReduce checkout friction internationally
Route transactions to local acquirers to lift authorization rates and unlock local payment methods.
Read the use caseWhat to compare
Acquiring footprint
Local acquiring affects approval rates and cost
Ask: In which countries are you the acquirer of record, and where do you rely on partners?
Payment methods
Conversion depends on local habits
Ask: Which wallets and local methods are live per market?
Authorisation performance
Declines are lost revenue
Ask: How do you report approval rates, and what optimisation tools exist — network tokens, retries, routing?
3-D Secure and exemptions
Strong authentication affects conversion in Europe
Ask: Which exemptions do you support and who decides to apply them?
PCI scope
Determines your compliance burden
Ask: Which integration keeps us at the lightest PCI validation level?
Platform capabilities
Needed for marketplaces and SaaS
Ask: Sub-merchant onboarding, split payments, payouts to third parties?
Settlement
Cash flow
Ask: Settlement currencies, timing, reserves and rolling holds?
Reporting and reconciliation
Finance team workload
Ask: Transaction-level fees, settlement files, APIs?
Disputes
Losses and operations
Ask: Tooling, alerts, representment support?
Resilience
Checkout outages cost sales
Ask: Uptime reporting, incident notification, failover options?
How providers charge
Transaction fee
Blended per transaction, or interchange plus scheme fees plus a markup
Fixed per-transaction fee
Adds up on small baskets
Payment-method fees
Local methods priced separately
Cross-border and FX fees
For foreign cards or settlement in another currency
Chargeback fees
Per dispute, sometimes per stage
Setup and monthly fees
Sometimes waived at volume
Reserves
Cash held back against risk — ask how and when it is released
Payouts
Fees for paying sub-merchants on platforms
Ask each provider for the all-in cost at your expected volume, for year one and year three.
Regulatory context
EU
- PSD2 strong customer authentication applies to online card payments, with defined exemptions
- The Interchange Fee Regulation caps consumer card interchange; surcharging consumer cards is restricted in the EU
- Acquiring is a payment service requiring authorisation
- DORA applies to licensed providers and passes ICT requirements to their subcontractors.
UK
- The FCA supervises payment institutions; the Payment Systems Regulator oversees card and payment systems
US
- Card acceptance runs through acquirers and payment facilitators; debit interchange differs for regulated and exempt issuers.
Orientation only, not legal advice.
What providers will ask you
Have these ready before you publish.
- Legal entity and ownership
- Business model and what you sell
- Markets and customer countries
- Expected volume, average transaction value and growth
- Refund and chargeback history
- Delivery timelines for goods or services
- Whether you onboard sub-merchants
- Current payment setup
Red flags
- The provider cannot say who the acquirer of record is per market
- Approval rates quoted without a methodology
- Reserves or rolling holds disclosed only in the contract
- No transaction-level fee reporting
- Local methods "on the roadmap" in your core markets
- Sub-merchant onboarding offered without clarity on who carries the regulatory responsibility
How Finlane fits
Your RFP covers
- Markets and acquiring footprint
- Channels
- Payment methods
- Integration model and PCI scope
- Platform and split-payment needs
- Volumes and basket size
- Settlement and reserves
- Disputes
- Pricing model
- Resilience
- 1Scope your payment requirements with the AI advisor
- 2Matching providers receive your brief
- 3Compare structured responses side by side
- 4Shortlist and continue with your own due diligence
Frequently asked questions
Related reading
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