Payments and fintech
Acquirer
The bank or firm that lets a merchant accept card payments.
Last reviewedWhat does Acquirer mean?
The acquirer (or merchant acquirer) is the bank or payment company that signs up merchants, processes their card payments and pays the money into their accounts. It collects the merchant discount rate, pays interchange to the issuer and scheme fees to the network, and keeps the rest. Example: a cafe signs with an acquirer at an MDR of 1.8 percent, so on a 50 payment the cafe receives 49.10. Acquiring is a scale business with thin margins, and payment companies such as Adyen and Stripe combine acquiring with software to earn more per merchant.
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Related terms
- IssuerThe bank or firm that gives a customer a card and, for credit cards, takes the credit risk.
- Merchant discount rate (MDR)The total fee a merchant pays to accept a card or digital payment.
- Card scheme (card network)The network that sets the rules and connects issuers and acquirers, such as Visa or Mastercard.
- Take rateThe share of each transaction's value that a platform keeps as revenue.
- Interchange feeThe fee the merchant's bank pays the cardholder's bank on each card payment.
- Basis points (bps)One hundredth of a percent: 100 basis points make 1 percent.
- Buy now, pay later (BNPL)Paying for a purchase in a few interest-free instalments, with the merchant paying a fee.
- Real-time paymentsAccount-to-account transfers that settle in seconds, at any hour.