The Introduction to Cards in Payments by Travel & Payments 👇

The Key Players in Payments — Edition #2

Behind every card transaction is a coordinated set of players — each with a unique role in enabling seamless, secure, and scalable payments.

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Issuers: Issuers are banks or financial institutions that provide cards directly to consumers.

► Key Functions: → Underwrite and approve new cardholders → Furnish credit, debit, or prepaid cards → Authorize and clear transactions in real-time

► How They Make Money: From interchange fees, annual card fees, interest on revolving credit, and FX markups.

► Examples: Citi, UBS, ING, TD, Deutsche Bank, Chase

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Acquirers Acquirers are responsible for enabling businesses to accept card payments.

► Key Functions: → Set up and manage merchant accounts → Process card transactions and settle funds to merchants → Manage chargebacks and fraud risk

► How They Make Money: Through processing fees, gateway charges, and often value-added services (fraud protection, analytics)

► Examples: Checkout.com, Worldpay, Nuvei

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Card Networks Card networks serve as the central infrastructure layer between issuers and acquirers.

► Key Functions: → Route transaction requests between issuer and acquirer → Establish dispute resolution protocols → Set interchange and assessment fees → Manage card branding and acceptance standards

► How They Make Money: Card networks earn scheme fees, cross-border fees, and fraud assessment charges

► Examples: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, GIE Cartes Bancaires

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Payment Gateways Gateways act as the secure portal through which card data travels from the consumer to the acquiring bank.

► Key Functions: → Route transactions to the appropriate processor → Offer tools for fraud prevention, 3DS, and retry logic → Provide dashboard and reconciliation interfaces to merchants

Note: The tokenization process may be performed by 3rd Party vault VGS, Acquirer Checkout.com, Gateway DEUNA, and Merchant...

► How They Make Money: Gateways charge monthly platform fees, per-transaction fees, and revenue-sharing arrangements

► Examples: DEUNA, CellPoint Digital, Amadeus

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Payment Aggregators Aggregators combine payment services into a single offering, especially for smaller merchants

► Key Functions: → Act as Merchant of Record (MoR), processing under their own MID → Aggregate transactions across merchants → Handle onboarding, settlement, and risk management

► How They Make Money: Profit from higher per-transaction fees and managing float

► Examples: Paddle, Stripe, PayU, BillDesk

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Next Up #3: The Payment Method Guide

Author

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