Meet us at conferences around the world
SBC Summit Lisbon
SiGMA Europe
Processor is a service provider that handles payment authorization, clearing, and settlement. In card payments the term covers two distinct roles - acquirer processors working for merchants and issuer processors working for card-issuing banks.
A processor operates the technical infrastructure that moves transaction data between merchants, card networks, and banks. It routes authorization requests, submits clearing files, and orchestrates settlement - the plumbing that makes a card payment work end to end.
An acquirer processor works on the merchant side: it receives transactions from gateways and terminals and passes them to the card networks on behalf of the acquiring bank. An issuer processor works on the bank side: it maintains card records and responds to authorization requests on behalf of the issuer.
Some large companies perform both roles, and many financial institutions outsource processing to specialists rather than run the infrastructure themselves.
The acquirer is the licensed financial institution that holds the merchant relationship and the funds; the processor is the technology operator executing transactions; the gateway is the merchant-facing layer that collects payment data and passes it onward.
No - the acquirer is the licensed bank; the processor runs the technology that executes transactions.
Issuer processors act for card-issuing banks; acquirer processors act for merchants’ acquiring banks.
Often indirectly - the choice of gateway or acquirer usually determines the processing stack.
Thank you for reaching us. Your request has been sent successfully. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Message was not sent
