Acquirer Processors. Acquirer processors connect directly with merchants, the network and the acquiring bank, or via a payment gateway, to facilitate payment acceptance at the merchant. They provide the technical capabilities to create the system of record to communicate with authorization and settlement entities.

What is the difference between a processor and an acquirer?

A card acquirer maintains the merchant's account to accept payments for them, whereas a payment processor is only responsible for processing payments; merchants are not dealing directly with the processor during the payment process. A merchant may choose to work with both the acquirer and a PSP.

What is an acquirer payment processing?

Acquirer. The acquirer, also known as the acquiring or merchant bank, is the financial institution that maintains a merchant's account in order to accept credit cards. The acquirer settles card transactions for a merchant into their account. Sometimes the payment processor and the acquirer are one and the same.