Boston, January 9, 2018 – Leading acquirers/processors control nearly all the card payment volume in the U.S., have offerings that are deeply embedded in their customers’ operations, and enjoy a business filled with profitable complexity. But market entrants that are free of the costs of legacy systems and adept in their use of cloud computing are creating a simpler, more efficient way for merchants to accept payments. So what do traditional players do to address this threat to the status quo? 

This report describes the acquirer/processor ecosystem, reviews the attributes and capabilities of leading players, identifies threats and opportunities for both traditional and emerging players, and suggests an evolutionary path for acquiring/processing in the U.S. It is based on interviews and conversations with executives from over 25 acquiring/processing companies and thought leaders involved in the payment ecosystem as well as in-depth research on four major U.S. acquirers/processors that participated in Aite Group’s request for information process.

This 26-page Impact Report contains three figures and 12 tables. Clients of Aite Group’s Retail Banking & Payments service can download this report, the corresponding charts, and the Executive Impact Deck.

This report mentions 3dcart, Alipay, Allied Wallet, Amazon Pay, Android Pay, Apple Pay, Authorize.net, Bank of America Merchant Services, Bill Me Later, Braintree, Cardservice International, Cayan, Chase Merchant Services, Citi Merchant Services, Click and Buy, CyberSource, Dwolla, Ebates, Elavon, eLayaway, Fifth Third Bank, First Data Merchant Services, Flagship Merchant Services, GetFinancing, Global Payments, Google, Green Dot, Ingenico, Masterpass, M-Pesa, MoneyGram, NCR, Openbucks, Paymate, PayPal, Paytm, PNC Merchant Services, Qiwi, SafetyPay, Samsung Pay, Skrill, SplitIt, Stripe, TSYS, U.S. Bank, Vantiv, Verifone, Visa Checkout, WeChat Pay, Wells Fargo Merchant Services, Western Union, Worldpay, and Yandex.