Overview
When credit cards were introduced in Europe, the market was still very fragmented. For the most part, merchant acquiring was a low priority for the banking industry. The focus was on card issuance, and the acquiring business was treated as a utility with a domestic focus to facilitate those card-issuing businesses. In a fairly short time though, Europe has become a very competitive acquiring market. The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiative and regulation harmonizing cross-border payments facilitated new market entry and the evolution of new business models. The dust hasn’t settled yet.
A new Mercator Advisory Group research report, Evolution of Merchant Acquiring in Europe, reviews how the European merchant acquiring market has developed to its current state and discusses what acquirers need to do to remain competitive.
This research report contains 36 pages and 21 exhibits.
Companies mentioned in this report include: Advent International and Bain Capital (CartaSi, Concardis), Adyen, BNP Paribas Fortis, B+S Card Service, card complete, CardProcess, First Data and ABN AMRO (EMS), Mastercard, Nets, PayLife Bank, SIX Group, UNICRE, Visa, Worldpay, and Worldline.
One of the exhibits included in this report:
Highlights of the research report include:
- Historical context :from domestic interbank utilities to a competitive market, unbundling of Interpay, acquiring for international card schemes, domestic card schemes
- Current credit and debit card landscape: mobile payments, card-not-present transactions, regulations (interchange, Payment Services Directive 2, authentication standard)
- Other factors affecting acquirers: alternative payment methods, Payment Initiation Services, instant payments
- Value chain shifts
- Active market dynamics for acquirers: the players, joint ventures
- Implications: Volume winner take all? Domestic focus or pan-European? sale of merchant portfolios and other options
Learn More About This Report & Javelin
Related content
From Hype to Impact: How AI is Transforming Credit
Advances in artificial intelligence have generated a high level of excitement and marketing spending as financial organizations seek to rebrand their technologies with “AI” and dev...
Amex and Chase Face Off on Premium Credit Cards, but the Backstory Is More Interesting
Moves by American Express and Chase to revamp their signature card reward products will bring the issuers into greater competition for the most affluent cardholders and carry rever...
How Will Agentic Commerce Affect Consumer Credit?
Recent product announcements from leaders in the payments industry demonstrate the excitement surrounding new AI technologies. AI isn’t just a buzzword anymore, and AI-powered pers...
Make informed decisions in a digital financial world