Defined Terms and Documents    

Card Acquirer or Acquirer Bank means a bank or financial institution that processes credit or Debit Card payments on behalf of a Merchant (ie. the Merchant's banker).

The Card Acquirer charges its Merchant a fee for this service which is part of the Merchant Service Fee.  The Card Acquirer's fee is for processing the transaction (for their Merchant) and other costs and profit margin.

Below is an extract from page 7 of "Essential Banking Law and Practice" with regard to ‘Banking Business’ under the Banking Act 1959:

"By the 2003 amendments, the acquiring and issuing of credit cards by participants in a designated credit card scheme (such as MasterCard and VISA) became prescribed activities and so fall within the definition of ‘banking business’".

 

The Merchant's Card Acquirer’s primary role is to transmit data from the Merchant to the Payment Network, pay the Merchant, and remit funds to the Payment Network for chargeback credits related to Cardholder return/credit transactions (Merchant Acquirer is responsible for collection from the Merchant).

See the break-up in Merchant Service Fee.