Acquirer

An acquirer (or acquiring bank) is the financial institution that maintains a merchant's account and accepts card payments on the merchant's behalf. When a customer pays, the acquirer receives the funds from the card network, takes its fees, and settles the balance to the merchant. It sits on the opposite side of every transaction from the issuer, which is the customer's bank.

What the acquirer does

• Submits authorizations — forwards the merchant's authorization request to the network, which routes it to the issuer for approval.
• Receives settlement — collects the funds during settlement and holds them in the merchant account.
• Manages risk — underwrites the merchant, monitors for excessive chargebacks, and can hold reserves against fraud or refunds.

Processors like Stripe bundle the acquiring relationship into their platform, so many merchants never deal with an acquiring bank directly — the processor manages it underneath.

Acquirer vs issuer

The two are easy to confuse because both are banks in the same transaction:

• The issuer is the customer's bank — it issued the card and pulls money from the cardholder.
• The acquirer is the merchant's bank — it accepts the payment and pushes money to the merchant.

Why it matters

The acquirer ultimately controls when and how a merchant gets paid. Its settlement schedule feeds the merchant's payout timing, and its risk policies can trigger holds or reserves that delay funds. In some arrangements a merchant of record takes on the acquiring relationship entirely, becoming the seller of record so the underlying merchant doesn't have to.