What is Acquirer?

Is also known as a "acquiring bank” and it represents a financial institution that processes the online transactions on behalf of a merchant. Acquiring banks are members of card networks, such as Visa, Mastercard and American Express. The acquiring bank settles the payments with the card issuer. In other words, every time a cardholder uses his/her card to make a purchase, the acquiring bank settles the card transaction for the merchant into their account, by authorizing it. In case of incorrect data or any other suspicious activity, the financial institution can also reject the transaction. In short, acquiring banks facilitate the exchange of transactions between the issuing banks and the merchants who accept the cards.