By PayNimble | "Payments Know-How. Tech to Match."
Organizations who accept card payments have much to consider when deciding on a payment provider, but back-end infrastructure shouldn't be one of them.
One of the least understood factors in today's payments world is that while the US payment ecosystem appears diverse at the consumer and merchant level — with a myriad of ISOs, gateways, digital wallets, and countless payment APPS — beneath the surface lies a significantly CONCENTRATED INFRASTRUCTURE.
A handful of technology platforms manage authorization, clearing, and settlement for the overwhelming majority of US card transactions, irrespective of which ISO, bank, or fintech operates the front-end. In fact, 87% of all US card transactions transit over four (4) processors.
And the same consolidation is now a feature across card networks, digital wallets and the like.
Why is this important?
It's important because gone are the days where merchants of size and scale needed to worry that working with a payments partner was "risky" if they weren't one of the "big guys". Instead, digital payment acceptors now have the flexibility to choose a "front-end" provider which best meets with their technology and service needs, while knowing that the underlying apparatus in-place to authorize payments and move money is managed by largely the same "back-end" infrastructure.
What are the other impacts of the "hidden concentration story"?
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