Merchant services
Financial and technical services that enable businesses to accept, process, and settle electronic payments, including card payments, digital wallets, payment gateways, and point-of-sale systems.
Institutional Definition: Merchant services provide the infrastructure required for electronic payment acceptance, covering the transmission, authorisation, clearing, and settlement of card transactions. These services are delivered through coordinated arrangements between acquirers, processors, payment gateways, and hardware providers.
Technical Context: In the United Kingdom, merchant services operate within the regulated payments ecosystem overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and governed by card-scheme rules. Compliance with PCI DSS is mandatory for all merchants and service providers involved in the storage, processing, or transmission of cardholder data.
Service Infrastructure
Payment Gateways
Software systems that securely transmit transaction data between the merchant, the processor, and the acquiring bank.
Point-of-Sale Systems
Hardware and software used to capture card-present transactions and support reconciliation.
Payment Processors
Entities responsible for routing transaction data, managing authorisation flows, and coordinating settlement between issuers and acquirers.