What's an acquirer?
Also known as a merchant bank, an acquirer is a financial institution licensed by MasterCard that helps a merchant fulfill its obligation to accept MasterCard.
What's an issuer?
An issuer is the bank, credit union, savings and loan association, government entity (such as a postal organization) or retailer that provides a credit line or a debit card to a consumer or business.
What's MasterCard’s role?
MasterCard is neither an issuer nor an acquirer. Our role is to provide the technology and the network that power transactions.
Step 1: The customer pays with MasterCard
The customer purchases goods/services from a merchant.
Step 2: The payment is authenticated
The merchant point-of-sale system captures the customer’s account information and securely sends it to the acquirer.
Step 3: The transaction is submitted
The merchant acquirer asks MasterCard to get an authorization from the customer’s issuing bank.
Step 4: Authorization is requested
MasterCard submits the transaction to the issuer for authorization.
Step 5: Authorization response
The issuing bank authorizes the transaction and routes the response back to the merchant.
Step 6: Merchant payment
The issuing bank routes the payment to the merchant’s acquirer who deposits the payment into the merchant’s account.
