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A payment processor is a system that enables financial transactions, commonly employed by a merchant, to handle transactions with customers from various channels such as credit cards and debit cards or bank accounts. They are usually broken down into two types: front-end and back-end.
Front-end processors have connections to various card associations and supply authorization and settlement services to the merchant banks' merchants. Back-end processors accept settlements from front-end processors and, via the Federal Reserve Bank for example, move the money from the issuing bank to the merchant bank.
In an operation that will usually take a few seconds, the payment processor will both check the details received by forwarding them to the respective card's issuing bank or card association for verification, and also carry out a series of anti-fraud measures against the transaction.
Additional parameters, including the card's country of issue and its previous payment history, are also used to gauge the probability of the transaction being approved.
Once the payment processor has received confirmation that the credit card details have been verified, the information is relayed back via the payment gateway to the merchant, who will then complete the payment transaction. If verification is denied by the card association, the payment processor will relay the information to the merchant, who will then decline the transaction.
After centuries of using metal coins, [1] paper currency made its first appearance in China [2] during the Tang dynasty (around the 10th century AD) and was later introduced to the West in the 17th century. [3] Also in the 17th century, people began to use checks [4] as a payment method, which grew in popularity from the 1800s to the early 1900s. To help streamline and centralize the multiple types of currency, the U.S. Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. [5]
The first payment card was created in 1950 by Ralph Schneider and Frank McNamara to allow members to use charge cards at their Diners’ Club, and consumers were required to pay their bill in full each month. In 1959, American Express [6] created the first credit card that allowed users to carry a balance from month to month.
The ATM [7] emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the growing movement toward “self-service” technology. ATMs provided the first technology-enabled banking option that allowed consumers to conveniently deposit and withdraw cash, without being restricted to a particular bank location or business hours.
In 1972, the first Automated Clearinghouse [8] (ACH) association was formed in California in response to bank industry concerns that widespread check usage would outpace the technology needed to process them. ACH became the primary method of electronic funds transfer [9] (EFT) for agencies, businesses, and individuals to pay or collect money online, and is still commonly used today.
Over the following decades, the evolution of payment technology accelerated. The first digital currency is attributed to an algorithm developed by David Chaum in 1983. Although modern folklore suggests the possibility of early internet purchases – specifically, online marijuana sales between MIT and Stanford students in 1971 and 1972, a 1974 pizza order by Donald Sherman, [10] and a 1984 grocery purchase by Jane Snowball – the first legitimately recognized online purchase [11] was most likely a CD sold by Dan Kohn in 1994 using a website he developed called NetMarket.
The first online payment processing company [12] was founded in 1998, first under the name Confinity, which was later changed to X.com, changing again to its current name, PayPal, in 2001. The market continued to expand over the following two decades, branching out into a full payment processing ecosystem that includes card companies, digital wallets and apps, cryptocurrencies, payments software platforms and gateways, eCommerce partnerships, and peer-to-peer payments. Other technologies that are vital to the payment ecosystem are data security systems and processes, automated functionality, and customer engagement tools.
The future of the payment processing industry is being driven by an increase in vertical-specific processors, [13] the accelerated adoption of contactless payment methods [14] (in response to COVID-19-related limitations on contact and in-person interactions), and the trend toward customer choice and autonomy, [15] particularly in western cultures.
Due to the many regulatory requirements levied on businesses, the modern payment processor is usually partnered with merchants through a concept known as software-as-a-service (SaaS). SaaS payment processors offer a single, regulatory-compliant electronic portal that enables a merchant to scan checks (often called remote deposit capture or RDC), process single and recurring credit card payments (without the merchant storing the card data at the merchant site), process single and recurring ACH and cash transactions, process remittances and Web payments. These cloud-based features occur regardless of origination through the payment processor's integrated receivables management platform. This results in cost reductions, accelerated time-to-market, and improved transaction processing quality.
Electronic payments are highly susceptible to fraud and abuse. [16] Liability for misuse of credit card data can expose the merchant to significant financial loss if they were to attempt to manage such risks on their own. One way to lower this cost and liability exposure is to segment the transaction of the sale from the payment of the amount due. Many merchants offer subscription services, which require payment from a customer every month. SaaS payment processors relieve the responsibility of the management of recurring payments from the merchant and maintain safe and secure the payment information, passing back to the merchant a payment "token" or unique placeholder for the card data.[ citation needed ] Through Tokenization, merchants are able to use this token to process charges, perform refunds, or void transactions without ever storing the payment card data, which can help to make the merchant system PCI-compliant. Tokenization can be either local (on the merchant's system) or remote (on the service provider's system); the latter provides a higher level of security against a breach. Another method of protecting payment card data is Point to Point Encryption, which encrypts cardholder data so that clear text payment information is not accessible within the merchant's system in the event of a data breach. [17] Some payment processors also specialize in high-risk processing for industries that are subject to frequent chargebacks, such as adult video distribution.
The typical network architecture for modern online payment systems is a chain of service providers, each providing unique value to the payment transaction, and each adding cost to the transaction: merchant, point-of-sale (PoS) software as a service (SaaS), aggregator, credit card network, and bank. The merchant can be a brick-and-mortar outlet or an online outlet. The PoS SaaS provider is usually a smaller company that provides customer support to the merchant and is the receiver of the merchant's transactions. The PoS provider represents the aggregator to merchants.[ citation needed ] The PoS provider transaction volumes are small compared to the aggregator transaction volumes, so a direct connection to the major credit card networks is not warranted, because of the low traffic. Additionally, the merchant does not handle enough traffic to warrant a direct connection to the aggregator. In this way, scope and responsibilities are divided among the various business partners to easily manage the technical issues that arise.
A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either the front or the back. Many new cards now have a chip on them, which allows people to use their card by touch (contactless), or by inserting the card and keying in a PIN as with swiping the magnetic stripe. Debit cards are similar to a credit card, but the money for the purchase must be in the cardholder's bank account at the time of the purchase and is immediately transferred directly from that account to the merchant's account to pay for the purchase.
Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale, abbreviated as EFTPOS, is the technical term referring to a type of payment transaction where electronic funds transfers (EFT) are processed at a point of sale (POS) system or payment terminal usually via payment methods such as payment cards. EFTPOS technology was developed during the 1980s.
Tokenization, when applied to data security, is the process of substituting a sensitive data element with a non-sensitive equivalent, referred to as a token, that has no intrinsic or exploitable meaning or value. The token is a reference that maps back to the sensitive data through a tokenization system. The mapping from original data to a token uses methods that render tokens infeasible to reverse in the absence of the tokenization system, for example using tokens created from random numbers. A one-way cryptographic function is used to convert the original data into tokens, making it difficult to recreate the original data without obtaining entry to the tokenization system's resources. To deliver such services, the system maintains a vault database of tokens that are connected to the corresponding sensitive data. Protecting the system vault is vital to the system, and improved processes must be put in place to offer database integrity and physical security.
EMV is a payment method based on a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them. EMV stands for "Europay, Mastercard, and Visa", the three companies that created the standard.
Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash office.
An e-commerce payment system facilitates the acceptance of electronic payment for offline transfer, also known as a subcomponent of electronic data interchange (EDI), e-commerce payment systems have become increasingly popular due to the widespread use of the internet-based shopping and banking.
A payment system is any system used to settle financial transactions through the transfer of monetary value. This includes the institutions, payment instruments such as payment cards, people, rules, procedures, standards, and technologies that make its exchange possible. A payment system is an operational network which links bank accounts and provides for monetary exchange using bank deposits. Some payment systems also include credit mechanisms, which are essentially a different aspect of payment.
Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) or cardholder preferred currency (CPC) is a process whereby the amount of a credit card transaction is converted at the point of sale, ATM or internet to the currency of the card's country of issue. DCC is generally provided by third party operators in association with the merchant, and not by a card issuer. Card issuers permit DCC operators to offer DCC in accordance with the card issuers' processing rules. However, using DCC, the customer is usually charged an amount in excess of the transaction amount converted at the normal exchange rate, though this may not be obviously disclosed to the customer at the time. The merchant, the merchant's bank or ATM operator usually impose a markup on the transaction, in addition to the exchange rate that would normally apply, sometimes by as much as 18%.
A chargeback is a return of money to a payer of a transaction, especially a credit card transaction. Most commonly the payer is a consumer. The chargeback reverses a money transfer from the consumer's bank account, line of credit, or credit card. The chargeback is ordered by the bank that issued the consumer's payment card. In the distribution industry, a chargeback occurs when the supplier sells a product at a higher price to the distributor than the price they have set with the end user. The distributor submits a chargeback to the supplier so they can recover the money lost in the transaction.
A payment service provider (PSP) is a third-party company that allows businesses to accept electronic payments, such as credit card and debit card payments. PSPs act as intermediaries between those who make payments, i.e. consumers, and those who accept them, i.e. retailers.
Payment cards are part of a payment system issued by financial institutions, such as a bank, to a customer that enables its owner to access the funds in the customer's designated bank accounts, or through a credit account and make payments by electronic transfer with a payment terminal and access automated teller machines (ATMs). Such cards are known by a variety of names, including bank cards, ATM cards, client cards, key cards or cash cards.
First Data Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company's STAR Network provides nationwide domestic debit acceptance at more than 2 million retail POS, ATM, and at online outlets for nearly a third of all U.S. debit cards.
Moneris is a Canadian financial technology company that specializes in payment processing.
Euronet Worldwide is an American provider of global electronic payment services with headquarters in Leawood, Kansas. It offers automated teller machines (ATM), point of sale (POS) services, credit/debit card services, currency exchange and other electronic financial services and payments software. Among others, it provides the prepaid subsidiaries Transact, PaySpot, epay, Movilcarga, TeleRecarga and ATX.
Credit card fraud is an inclusive term for fraud committed using a payment card, such as a credit card or debit card. The purpose may be to obtain goods or services or to make payment to another account, which is controlled by a criminal. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is the data security standard created to help financial institutions process card payments securely and reduce card fraud.
A credit card is a payment card, usually issued by a bank, allowing its users to purchase goods or services, or withdraw cash, on credit. Using the card thus accrues debt that has to be repaid later. Credit cards are one of the most widely used forms of payment across the world.
Giropay was an Internet payment system in Germany, based on online banking. Introduced in February 2006, this payment method allowed customers to buy securely on the Internet using direct online transfers from their bank account. The system was similar to the Dutch iDEAL payment system, MyBank payment system, the Interac online service in Canada, pagomiscuentas payment service in Argentina, and Secure Vault Payments in the United States.
Worldpay is an American multinational financial technology company and payment processing company. Worldpay provides payment and technology services to merchants and financial institutions globally generating 40 billion transactions across 146 countries and 135 currencies.
"Fintech", a clipped compound of "financial technology", refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, including mobile banking, online lending platforms, digital payment systems, robo-advisors, and blockchain-based applications such as cryptocurrencies. Fintech companies include both startups and established technology and financial firms that aim to improve, complement, or replace traditional financial services.
Sarvatra Technologies Private Limited is an Indian fintech company, headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra, that develops banking software and provides PaaS, SaaS, and cloud computing solutions to banks in India.