What is an acquirer?

An acquirer is a bank or financial institution that offers business customers, such as shopkeepers or web stores, the possibility to accept credit card or debit card payments. The acquirer takes care of the processing of these payments and requires a licence from card associations such as MasterCard, Visa and American Express for this. The acquirer plays a crucial role in payment transactions by facilitating the transactions between the acceptors (merchants) and the issuing banks (issuers).