Overcoming the challenges you’ll face as an acquirer
Clear Junction has developed a range of banking and payments solutions to help acquirers overcome many of the challenges they face. As acquirers operate within a typically neglected sector, the experience, understanding and expertise our team brings helps them receive funds, then distribute them to their merchants.
Thank goodness for acquirers. In a world that is shunning cash for contactless, the need for the processing of credit and debit card payments is becoming increasingly important. Acquirers are essentially banks or financial institutions that process card payments on behalf of a merchant. And you should know what a merchant is – they are the businesses that hold out the card reader for you to tap or insert.
Generally speaking, merchants rely on acquirers for the acceptance of card payments; the acquirer settles card transactions on behalf of the merchant. However, when you tap or insert your card, where does your money go? There is no single answer to this question, but for the purposes of highlighting how Clear Junction powers acquirers, let us focus on one general example.
WHERE DOES ALL THE MONEY GO?
When a card payment is made to a merchant, the acquirer facilitates it. The funds are deducted from the customer’s bank account and moved to the acquirer’s account. In the middle of all of this is the merchant, who is able to accept the card payment because of the acquirer, but now needs to receive the money from the deposit (minus any fee the acquirer has taken for the service they are providing).
So far, so simple. However, the acquirer now needs to transfer the money to the merchant. This is not so simple. While traditional banks are happy to provide a bank account to acquirers, they are often reluctant to facilitate the transfer of monies to merchants from that account. There are myriad reasons for this, including a lack of understanding and the perception that the merchants are operating within high-risk arenas, such as gaming and dating.
Acquirers therefore need to be able to overcome this challenge and transfer the funds to the merchant – which is where Clear Junction can help.
HOW CLEAR JUNCTION HELPS ACQUIRERS
The team at Clear Junction is composed of experienced banking and payments experts who have built and developed proprietary technology to help banks and financial institutions overcome the challenges they face. Our compliance team has a greater understanding of the issues facing acquirers and is therefore perfectly placed to facilitate access to our platform and the solutions contained within it.
Clear Junction can provide acquirers with a correspondent account that they can transfer settlement funds into. From there, the settlements can be distributed into the merchant’s IBAN accounts in all major currencies. Our platform can connect your business to BACS, CHAPS, Faster Payments, SEPA and SEPA Instant, depending on your specific requirements.
In addition, our technology can be integrated with your own, thereby enabling you to automate payouts through an API or our online banking platform. We pride ourselves on exceptional client relationship service and you will deal with the same person throughout your relationship with Clear Junction.
POWERING PAYMENT SOLUTIONS
Ultimately, Clear Junction provides a much-needed service to acquirers who often struggle to access the banking and payments solutions they need to thrive. Traditional banks are often unable or unwilling to provide services to specific verticals, but our team is well-versed in these challenges and has developed solutions with such financial institutions in mind.
Our proprietary technology, network and platform provides acquirers with a means of automatically distributing merchant settlements quickly and easily, using a range of different payment methods. Our online banking platform also provides access to historical data that can help with accounting and reconciliation.
To find out more about how Clear Junction can help acquirers, please get in touch via the contact form.