The Largest Merchant Acquirers Worldwide
The 150 largest acquirers of general purpose credit, debit and prepaid card payments from merchants worldwide are listed here based on transactions processed in 2021. Total transactions of 416.55 billion processed by this group increased 17.9% from 2020.
Payment Card Shipments
Payment cards shipped by the manufacturers listed here totaled 4.47 billion in 2021. Included in the 2021 shipment figures were 3.73 billion chip cards and 638.9 million magnetic-stripe-only cards.
Digital Currency Update
Plaid launched Wallet Onboard, a product that allows developers to offer connections among more than 300 self-custody crypto wallets using a single integration and a UI that is familiar to existing Plaid users. Wallet Onboard is built on Plaid Link, a platform that lets consumers connect their financial accounts across thousands of fintech apps and services.
POS Terminals Shipped Worldwide
Point-of-sale terminal shipments worldwide reached 136.0 million in 2021, up 4.3% over 2020. Shipments of these devices by manufacturer and region are presented on pages 6 and 7. POS terminals counted include countertop, multilane, tablet and handheld devices with integrated chip and/or magnetic stripe card readers, unattended devices, terminals that can read QR codes and also accept cards and those that can read a biometric identifier and then facilitate a payment.
M&A Activity in Merchant Processing and Acquiring—Midyear 2022
There were 68 merger and acquisition transactions in the merchant processing and acquiring sector of the payment card industry during the first six months of 2022.
Visa Tokens and Cards
Virtual numbers (tokens) are used as a substitute for a cardholder’s primary account number (PAN) in payment wallets (in phones and watches) and when stored at a merchant’s data center (to handle recurring purchases) as well as in nonpayment applications to replace personally identifiable information (PII).
Mastercard Crypto Secure
Providing a risk assessment on consumer purchases from Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) is the aim of Crypto Secure, a service Mastercard is making available to card issuers worldwide. VASPs are 3,600 crypto exchanges and other companies that sell digital currencies.
Digital Currency Update
FTX, a crypto exchange, has partnered with Visa to offer FTX-branded debit cards to customers in more than 40 countries. Cards are currently available in the US and will be offered in Europe later this year.
Vehicles Can Be Fleet Cards
Proprietary identity management technology from Car IQ can turn a car or truck into a vehicle that transacts directly with a merchant for payment of fuel, repairs, parking, tolls and more, replacing the use of a fleet credit card.
Bango Buys NTT Docomo Carrier Billing Business
Payments made for purchases of games, apps, subscriptions (cable TV, telecom, mobile) and streaming services reached $230 billion in 2021—app store spending was $170 billion and streaming entertainment was $60 billion.