Acquiring (processing)

The main articles are:

• Electronic payment systems in Russia
• Card Payment Systems
• Payment for biometrics

Internet acquiring

Receiving (processing - processing) plastic cards as means of payment for goods and services on the Internet is called Internet acquiring, in which Internet Payment Service Provider (IPSP) participates.

Bioacquiring

Main article: Bioequiring

2020: Banks in Russia reduced acquiring commissions for online trading to 1%

From April 15, 2020, banks in Russia reduced the maximum acquiring commissions for online trading to 1%. This measure, which will be valid until September 30, was introduced as part of the provision of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation support for business and citizens in the context of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Previously, the size of the commission that banks take from outlets for accepting payment cards when making online purchases was 1.2-2.2%.

Banks in Russia have reduced the maximum acquiring commissions for online trading to 1%

The Central Bank notes that the reduction in commissions is provided for enterprises engaged in the retail sale of food and food, medicines and other medical products, clothing, consumer goods.

At the same time, a decrease in the maximum acquiring commission for household appliances, electronics and communications is established when buying goods in the amount of no more than 20 thousand rubles.

According to the Central Bank, reducing the acquiring commission for online trading will help Russians make purchases online, and will also help sellers sell consumer goods remotely with delivery.

The decision to reduce the acquiring commission was reported TASS in the largest Russian banks investors, including Sberbank banks, Opening"," " VTB and Tinkoff Bank. Promsvyazbank The latter is considering keeping reduced fees for customers beyond September 30. The bank will make a decision to maintain new tariffs in the fall, based on market conditions, the bank said.

The Association of Banks of Russia says that credit institutions may revise the terms of cashback programs, since the reduction in rates for Internet acquiring is carried out by reducing the size of the interbank commission (interchange). However, banks interviewed by TASS said that they do not yet plan to worsen their loyalty programs for customers in any way.^[1]

2019: Internet acquiring share in Russia rises to 25%

The share of Internet acquiring in the total volume of payment for goods and services with plastic cards Russia in 2019 exceeded 25%. About this "" To the businessman told in the largest in (banks the number was released on February 13, 2020).

According to the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT), Internet acquiring is becoming more popular due to the growth of non-cash revenue from Internet companies. In 2018, non-cash payments accounted for about 60% on average, then in 2019 - 65%, AKIT President Artem Sokolov told the publication.

The share of Internet acquiring in the total volume of payment for goods and services with plastic cards in Russia at the end of 2019 exceeded 25%

The rapid growth of online payments in e-commerce is also associated with the connection of companies from the small and medium-sized business segment after making 54-FZ to Internet and mobile acquiring, according to the Russian Standard Bank.

In the acquiring network of the Russian Standard, the turnover of purchases on cards of all Russian banks in 2019 increased by 182%. Moreover, the growth rate was significantly higher than in 2016-2017 (39.5% and 47%, respectively).

VTB reported an increase in turnover from Internet acquiring by 45% and its share to 27% at the end of 2019.

Also, the state bank pointed to one trend in this segment - the increase in the share of mobile payment services.

At the Russian Standard, the share of Internet acquiring in general settlements by plastic cards in 2019 reached 39% of the total acquiring turnover against 13.5% in 2018 and 5.5% in 2017.

According to Assist (develops and implements payment solutions), mobile payment services have increased their share of online payments in rubles from 2% in 2018 to 9% in 2019. The company noted that the average amount of one online payment for pay services increased by 14% in 2019, while for bank cards - by only 2%. Such services are used by the most advanced audience that owns smartphones with biometric authentication technologies, the company said.^[2]

Typical scheme of electronic payment implementation by bank card

Let's consider in more detail the scheme of electronic payment (transaction). First, you must define the main participants. The main participants in the electronic payment:

1. buyer,
2. Online store,
3. issuing bank,
4. acquiring bank + processing center (carries out the initial processing of the transaction and provides the entire range of transactions with cards sold by partners),
5. IPSP.

It is worth noting that there are schemes without participant No. 5, but they are utopian and are now practically not used due to huge risks.

From a legal point of view, card electronic payment systems are a common agent in managing transactions with the card account of the cardholder. In fact, they operate only with records of money in the bank, but not with the money itself. Typical representatives of this class of systems in our country are ChronoPay (Chronopay), Cyberplat, Assist, eComCharge and others.

A bit of theory to begin with.

To make your payment online, the client needs to transfer his hard-earned money to electronic form. To do this, you need to go to the bank and open an account there. After that, cash dear to the heart turns into a set of bytes on one of the bank servers. In reality, there is no need to go anywhere, because the banking system in the country is quite developed. According to statistics, the population has more than 10 million bank cards in their hands, so we can safely say that every person in our country has a bank (debit, credit, salary) card, which means that there is also "electronic" money. A bank that issues and secures a payer's card is called an Issuer.

So that customers of different banks can easily make payments and use any terminal or ATM, and not just the services of their bank, a common standard of interaction between banks and a certain regulator that would provide this interaction is needed. This role is performed by processing centers. These centers are international payment systems Visa, MasterCard. Within the framework of our country there is also BelCard and the Banking Processing Center. Each bank that issues you a card with the Visa\MasterCard\BelCard logo is a member of this system.

In order to accept card payments, you again need to go to the bank and open a special account "Merchant Account" or Merchant Account there. The bank in which such accounts can be opened is called Acquier.

Let's see how all this already works on the example of the usual payment with a card in a regular store.

• They tell you the amount - you are holding out your card.
• Your card is carried out by a special device (terminal) that reads data from the card.

It is important to understand that only the card number and owner information are read.

PIN code or CVC code are security elements - data on them is not protected in a magnetic strip or chip. Therefore, they cannot be read so easily. You may be asked to confirm the check by signing or entering a PIN. But it is simply impossible to name or transfer this data. This is important to know and remember - in order to avoid possible fraud with your card

• The terminal is programmed for a certain request to the bank Acquiere, which this device issued to the store. This request contains a pointer to the merchant/store account number in this bank and card details.

• Upon receiving this request, the bank sends a request with card data to the processing center. The processing center identifies the card issuer and sends a request to this bank. The Bank Issuer, in turn, checks whether the requested funds are in the card account and, if so, freezes them and gives a positive response to the transaction.

• Acquier gives a positive response to the terminal - and your payment has been successfully completed.

An important point in this scheme that many are missing. The issuing bank freezes money on the client's account, and does not make an instant transfer from the client's account to the seller's account. Depending on the location and rules of the banks, the transaction for the final transfer of funds can take up to several days. Often many merchants have a misunderstanding at this very moment. The payment is approved - the goods were given, but there are no funds in the account. It's okay - they will be in the coming days.

How is the payment on the Internet fundamentally different from the scheme described above? Not really a lot of people. The Acquiring Bank and the Issuer Bank, as well as the scheme of their interaction, remain unchanged. The only difference is how the request gets to Acquier's bank. To realize payment online, Bank Acquier must open access to its data center. In order to protect yourself, the bank opens this access either to its division responsible for online payments, or to certified processing companies.

These companies have 2 roles:

They provide verification of payment for fraud before entering the bank's network.

They provide a convenient request form for marketplaces. As a rule, you need to make a simple POST request for the resource of the processing company, which will then turn it into the desired request for the bank (In fact, the terminal will pose as itself). It is also convenient in the event of a change in the merchant of the Bank of Acquiere - the trading platform does not need to change integration.

So now let's see how it works in the case of paying online.

• You go to the basket on any trading platform.
• You are shown the order amount and the form for entering your payment and personal information. It looks like in the picture for the article.
• After you have filled in all the information, you click the "Pay" button.
• The platform collects your data and generates a request from the processing company.
• The processing company checks it and sends it to Bank Acquiere.
• Further, the scheme is similar to the previous one: Bank Acquiring - Processing Network - Bank Issuer

The processing company gives the site the result.

There are even simpler schemes to pay for: the marketplace simply redirects the customer to the Processing Company's Payment Page. Further, the client will be met with a convenient form of data entry, a beautiful twist will be shown while the payment is being processed, and the result of payment will also be gently shown and returned to the site from which the client came.

Hence the main conclusion: if you want to start accepting payments on your trading platform, you need to contact the Bank, which opens the "Merchant Accounts," or the processing company, which will study your business and select the appropriate Bank Acquiere, as well as help with the integration of your platform.

The cost of organizing and accepting credit card payments on the site

Despite the wide variety of payment methods for goods or services via the Internet, one of the most popular payment means still remains bank cards, and the largest share in this segment still belongs to the international payment systems Visa and MasterCard. What are the costs of accepting credit card payments for an entrepreneur taking the first steps in e-commerce?

If you decide to sell something online, and you come close to accepting credit card payments on your website, you should start by choosing a payment service provider. There are 2 types of payment service companies:

• Payment services aggregator companies
• Payment Services Integrators

The fundamental difference between the first and second is the approach to meeting the needs of the client related to the acceptance of electronic payments.

Aggregators use their own merchant accounts to process card transactions of all their customers and independently bear all responsibility to them for payments. The main drawback of working with the aggregator from the seller's point of view is the presence of a financial intermediary that adds its own margin to the rates of the acquiring bank, which in turn increases the seller's total business costs.

Payment services integrators offer sellers to open direct accounts with acquiring banks to choose from. At the same time, integrators, as a rule, do not add anything to the tariff set by the acquiring bank for each seller on an individual basis. The seller receives lower rates for Internet acquiring, and the integrator company earns agency fees from the acquiring bank for each merchant connected to the acquirer through the integrator's processing system.

If we talk about specific figures, then the average tariff of the aggregator company for accepting payments with Visa and MasteCard bank cards for a seller with a low business risk fluctuates within 4.5% - 5.5% of the payment amount + 0.30 euros per transaction, while the average rate for accepting credit card payments for the same merchant, which can be obtained directly from the acquiring bank, ranges from 3% to 4% of the payment amount + 0.20 euros per transaction.

At the same time, do not forget that integration companies are engaged in the development of individual solutions that fully take into account the needs of each specific client. While aggregator companies most often offer solutions aimed at the average customer.

The fee for processing card payments is the main, but not the only expense in resolving the issue of accepting payments from your customers.

Once you've selected a payment service provider for your business, you may be facing the costs of signing up for international payment systems. Whether you have approached an aggregator or integrator, if your business activity is in the "high-risk business" category, you will need to pay €500 to register with MasterCard in order to accept card payments from this system.

The registration fee is paid before the start of accepting transactions and annually when the registration is extended.

With some banks and payment providers, sellers pay monthly subscription fees - a fixed amount that ranges from 20 to 50 euros. It is raised regularly and does not depend on the volume of sales on the site.

Fixed rates for chargeback transactions (buyer's dispute of payment initiated by the issuing bank) and referral (seller's cancellation of payment transaction and return of money to buyer's card) also apply. The charge for the chargeback averages €25. The fee for a referee usually ranges from 0.50 to 1.50 euros. All payment service providers and acquiring banks, without exception, apply the fee for chargeback and referral.

Finally, some acquiring banks and aggregator companies practice charging between €10 and €30 for each bank transfer of money from transactions to a merchant's current account.

So, let's summarize the costs:

• The fee for registering a highly risky business with MasterCard (optional) is 500 euros per year.
• Fixed monthly fee (optional) - on average from 20 to 50 euros.
• Visa and MasterCard Acceptance Fee:
• On average, 4.5% - 5.5% of the payment amount + 0.30 euros per transaction - when connected through the aggregator company.
• On average, 3% - 4% of the payment amount + 0.20 euros per transaction - when connected through an integrator company.
• The charge for the chargeback is an average of 25 euros.
• The fee for the referee is on average from 0.50 to 1.50 euros.
• Payment for the payment of money on card transactions by bank transfer (optional) - on average from 10 to 30 euros.

Chronicle

2023

Growth of the market volume for 4 years three times to more than 1 trillion rubles

The volume of the Russian acquiring market in 2023 amounted to just over 1 trillion rubles, which is three times more than in 2019 (330 billion rubles). Compared to 2022, the rise was measured at 9%. This is evidenced by the data of the analytical agency BusinesStat, released in February 2024.

As noted in the study, the Russian acquiring market began to grow rapidly during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, when the volume of non-cash transactions increased by 60%, and the number of users of online stores and online services increased. However, during the pandemic period, the Bank of Russia temporarily limited the level of acquiring commissions to 1% when paying with cards for socially significant goods and services, which restrained the growth of the acquiring market in 2020. Subsequently, the commissions returned to pre-crisis values, against the background of the growth of commissions, the turnover of the acquiring market more than doubled.

BusinesStat

In 2022, when an unprecedented number of sanctions hit Russia, foreign processing companies left, Apple Pay and Google Pay services were turned off, as well as the SWIFT system, the acquiring turnover in the country still increased - by 5%. The recession was avoided due to the development of the Fast Payment System (FPS) and related services, according to BusinesStat.

In 2023, the French company Ingenico left the Russian market, which accounted for more than 40% of all POS terminals that at that time were in operation with domestic banks. According to the researchers, the departure of Ingenico jeopardized the operation and maintenance of equipment, but there are alternative solutions on the Russian market presented by terminals for cashless payment from Inpas Company"," ATOL"," Shtrikh-M"," "" and Evotor other companies.^[3]

Small Business Acquiring Provider Selection Criteria

The acquiring service for business makes it possible to accept non-cash payment from buyers. At the same time, you can pay for a product or service with bank cards, a phone, a smartwatch, and payment applications. About what tasks acquiring for small businesses solves, about its pros and cons, as well as how small businesses choose an acquiring provider, read the article at the link.

2022: The turnover of the acquiring market in Russia tripled to 877 billion rubles

The turnover of the Russian acquiring market in 2022 reached 877 billion rubles against 321 billion rubles in 2018. Thus, over 5 years, the market has grown by more than 2.7 times. This is evidenced by data from BusinesStat analysts, which were released in May 2023.

According to experts, in 2022, the growth of the processing market (we are talking about the dynamics of + 4.8%) was significantly affected by sanctions and financial restrictions: difficulties with the operation of debit and credit cards and their re-release or transfer to a new operator, the departure of tools from Russia for mobile acquiring, a general decrease in the economic activity of the population against the background of the crisis. Nevertheless, even these events could not stop the growth of the market against the background of the general trend in the spread of cashless payments, the researchers note.

The turnover of the acquiring market in Russia has tripled in 5 years

In 2022, sanctions led to the departure of foreign processing companies from Russia. In particular, Apple Pay and Google Pay services stopped working. Disconnection from SWIFT of a number of banks made it impossible to transfer and pay for services abroad, as well as from abroad for customers of the largest Russian banks.

The collapse in the market did not happen thanks to the coordinated actions of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. In particular, the development of the SBP (fast payment system) and related services, such as SBPei and payment stickers for phones, which have become an alternative to solutions that have left the market, helped to smooth out the situation.

The BusinesStat study explains that the processing market turnover is defined as the total income of companies from fees from processing transactions, as well as other payments for using financial services (fees, recurring payments, subscriptions).^[4]

2021

For the third year in a row, Sberbank ranks third in the ranking of the 150 largest acquirers on the planet with a share of 9.1%

For the third year in a row, Russian Sberbank ranked third in the ranking of the 150 largest acquirers on the planet, according to The Nilson Report. So, at the end of 2021, Sberbank managed to process almost 38 billion transactions, in 2020 - 30.3 billion, and in 2019 - 20.6 billion. Over the year, the bank's share in the global volume of transactions increased from 8.6% to 9.1%.

7 Russian banks are among the largest acquirers in Europe

Seven Russian banks were among the largest acquirers in Europe at the end of 2021. This is a study conducted by Nilson analysts and published in May 2022.

According to the report, from which Izvestia cites, Sberbank topped the rating for the sixth time in a row. The positions of Russian credit institutions at the end of 2021 are as follows:

• Sberbank (1st place),
• VTB (17th place),
• Gazprombank (29th place),
• Alfa-Bank (35th place),
• Tinkoff (36th place),
• "Russian Standard" (43rd place),
• Promsvyazbank (PSB, 44th place).

7 Russian banks are among the largest acquirers in Europe

According to experts, Russian banks got into the top due to the fact that new services were introduced, and the faster spread of non-cash in Russia began, they say in credit institutions.

Sberbank told the publication that the growth driver in 2021 was new payment methods, such as SberPay (the ability to pay without a card) and SberTip. The bank clarified that by the end of May 2022 they did not carry out acquiring services in Europe.

At the same time, as the researchers warn, due to the imposed economic sanctions against Russia by Western countries, as a result of which Visa and Mastercard stopped working in the country, the positions of domestic acquirers may deteriorate greatly. At the same time, within the country, all volumes of transactions will remain, which pass through the National Payment Card System (NSPK).

The PSB reported that in 2021 they increased the turnover of trading acquiring by 91% year-on-year, including by launching a new service for receiving payments through a smartphone (the phone is used as a payment terminal).

The growth of processed transactions in Gazprombank is explained both by optimal acquiring rates and by the launch of its own payment service GazpromPay, which works by analogy with Apple Pay and Google Pay.^[5]

2019

Sberbank in the top three in the world

Sberbank became one of the three leaders in global acquiring, according to The Nilson Report. In 2019, more than 20.6 billion transactions passed through the bank's online and offline acquiring network. 

For two years, Sberbank ahead of two world acquiring companies - Fiserv and Global Payments, as well as Bank of America. Above it in the ranking - only the global acquiring company FIS, which processed 36.7 billion payments worldwide, and the American JPMorgan Chase with 29.4 billion payments within the United States.

Such growth became possible due to an increase in the number of POS terminals, and not only among large retail, but also among small and medium-sized businesses: in Sberbank, the number of points served offline increased to 2.2 million units. The bank also made a big bet on the PayQR technology, which, according to domestic statistics, is now used by more than 220 thousand enterprises in the country.

5 banks of Russia are among the largest acquirers in Europe. Sberbank# 1

Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Tinkoff Bank and Russian Standard were included in the 45 largest acquirers in Europe in 2019. Such data on May 27, 2020 was provided by Nilson Report, a company specializing in the study of the cashless payments market.

Sberbank holds the first place in Europe among acquiring banks in terms of the number of payments made through its POS terminals for four years in a row. In 2019, he conducted 20.6 billion operations taking into account Mir cards, which is 43.3% more than a year ago. In terms of the volume of accepted transactions ($186.82 billion), the Russian bank took the fifth position.

VTB for the year increased the number of processed card transactions by 60%, moving from 17th place in the rating to 15th. The indicator of the number of its transactions is 2.2 billion, taking into account the Mir cards, the number of POS terminals is 220 thousand, RBC reports with reference to the Nilson Report study.

The third largest Russian bank - Gazprombank - occupies the 30th line of the European rating, having risen by three positions over the year. He increased the number and volume of accepted payments by 49 and 33%, respectively (782 million payments by $10.3 billion, excluding Mir cards).

Tinkoff Bank is in 43rd place : for the year it rose from the 50th line and increased the number of processed transactions by 51% (321.8 million), and the volume - by 61% ($11.9 billion). The bank serves a small number of POS terminals by rating standards - 48.4 thousand.

Russian Standard Bank, on the contrary, worsened the result by 15% over the year and made 312.5 million payments, dropping two positions. But the volume of operations increased by 9%, to $5.7 billion.

According to the newspaper, at the end of 2019, Tinkoff Bank was included in the rating of the largest acquirers in Europe as a whole for the first time , and Gazprombank in online stores. The total share of Russian banks in terms of the number of transactions in the European top 45 over the year increased by 2.9 percentage points, to 20.7%, corresponds to 19.6 billion serviced payments.^[6]

2018: Acquiring Market Trends in the World and Russia

In May 2019, Dimitrios Nakis, Director of Products, Europe Region, Russia and the CIS countries in Verifone, noted the global trends in the field of non-cash ^[7]

• GPRS devices are leaving, demand for 3G/4G/5G is growing;
• devices are operated "transparently": they are constantly connected online and there is always information on them, including the location and type of installed software;
• mobile payments/wallets (Apple Pay, Walmart Pay, Samsung Wallet (formerly Samsung Pay), Android Pay) are actively gaining momentum;
• Biometrics (face or fingerprint recognition) are dynamically evolving and within 5 years can completely replace the input of a pin code for payment approval;
• artificial intelligence (voice assistance programs, chat bots, loyalty programs) increasingly accompanies the buyer during the purchase process;
• omni-channel trading needs the ability to combine online ordering and offline communications at the point of sale;
• Millennials or Generation Y require a "seamless" purchase process: have an unlimited selection of options, see prices right away, get the maximum discount;
• there is an active replacement of the user experience from "do it yourself" to "do it for me";
• Cross-border trade opportunities should become unhindered.

Pavel Bozhreev, project manager of the market development department at Mastercard, said about what is happening in Russia and what changes should be expected in the near future: "The Russian acquiring market is developing at a colossal pace. At the end of 2018, the share of non-cash payments amounted to more than 50%, of which more than 50% are contactless transactions.

It should be noted that such an increase is caused by a number of factors:

• Legislative regulation obliging all business segments to use online cash registers in accordance with the 54-FZ.
• Financial and technological literacy of the population: accessibility of smartphones, penetration into the field of transport services.
• Joint efforts of global payment systems. For example, the Mastercard acquiring development program already this year gave an additional increase in TSP by 12% (in 2018 - 4%).

If we talk about the volume of e-commerce, then there is also a rapid growth. And taking into account the preservation of this trend by 2023, the market will grow 2 times, reaching a figure of 2.4 trillion rubles. It is curious that Russia has become the leader of countries with tokenized operations. However, in terms of the number of POS terminals per 1 million inhabitants, our country lags almost 2 times behind developed European countries. This indicates the existence of market development potential, where we are still far from the stage of saturation.

Notes