Who Worldpay is
Worldpay processes card and other payments for merchants online and in store, with fraud tools, authentication, payouts and services for platforms around them. FIS sold a majority of it to GTCR in 2024, and in January 2026 Global Payments completed its acquisition of the whole company: Worldpay is now a Global Payments brand.
In Europe, Worldpay (UK) Limited is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and Worldpay B.V. in Amsterdam holds a licence from De Nederlandsche Bank. Outside the US it is a direct member of the card networks. Access Worldpay, its API platform, is what our checkout and card acquiring modules connect to.
What it does in your platform
Card acquiring
Acquires your merchants' online and in-app card payments through Access Worldpay, with captures, refunds and settlement matched to the ledger. In the US, Worldpay also supports Tap to Pay on iPhone; where it does not offer tap on phone, taps go to another acquirer.
Checkout
Processes cards in your hosted checkout, with 3-D Secure when the risk calls for it, network tokens for saved cards, Apple Pay on the web and in iOS apps, and Google Pay in Android apps. Worldpay's Checkout SDK takes the card details on the web and in iOS, Android and React Native apps.
How the connection works
The modules call Access Worldpay's APIs from your platform, and Worldpay sends events back by webhook, signed with a shared secret. Card details go from the buyer to Worldpay's Checkout SDK and never through your servers.
The card is captured
On the web or in your app, Worldpay's Checkout SDK takes the buyer's card details and returns a session for them.
Worldpay authorises
The module sends the payment with that session, and 3-D Secure where the risk calls for it. Worldpay gets the issuer's answer over the card network.
An event comes back
Worldpay posts events for the payment, each signed with an HMAC in the Event-Signature header, and the module records them in the ledger.
Saved for next time
If the buyer saves the card, Worldpay creates a network token, so the next payment needs no card details at all.
Settlement is matched
Worldpay settles the merchant's funds, and the module matches the settlement to the ledger, so merchants see what they are paid.
Next to other providers
Worldpay and Global Payments are now one group, and both are connectors in the card acquiring module: Worldpay through Access Worldpay, Global Payments with Tap to Pay on iPhone in several European countries. Each merchant's payments go to the acquirer that fits their market.
In the checkout, card payments can be spread across processors, with a decline retried on another when the reason allows it. Changing the processor behind a merchant later does not change their integration or your apps.
When Worldpay fits best
A strong fit when
- Your merchants sell online and in apps, and you want an acquirer licensed in the UK and in the EU.
- You want card capture SDKs for the web, iOS, Android and React Native from your acquirer.
- Your merchants include US businesses, where Worldpay also supports Tap to Pay on iPhone.
Also worth a look
- Global Payments, in the same group, for Tap to Pay on iPhone in European countries.
- A provider you already have a contract with: it becomes a connector too.
How we get you live
The contract
We help you get your Worldpay account and contract in place, with the Worldpay entity that covers your merchants' countries.
Methods and events
We set up the payment methods, 3-D Secure, network tokens and the events Worldpay sends, which its implementation team turns on for your account.
The keys
API credentials and the event signing secret go into your platform's secrets and nowhere else, so every event is proven to come from Worldpay.
A full test run
Every flow runs first in Worldpay's Try environment, from card capture to refunds and settlement, before your first real payment.
