How local acquiring works
Card schemes classify each payment by where the issuer, the acquirer and the merchant are located. A payment that crosses a border carries cross-border fees and is more often declined by issuers' risk rules.
A merchant that sells in several markets therefore routes each payment to an acquirer in the cardholder's market: through its own contracts with several acquirers, through one acquirer licensed in many countries, or through an orchestration layer that picks the route by the card's BIN.
What the scheme rules require
An acquirer cannot sign a merchant anywhere. The Visa Core Rules of 18 April 2026 have an acquirer accept transactions only from a merchant outlet in its country of domicile, with exceptions that include, in the Europe Region, an acquirer that has passported its licence under EU rules (1.5.1.1). The Mastercard Rules of 2 June 2026 let a merchant accept cards only at locations within the acquirer's area of use (5.5).
Local acquiring therefore usually means a local legal entity: a business presence in the country, checked at onboarding, and often a local settlement account.
Local acquiring in the EU
The EU's Interchange Fee Regulation defines a cross-border payment as one where the issuer and the acquirer are in different member states, or where the card was issued in a member state other than that of the point of sale, and a domestic payment as any other (Article 2). The regulation applies where both providers are located in the EU (Article 1), which is one reason merchants from outside set up an EU entity with an EU acquirer.
Where Local acquiring shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- Card acquiringCard acceptance on the phone, in store and online, through the acquirer you choose.
- Merchant onboardingBusiness sign-up, verification and underwriting, from application to first payment.
- FXCurrency conversion with live rates, your margins and the liquidity provider you choose.
- CheckoutA hosted checkout for cards, wallets, bank payments and crypto, routed to the best provider.
Platforms that need it
Guides that go deeper
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026: 1.5.1.1 (Visa)
- Mastercard Rules, 2 June 2026: Rules 1.7 and 5.5 (Mastercard)
- Regulation (EU) 2015/751, the Interchange Fee Regulation, Articles 1 and 2 (EUR-Lex)
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.