When it comes to faster payments, merchants don’t want to be left out, and that’s creating a big opportunity for payments processors and other merchant acquirers.
Indeed, as the payments industry shifts toward real-time and near-real-time money movement, processors can cash in on the value of getting good funds into merchants’ accounts instantly, merchant-acquirer executives say. “Especially in the small- and medium-size business world, they’re willing to pay a premium for it,” says Henry Helgeson, head of integrated solutions at Columbus, Ga.-based Total System Services Inc. (TSYS).
Paysafe North America, the Shenandoah, Texas-based unit of London-based Paysafe Holdings U.K. Ltd., has come to the same conclusion. Last month, it launched a program called “Accelerated Funding” that includes options from next-day to same-day to “Express” funding. The last choice delivers funds within hours to a linked debit card. “There are certain verticals where merchants really need the funding,” says Todd Linden, chief executive.