Agents, ISOs, payment facilitators and direct banks: who you are dealing with
Every card payment you accept is settled through an acquiring bank, the bank that signs merchants for card settlement. Agents, independent sales organisations (ISOs) and payment facilitators stand between you and that bank in different ways. Knowing which one you are dealing with tells you who signs your agreement, who underwrites you and who answers for your transactions.
On this page
The bank behind every offer
Card payments reach your bank account through an acquiring bank. Guidance written for US bank examiners by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) defines it as a bank that contracts with merchants for the settlement of card transactions, either directly or indirectly through agent banks or other third-party organisations. The acquiring bank generally owns the identification number through which settlement with the card network takes place.
Visa’s rules, in the edition of 18 April 2026, define an acquirer as a member that signs a merchant or a payment facilitator and enters transactions into the Visa system. Whoever you speak to first, an acquiring bank is at the end of the chain. The question is how many parties sit between you and it, and what each of them does.
The four roles, in the words of the sources
Direct bank (acquiring bank)
The bank contracts with you itself for the settlement of your card transactions. In the OCC’s description, the acquiring bank that owns the settlement number always retains the risk of loss.
Agent bank or referral bank
Typically a community bank that does not offer merchant processing itself. In a referral arrangement, the OCC says, the acquirer performs the underwriting, signs the merchant agreement and accepts responsibility for merchant losses, and may pay the referring bank a fee. An agent bank that indemnifies the acquirer becomes an agent bank with liability for those merchants.
Independent sales organisation (ISO)
A third-party organisation an acquirer contracts with. The OCC lists what an ISO may do for acquirers: solicit merchants, process merchant applications and charge-backs, detect fraud, service merchants, sell or lease terminals and process transactions.
Payment facilitator
Visa’s rules define it as an entity that contracts with an acquirer to deposit transactions, receive settlement from, or contract with an acquirer on behalf of a sponsored merchant. A sponsored merchant is a business that contracts with the payment facilitator to accept cards. The OCC quotes Mastercard’s definition: a merchant registered by an acquirer to facilitate transactions on behalf of sub-merchants.
Visa’s rules also use the wider term third party agent: an entity that provides payment-related services, directly or indirectly, to a Visa member or its merchants. A third party agent must have a direct written contract with a member, and the member must register it with Visa before it performs any contracted services.
Who answers for what
The roles differ less in what you see at checkout than in who signs your agreement and who carries the risk. The table summarises the two published sources; it describes the roles, not any individual provider.
| Role | Who signs your card-acceptance agreement | What the sources say about responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Direct bank | The acquiring bank | The acquirer carries the settlement relationship with the card network |
| Referral or agent bank | The acquiring bank, in a referral arrangement | Without liability, the acquirer accepts merchant losses; with liability, the agent bank indemnifies the acquirer |
| ISO | Depends on the contract; ask | The acquirer must register the ISO and stays liable to the card network for its actions |
| Payment facilitator | The payment facilitator, as a sponsored-merchant agreement | The payment facilitator is financially liable for each transaction it processes for you; the acquirer is liable for both |
Scroll the table to see all columns.
Under Visa’s rules a sponsored merchant is treated as a merchant of its payment facilitator’s acquirer, and the payment facilitator must not deposit transactions on behalf of another payment facilitator. When a sponsored merchant passes USD 1 million in annual transaction volume, the acquirer must sign a direct merchant agreement with it: before processing for a new sponsored merchant, within two years for an existing one, unless one of the stated exceptions applies.
What changes for high-risk businesses
Visa’s rules add requirements where a payment facilitator serves merchants that Visa classifies as high-integrity risk. Such a payment facilitator must be registered as a High-Integrity Risk Payment Facilitator even if it was registered with Visa before. Its agreement with the acquirer must require a senior officer of the payment facilitator to sign each high-integrity-risk sponsored-merchant agreement, and must require reporting of new high-integrity-risk sponsored merchants and of their monthly transaction activity.
The same rules let Visa require an acquirer to contract directly with a sponsored merchant that generates excessive disputes or credits within 12 months, or that takes action to evade the rules. For a business in a sector that card networks watch closely, this means the arrangement behind an offer can change if your dispute levels rise.
What to ask before you sign
- Which company signs the card-acceptance agreement with you, and in which country is it registered?
- Which acquiring bank settles your transactions?
- Will you be a merchant of the acquirer in your own name, or a sponsored merchant of a payment facilitator?
- Who underwrites your application, and who can close or suspend your account?
- Who holds any reserve, who pays out your money, and who handles charge-backs?
- If the person you are speaking to is an agent or a referral partner, how are they paid, and who do you contact once the account is open?
Ask for the answers in writing and keep them with the offer. The same business can describe itself in different words to different merchants, so the written agreement is what counts.
Where Zolution shows it
Every offer on Zolution carries the provider type, agent, intermediary or direct bank, beside the contracting company and its country, the merchant ID structure, the fees, the reserve and the payout terms. The provider type describes a role. It is separate from the merchant ID structure and does not by itself establish reliability.
Both fields are provider-declared: Zolution does not verify them, does not process payments or hold funds, and the provider decides whether to offer you an account. Zolution Standard membership costs nothing.
Questions, answered
What is the difference between an ISO and a payment facilitator?
In the sources used here, an ISO is a third-party organisation that solicits merchants and performs services for an acquiring bank, while a payment facilitator contracts with the acquirer on behalf of sponsored merchants that sign with the payment facilitator itself. Under Visa’s rules the payment facilitator is financially liable for each transaction it processes for a sponsored merchant.
Is a payment facilitator a bank?
Not in Visa’s definition. A payment facilitator contracts with an acquirer, which is a Visa member, and the acquirer is liable for the payment facilitator and its sponsored merchants.
What does direct bank mean on a Zolution offer?
It is the provider’s own declaration that it is the bank offering the account, rather than an agent or an intermediary. Zolution does not verify it, so confirm in writing which company signs your agreement and which bank settles your transactions.
Sources
- Comptroller’s Handbook: Merchant Processing (Version 1.0, August 2014; reputation-risk references removed 20 March 2025)
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency · Opened 14 October 2026
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules (edition of 18 April 2026)
Visa · Opened 14 October 2026
- Payment terms explained
Zolution · Opened 14 October 2026
Your next payment provider starts here.
Merchants can request offers and invite providers. Both options are included in your membership and remain available in your workspace.