Merchant acquiring, card issuing and payment rails
Acquiring permissions, card issuing programmes, BIN sponsorship, Visa and Mastercard principal membership, SEPA and SWIFT access, and the payment architecture around them.
- Licences
- 12
- Where
- 3 places
- Our fees
- from €12,190
What we do, and what belongs to the authority
Accepting or issuing cards takes more than a licence: a sponsor or a scheme membership, a BIN, a processor, settlement accounts and the reports the schemes require. Each piece has its own eligibility rules and its own contracts.
We prepare the permission files and the scheme or sponsor applications, organise the selection of processors and sponsors, and follow each onboarding until it is live or refused.
Good to know before you start
- Principal membership of a card scheme depends on eligibility the scheme decides.
- Sponsors and processors run their own due diligence.
- No time to approval is announced: each decision belongs to the authority, the scheme or the sponsor.
Licences we prepare
Fees for preparing and filing, excluding VAT. The authority's own fees and the capital are not fees.
Europe and United Kingdom
In the jurisdiction you choose
European Union and EEA
How it works
- Scoping call
We check the activity, the market and the people, and name the licence that fits.
- Firm quote
A written quote with the fees and what they cover, before anything is signed.
- Identity check
Owners, directors and key people are verified before any work on the file.
- Application file
Programme of operations, financial plan, policies and governance, written with you.
- Filing and questions
We file the application and answer the authority's questions round after round.
- Decision
The authority decides. We stay on the file until the decision and the first obligations after it.
Documents we will ask you for
Company, UBOs, payments/risk managers and partners
Required in every case
- Power of representation, notarised remotely. It gives us standing to act on your behalf before registries, banks and the relevant authorities, within the limits it sets out. The notarisation session is held by video; a valid identity document is required.
- Certificate of incorporation or recent registry extract
- Up-to-date articles, memorandum/articles or constitutive deed
- Register of directors and register of shareholders
- Ownership chart up to the natural-person beneficial owners
- KYC of the directors, signatories and UBOs
- Current licence or strategy for backing by an authorised institution
- Flow diagram, countries, currencies, volumes, MCCs and merchant profiles
- Website/product, terms and conditions, privacy, refunds and customer support
- Fraud and chargeback data and processing history if available
- Technical architecture, PCI DSS, security, reconciliation and continuity
- Draft contracts with the sponsor, processor, schemes, banks and providers
Depending on the case
- PCI DSS attestation and security audits
- Reserve/collateral and proof of liquidity
- RFP, quotes and existing contracts
- Merchant list and onboarding/monitoring procedures
- Existing BIC, IBAN, scheme identifiers and technical certificates
The exact list follows what you order; it is confirmed in your client space after payment.
Questions
Who operates Acquiring Desk?
Acquiring Desk is a service of AquaSands Trading AG, a Swiss stock corporation (Aktiengesellschaft, AG), c/o Kaurum GmbH, Hasenbüelweg 32, 6300 Zug, Switzerland. Orders, invoices and contracts are with AquaSands Trading AG.
Do you guarantee the licence?
No. The licence is granted by the authority after its own review. Our commitment is the quality of the file, its filing and its follow-up until the decision.
How are your fees set?
Each licence shows its starting fee, from €12,190 on this site; some are quoted after review because the authority's own fees depend on the activity. The firm quote follows the scoping call, before anything is signed.
How long does it take?
Preparation and filing take 6–16 weeks once we have your documents. The decision and its timing belong to the authority: no time to approval is announced.
Where can these licences be obtained?
Europe and United Kingdom, In the jurisdiction you choose, European Union and EEA.