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Card Acquiring vs Payment Institution License: Which Model Gets You to Market Faster?

This article compares card acquiring and Payment Institution licensing models in Europe, focusing on scope, cost, and operational complexity. It outlines the structural differences between the two approaches, explains why acquiring licenses take years to operationalize, and examines faster alternatives such as PI licensing and partnering with existing acquirers.

March 22, 2026

For fintech founders in Europe who are considering how to best enter the card payments market, there is a critical decision to make: whether to obtain a card acquiring license or a Payment Institution license.

This decision will have a significant impact on your company's timeline to market.

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Executive Summary

For fintech founders in Europe, a Payment Institution (PI) license is the fastest route to market, enabling launch in months by leveraging existing acquiring infrastructure, whereas a card acquiring license requires €15M+ investment, significant operational complexity, and typically 2–3 years to go live. As a result, most early-stage companies start with a PI license or partner with an existing acquirer, only pursuing full acquiring later when scale and strategic control justify the time and cost.

Card Acquiring vs Payment Institution License: The Simple Difference

The two licensing models differ in scope, cost, and the speed at which you can start processing card transactions. Here is what each one involves.

Card Acquiring

A card acquiring license allows a company to become a card acquirer and gain membership with one of the two main card payment schemes in the world: Visa or Mastercard. As a card acquirer, you will be responsible for all aspects of the payment transaction process and will need to meet the regulatory and operational requirements of each of these card organisations.

A card-acquiring license is generally purchased by more mature companies that have the capital to purchase such a license. Industry practitioners estimate that a company will have to invest at least 15 million euros to start up an acquiring license. Additional costs will also apply for those who would like to employ people to run the acquiring organisation. One acquirer that has operated for several years stated that they have a minimum team of around 100 people to operate their acquiring license. The complexity of establishing an acquiring license means that there will be a long ramp-up period prior to the organisation being able to take its first card transaction.

Payment Institution License

A Payment Institution license does not require a company to become a card acquirer. Instead, a company will license to provide payment services to merchants and customers, but will route the card transactions to third-party acquiring companies. This licensing model allows for a much more rapid entry into the market by a new company.

Payment Institution licenses are generally obtained by startups and in the initial stages of a fintech company. As a licensed Payment Institution, you will be able to:

  • License your company to operate in payments
  • License merchants to your company under your organisation's name
  • Route transaction payments through acquiring companies that already have the licenses and the infrastructure to process card transactions

Which Option Gets You to Market Faster?

Speed to market is often the decisive factor for early-stage founders choosing between these two licensing paths.

A Payment Institution license will generally allow you to go to market in a matter of months, while a card acquiring license will take years to become operational. The acquiring industry has documented that it can take three years from the start of the application for an acquiring license to go live as an operational company. This time frame is for a company with deep knowledge of acquiring and an excellent understanding of what systems will need to be implemented.

There are three main reasons for the difference in time frames between these two licensing options:

1. Each licensing authority requires numerous approvals prior to a company being able to process a card transaction.
2. There are complex systems that must be implemented and operational.
3. There is a range of operational responsibilities associated with the acquiring license model.
Infographic of the card acquiring approval sequence outlining three steps: applying for an acquiring license with regulatory approval, obtaining Visa or Mastercard scheme membership, and implementing technical systems after approval.

Why Card Acquiring Takes Longer

Card acquiring involves sequential approvals, complex system builds, and operational obligations that each add time before a single live transaction can be processed.

Sequential Approvals

A company that applies for a card-acquiring license has to apply for numerous approvals in sequence:

  • Apply for the license to operate as an acquiring company.
  • Apply to either Visa or Mastercard for membership.
  • Only after receiving approval from the card company can technical systems be implemented.

Each license comes with its own set of requirements and approvals.

Complex Systems

The systems that must be implemented as a card acquiring company are more complex than those that a Payment Institution must implement. As an acquiring company, you will need to purchase and implement:

  • Card processing system
  • Payment gateway
  • Fraud detection system
  • Chargeback system
  • Settlement system
  • Tokenization system for digital wallets (Google Pay, Apple Pay)
  • Business intelligence system to analyse transaction data

These systems will have to be integrated with third-party systems, and it will take several months to complete.

Operational Readiness

As a card acquiring company, you will be responsible for your transactions from the very first transaction that you process. A character error in a transaction will result in the company losing money. Such errors mean that the acquiring company must put in place a quality assurance system before they begin to process transactions and send them live to merchants. This means that it will be difficult for an acquiring company to begin taking payments until it has completed this step.

Why Payment Institution Licenses Are Faster to Launch

A PI license removes the most time-consuming requirements of acquiring, allowing founders to focus on product and merchant relationships from day one.

A license as a Payment Institution (PI) will permit you to provide payment services to merchants, but without the requirements of having to provide clearing and settlement services for card transactions. This means that there will be fewer systems to create for your company and fewer regulatory requirements to be met. Consequently, there will be a faster licensing process from the regulator.

PI license applications are assessed by the national regulators of each of the EU countries. While the PI license is a serious regulatory requirement, it does not require companies to seek an agreement with the card schemes as a prerequisite. Furthermore, the regulatory requirements of a PI license are less onerous than the regulatory regime of the acquiring company.

Yet another reason to partner with an established acquiring company as opposed to creating your own acquiring systems is that industry veterans in the acquiring field state that partnering with specialist vendors as a supplier of acquiring services is one of the best decisions they made when starting their acquiring companies. They state that by partnering with a company that already has the systems and software that are required to provide acquiring services, they have been able to avoid the years of building the acquiring infrastructure.

The Fastest Option: Launching With an Existing Acquirer

For founders who need to move fastest and validate their product, bypassing the licensing process entirely — at least initially — is a legitimate and common path.

What This Means

The quickest way to start a company that offers card payment services does not require that you obtain a license for your company. Instead, you can form a company that offers reselling of card payment technology or services with an existing acquiring company. The existing acquiring company will hold the license and the agreement with the card schemes; you will focus on your product that offers value to merchants who use your company's services.

Typical Time to Market

The time to market for forming a company that offers card payments with an existing acquiring company takes either a few weeks or a few months to launch. Three months is the approximate time to integrate with an existing acquiring company's systems to offer its payment services. Adding tokenization and digital wallets will extend the time for implementation, but still within a year.

Who This Is Best For

This model of partnering with an existing acquiring company is best for:

  • Start-ups that are in the early stages of launching and establishing their brand and product with merchants
  • Companies that are evaluating the concept of their product as a means of determining whether they should invest in building their own acquisition systems
Time to market
Upfront capital
Own merchant relationships
Controls full payment stack
Best for
Payment Institution License
Months
Moderate
Yes
No
Regulated, independent ops
Card Acquiring License
2–3 years
€15M+
Yes
Yes
Scale, full-stack ownership

Which Model Should You Choose?

For most early-stage founders, the right entry point is a partnership with an existing acquirer or a PI license. A card acquiring license becomes viable only once scale, funding, and long-term strategy justify the investment.

Choose a Payment Institution License If:

  • You want to launch within months rather than years
  • You are at an early stage and need to establish revenue before building out a heavier infrastructure
  • You want to be regulated, own your merchant relationships, and operate independently, without taking on the full complexity of a direct acquiring setup

Choose Card Acquiring If:

  • You have the funding to sustain 18 months to three years of build-out before meaningful revenue
  • Your long-term strategy depends on owning the full payment stack, controlling scheme relationships directly, and operating at a scale where the economics of direct acquiring become favourable
  • You can absorb the operational overhead, team-building requirements, and the cost of licensing, scheme membership, and technical integrations simultaneously

Common Path Most Founders Take

The most common path that company founders take when establishing a company that will provide card payment services is to first form a partnership with an acquiring company and then to establish their company and product with merchants. Once they have gained revenue and built up their company, they can determine what their system infrastructure requirements are and whether making their company an acquiring company is the best path forward.