The U.S. Credit Card Processing Industry is Highly Concentrated

Research and Markets has announced the addition of “Credit Card Processing – Industry Profile” to their offering.

The US credit card processing industry includes fewer than 500 companies with combined annual revenue under $10 billion. Major companies include First Data Corporation, Total Systems, Global Payments, and Bank of America. The industry is highly concentrated: the top four companies account for 40 percent of industry revenues.

Demand is driven by consumer spending. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations, as services are sold largely based on cost. Large companies have big economies of scale in processing and can provide more services; small companies can compete by specializing in industries and providing custom services. The business is capital-intensive; average annual revenue per employee is about $225,000.

Processors provide transaction services to banks that issue credit cards and to merchants that accept credit card payments. Merchant products include authorizing, capturing, and settling merchants credit and debit card transactions, and handling chargebacks. Chargebacks occur when a consumer disputes a charge and charges it back to the merchant. Processors also sell or lease Point of Sale (POS) terminals. Card issuer products include transaction authorization and posting, statement generation and printing, and card embossing.

Large processors such as First Data Corporation and Total Systems provide services to both sides of the transaction. Small processors typically offer either merchant or card issuing services, and may specialize in particular vertical markets such as credit unions or retail cards. For every merchant transaction there is a card issuing transaction.

These easy-to-use, quarterly industry profiles provide you with the industry analysis you need to better understand any particular business. They synthesize information from hundreds of sources into an easy to digest format, giving you invaluable information about your target market, highlighting critical industry statistics and issues, changes that have taken place since the last quarterly update and key concerns that can have negative or positive impacts on investments. Utilizing the financial and forecasting data while simultaneously learning from educational business overviews can help you and your customers plan more effectively and invest wisely.

These industry reports will educate your sales team on critical industry trends in target markets, empowering them to create more strategic proposals. These industry reports are also essential for professional organizations that want make savvy, educated business decisions.

Key topics covered include: