Payments Firms Put Georgia’s Limited Purpose Bank Charter to Work
Bank sponsorship has been a staple of merchant acquiring in the United States. A payments company can provide the technology, process the transaction and manage the merchant relationship, while relying on a bank member of the card networks for the access needed to acquire Visa and Mastercard transactions. Checkout.com, for example, lists direct U.S. acquiring […] The post Payments Firms Put…
The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance created a special limited purpose bank charter in 2012 to enable payments companies to directly access card networks. This charter allows entities involved in merchant acquiring or settlement activities to obtain direct access to Visa and Mastercard without relying on a third-party bank sponsor.
Checkout.com, Fiserv, and Stripe are among the companies that have applied for and received MALPB charters, allowing them to process card transactions under their own corporate structure while still maintaining relationships with existing bank partners. The state approved Stripe's MALPB in June 2025, permitting it to begin business on May 28, 2026, and processing its first card-based payment transactions on April 30, 2025.
Checkout.com, meanwhile, plans to operate its U.S. acquiring directly through its MALPB charter later in the year, while still maintaining relationships with two sponsor banks.
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