A payments business can process growing volumes and still be a difficult acquisition. The question I would start with is what the buyer will actually control after completion: the customer relationships, the economics, the banking access and the people needed to keep the operation working.
My perspective comes from banking, founding and leading a payments business, and acquiring a PSP in 2019/2020 before integrating its people, operations and P&L into the wider organisation. Different working cultures and commercial priorities were part of that integration. That experience informs the questions below.
1. Understand what you are buying
PSP is a useful shorthand, but it does not describe one uniform business model. Establish exactly which services the target performs, which legal entity contracts with each customer and where third parties provide the underlying capability.
I would map the route from merchant onboarding to authorisation, settlement, reconciliation and payouts. For every step, ask who owns the relationship, who earns the revenue and who carries the obligation when something goes wrong. A platform, a merchant portfolio and a directly contracted acquiring relationship can have very different commercial characteristics.
2. Rebuild the economics from the merchant level
Headline processing volume is a starting point. I would want to see how it translates into revenue, gross contribution and cash, by merchant cohort, payment method and market.
Separate recurring trading performance from introductory pricing, exceptional transactions and temporary incentives. Test the effect of losing a major merchant or renegotiating a key supplier agreement. Examine the cost of fraud, disputes, support and reserves alongside the revenue those relationships generate.
The useful question is whether the earnings remain attractive under realistic operating conditions, including the cost of running the business after acquisition.
3. Test banking and acquiring dependencies
A valuable customer portfolio may depend on a small number of banks, acquirers or processing partners. I would assess concentration by revenue and operational importance, rather than simply count the number of providers on a slide.
Ask the transaction team to review the actual contracts and obtain any necessary counterparty confirmations. What notifications or consents could be required? What circumstances permit repricing, additional reserves or termination? Does a proposed alternative genuinely support the same merchants, jurisdictions and volumes?
Contract interpretation belongs with qualified legal advisers. The commercial responsibility is to identify the dependency early, establish what must be confirmed and reflect unresolved issues in the transaction plan.
4. Follow the money through settlement
I would request a clear reconciliation of funds moving between merchants, processors, banks and the target. Distinguish the company’s own cash from money owed to others, and understand the timing of settlement, refunds, disputes and reserve releases.
Compare contractual terms with actual operating behaviour. A settlement report that cannot be reconciled reliably is a question to resolve before relying on it in a valuation or integration plan. Assess the resources and systems needed to investigate exceptions, including during a migration.
5. Verify permissions and the proposed operating model
Do not use an authorisation, registration or group structure as a substitute for understanding the proposed transaction. Ask appropriately qualified advisers to confirm the target’s permissions, the activities and entities they cover, and any approvals or notifications relevant to the acquisition and intended integration.
For a UK example, the FCA sets out change-in-control requirements, including their application to authorised payment institutions and e-money firms. The applicable position depends on the firm and transaction; requirements in one jurisdiction should not be assumed to apply elsewhere. Read the FCA’s change-in-control guidance.
6. Build the integration plan before completion
Buying the business and integrating it are connected decisions. Identify the people who hold key customer and partner relationships, the systems that must keep operating, and the decisions that need a single accountable owner.
My experience integrating a PSP involved different ways of working and different goals. A shared organisation chart alone does not resolve those differences. Teams need clarity on commercial priorities, decision rights, reporting and how performance will be assessed.
I would agree what must be protected on day one, what should change in the first 100 days, and what should wait. Every promised synergy needs an owner, a realistic cost and a dependency assessment. Avoid making a migration timetable more important than maintaining service and control.
Turn diligence into a decision
The output should help a buyer decide what to pay, what needs resolving before completion and what must happen afterwards. A useful commercial assessment identifies evidence, open questions, dependencies and accountable actions.
For a founder considering a sale, the same framework is useful preparation: make the economics understandable, document key relationships and show how the business works beyond its founder.
Before acquiring a payments business, I would ask one final question: if the most important partner or senior operator left, what would still work—and what evidence supports that answer?
Discuss a payments acquisition or integration
I support investors, founders and management teams with commercial due diligence, payments partnerships and post-acquisition integration. An initial discussion can define the decision, available evidence, timetable and specialist advisers needed.
Explore Bryan Blake’s advisory work or discuss a potential engagement.
Commercial perspective by Bryan Blake, published 20 October 2026. The personal example is described without company-confidential information or deal values. Transaction-specific legal, regulatory, tax and financial assessments should be carried out by the appropriate qualified advisers.