A payment journey is only as strong as the infrastructure behind it. It directly affects a merchant’s ability to grow. And for merchants, the most important improvements are often the ones they never see: fewer unnecessary handoffs, more control over how transactions move, and the ability to keep improving performance as their business evolves. Payments are the invisible engine of a business.
That kind of progress takes sustained investment. Checkout.com’s Merchant Acquirier Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charter in the US is one example: a focused regulatory and infrastructure decision that gives us a direct acquiring route in the US and strengthens the foundation we’re building for merchants in the region.
Let us tell the story, via an interview with our MALPB CEO and Head of North American Banking at Checkout.com, Jordan Reynolds. He’ll explain why we pursued the charter, what it changes for merchants, and what comes next.
Think greater control across the payment lifecycle, more direct network connectivity, faster innovation, stronger resilience, and a deeper long-term commitment to the market.
An interview with Jordan Reynolds
Checkout.com has been operating in the US for years. Why was this the right moment to invest in a MALPB charter?
Jordan: The US is one of the world’s most competitive and technically demanding payments markets. Its card ecosystem is complex, its issuing landscape is highly fragmented, its interchange structures differ from the rest of the world, it has greater card variety, and expectations for reliability are extremely high. Success here requires deep domestic optimization and partnership that can prove measurable upside – not simply importing a global playbook.
And as the market is entering its next phase, it’s a strategically important and fast-growing one for Checkout.com. Enterprise merchants need payments providers like us to combine global reach with strong local infrastructure, resilience, and accountability.
When we think about payments performance at Checkout.com, it’s across the whole journey – not only about the payment methods we enable, but the entire infrastructure that supports every transaction. Building that well comes back to the same invisible engine concept: we invest in capabilities that may not be obvious to our merchants, but make a meaningful difference over time.
This is reflected in many of the decisions we’ve made: prioritizing native licensing, direct integration, multi-cloud strategy, and robust optimization across our own platform and in relationships with other players in the ecosystem like issuers and card networks.
The MALPB charter is a perfect example of our modus operandi. It reflects a multi-year commitment to building the regulatory capability, operating model, and infrastructure to serve merchants in the US. We’re taking on a significant responsibility because we believe a stronger foundation can create more ways to serve merchants in the long term. Whether that’s in simplicity, cost reductions, or resilience.
Let’s get into the details of the MALPB charter a little more. What does it allow Checkout.com to do?
Jordan: The scope of MALPB is intentionally limited (the clue is in the name). We’re only the third player in the US to gain our charter. And this is highly advantageous for acquirers like us. Think of it like a middle ground between being completely dependent on sponsor banks (which means you have less control) and becoming a fully fledged bank, which is a significant operational and regulatory hurdle in itself.
It allows Checkout.com to operate as a direct acquirer in the US by connecting directly to local card networks to process, clear, and settle card transactions. We no longer have to rely solely on third-party sponsor banks.
By creating this license, the Georgia Department of Banking Finance (DBF) gives businesses a lot more flexibility to achieve their goals while still regulating them to a very high standard. Its rigorous approach to compliance, security, and business due diligence helps build trust with the wider market.
How does this change Checkout.com’s existing US model? And how does this benefit merchants?
Jordan: It gives us more choice in how we serve our merchants because more of the payment lifecycle sits under our direct control.
Direct network access can reduce reliance on third-party intermediaries in parts of the payment flow. Greater ownership of the acquiring infrastructure also gives us more speed, flexibility to develop our platform for the specific needs of the US market, and control over operational decisions. That creates a stronger base for improving performance and bringing new capabilities to market over time.
It’s important to note, though, that the MALPB charter doesn’t replace our existing sponsor-bank relationships. Those partnerships remain an important part of our US strategy. The MALPB charter simply adds another acquiring route, so we can consider the needs, operating model, and eligibility of each merchant when determining the right path.
Our MALPB charter reflects our desire to build for long-term scale.
- Performance: greater control can support continued innovation across authorization, routing, settlement, and risk-management over time.
- Operational simplicity: reducing unnecessary handoffs can create a smoother path for onboarding and servicing eligible merchants.
- Innovation: direct connectivity can help Checkout.com bring new capabilities and improvements to market with greater agility.
- Resilience and choice: maintaining both the MALPB and sponsor-bank routes gives Checkout.com more flexibility to select the best path for each merchant and use case.
For enterprise merchants, even small improvements in authorization rates, reliability, routing, fraud decisioning, or speed can have a meaningful impact on revenue and customer experience.
What do people commonly misunderstand about the relationship between fintech innovation and regulation?
Jordan: MALPB sits at the intersection of fintech innovation, bank regulation, and payments infrastructure. The approval process is a test of operational maturity, not only a legal or licensing exercise. Direct participation in the ecosystem comes with greater responsibility and scrutiny. The model shows how specialist regulatory frameworks can support innovation while keeping activities tightly defined and supervised.
What does this investment say about Checkout.com’s US ambitions?
Jordan: The charter is a tangible signal of Checkout.com’s commitment to the US market. It’s not just a regulatory milestone. Operating as a regulated entity requires investment in governance, compliance, security, controls, capital, people, and infrastructure. It’s all part of building our credibility among enterprise merchants, card networks, partners, regulators, and investors.
Atlanta is an important operating hub for this capability, alongside our wider North American presence. Our ambition is to grow in a durable and responsible way, close to the merchants we serve.
Checkout.com’s MALPB charter was live and operational from September. What comes next for Checkout.com?
Jordan: Now the fun part begins. We’ve built the foundations and gone through years of regulatory rigor. It’s time to put the infrastructure to work, dial in performance improvements day after day, and keep providing merchants with the solutions needed to meet the constant changes of the US payments market with confidence.
Our early focus is on eligible, lower-risk enterprise merchant use cases and carefully managed volume. We need to expand as our capabilities develop across our product, risk, operations, and merchants teams, scale in a deliberate way, and continue building closer to our customers.
The long term ambition is a stronger acquiring foundation for US merchants, with faster product rollouts – creating more flexibility, resilience, and payments optimizations for merchants.
Since the MALPB is anchored out of Atlanta, the ultimate question is: real Georgia peaches, or is Transaction Alley just sweet enough on its own?
Jordan: Honestly, after spending years deep in Georgia banking code and regulatory filings, I think I’ve earned a peach cobbler or two. But in all seriousness, Atlanta’s ‘Transaction Alley’ processes 70% of all US card transactions. Setting up right here in the heart of that ecosystem feels like home turf. Though if anyone on the team brings in fresh peach pie, I won’t say no.
Between processing millions in volume and being based in Georgia, how many peach puns did your team make you cut from the application?
Jordan: Far too many. Let’s just say building preparing for the MALPB charter isn’t always peachy, but watching our first direct transactions in the US clear on our own rails? That was pretty sweet.
