Issuer Processor

The engine that makes your card work. Validating every swipe, tap, or online checkout in real time.

When you use a debit or credit card, the issuer processor is the system that talks to your bank to decide whether the transaction should go through. It checks balances, applies spending rules, approves or declines the charge, and routes the response back. All in a few hundred milliseconds.

Issuer processors sit on behalf of the issuing bank (the one that gave you the card) and ensure every transaction follows the rules. Companies like Galileo, Marqeta, and Fiserv provide this infrastructure. You don’t see them, but without them, cards wouldn’t work.