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Education

Legal ease:

Legal strategies for ISOs

facing processor consolidation

By Adam Atlas of competition, which would be evidenced by reduced
Attorney at Law pricing competition or reduced competition in the variety
of product offerings.
few weeks ago, I published a chart on my
LinkedIn feed of the U.S. processor fami- If this did happen in the market for the supply of
ly tree: www.linkedin.com/posts/adamatlas_ processing to merchants, merchants could come together
A us-payment-processing-family-tree-activity- and claim that the concentration of suppliers was so
6575023887879331840-IJjc. I put the chart togeth- great as to be illegal. Merchants, as any ISO knows, are
er because with all the recent mergers and
acquisitions, I could not keep track of who
owned whom.

It turns out I was not alone; the chart's popularity
almost broke my LinkedIn account. The purpose
of this article is to give ISOs legal perspectives We’re More Than an Authorization
and strategies in a market that, despite all the We’re The Best Solution For You and Your Merchants
innovation, is arguably less competitive than it
was only a few years ago.

Is it time to consider anti-trust claims?
WorldPay, Vantiv, NPC and Litle used to compete
with each other; now they are under common
ownership. Similarly, Global, TSYS, Heartland,
TransFirst and Cayan have fallen under a QUICKBOOKS DEVELOPERS
common umbrella. RETAIL/POS

The Sherman Act, enforced in part by the Federal
Trade Commission, prohibits anticompetitive
agreements and unilateral conduct that
monopolizes or attempts to monopolize the MOBILE eCOMMERCE
relevant market. So what is the relevant market?
A number of markets are relevant to an anti-
trust claim in our industry – which is precisely Plus ePN offers customized, versatile services
why there might never be such a claim. to help you support your business
EMV • Level III • Inventory • CDM • QuickBooks • Bill Pay • Recurring Payments
The relevant markets are those that procure
services from processors, such as merchants Through our ePN Partnership, ISOs/MSPs will experience:
and banks, and those that supply services to • No fee, lead distribution
processors, such as ISOs, payfacs, card issuing • FREE online documentation, development test account, and sample code for
program managers and others. experienced developers
• FREE brandable marketing materials through our Reseller Support Center
Impact in merchant services market
(800) 296-4810 • eProcessingNetwork.com
It's possible today's extreme concentration of
processing services may result in a decrease © eProcessing Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
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