How to Launch a White Label Payment Gateway

Becoming a white label payment gateway provider is a beneficial strategy for many companies. Nowadays, people often tend to prefer electronic payments to cash. As a result, the demand for electronic payment management services remains high, even though recession, induced by COVID pandemic, is still under way. Just like white label merchant services and white label payment services, white label gateway services are, usually, provided by some third party on your behalf. You are the payment gateway provider in the eyes of your customers (and, possibly, competitors), however most of the process is managed by the third party.

Are you interested in implementation of a white label payment gateway solution of some sort, but don’t know how to approach the process? Well, here are some tips for you.

White Label Payment Gateway Project: Key Steps and Partnerships

The main benefit of a white label gateway product is that you get it off the shelf. You don’t have to spend time, dedicate resources and efforts to designing and developing the product. However, the more control over the process you want to gain, the more responsibility you should assume.

Whatever flavor of a white label payment gateway solution you choose, implementation process starts with the search for key partners. They are as follows.

1. Sponsor bank. This is your connection to card associations.
2. Acquiring bank. This is the bank, through which your merchants’ transactions will be settled.
3. Payment processor. This is, basically, the technical solution allowing you to authorize and process transactions.
4. Commercial bank. This is the bank that will actually fund the merchants.

Some large providers (such as Chase) allow you to get all 4 services in one package.

Once you know your key partners, you can address the technical aspect of the project. Here are its key phases.

1. Set the time frames. A white label payment gateway project is less costly and time-consuming than a custom payment gateway project. However, it might still require up to a year (or, sometimes, even more) of your time.
2. Define the methodology. Which architectural solutions will you need? Which hardware and/or middleware will you have to install? What are the key infrastructure requirements for the product deployment? In order to answer these questions, you have to work in close cooperation with your white label gateway provider.
3. Distribute the responsibilities. How “white label” do you want to be? Are your going to install the product in the PCI compliant environment using your own team? Are you able to handle the necessary integrations and certifications? Or would you rather delegate these tasks to the provider?

This is the general outline of the process. As always, the devil will hide in the details. These details will depend on your specific target geographies, currencies and payment types you want to support, and the degree of control and customizability you expect to get.

If the idea of a white label payment gateway of your own appeals to you, feel free to consult our specialists at UniPay Gateway. They will help you make the most of the white label payment gateway model in your specific case.