The Maze: U.S. payments company Fiserv has started moving clients onto one of its two debit networks, STAR and Accel. A debit network carries a shop’s payment request to the bank that issued the customer’s card and brings back the bank’s decision. Fiserv plans to sell the other network if it gets an acceptable offer and wind it down otherwise, CEO Takis Georgakopoulos told a fintech conference, according to Payments Dive. He left the name of the surviving network open. For U.S. retailers that use either network today, the question is whether their payments provider will still offer a route with comparable coverage, costs and approval rates.
Source: Federal Reserve Board, 2004 report to Congress. An in-store debit example showing how the network carries an approval request to the card issuer and returns its decision to the merchant.
The details
🔄 Fiserv is moving clients before deciding what to do with the other network. Georgakopoulos expects the migration to take a few quarters, Payments Dive reported. He spoke at Citi’s November 10 FinTech Conference. He said owning a debit network gives Fiserv an advantage and described the two networks as having broadly similar capabilities. The report gives no list of clients moving or dates for individual switches.
💳 The network sits behind the checkout. When someone pays with a debit card, the merchant’s payments processor chooses an eligible route. The network forwards the request to the card issuer, which approves or declines the payment. The answer comes back to the shop over the network. Fiserv’s debit network guide describes that exchange. The company markets STAR and Accel for in-store and online payments in the U.S. and Canada. Which markets will move, and in what order, remains open.
🏛️ U.S. debit rules still apply online. Under the Federal Reserve’s routing rule, debit card issuers must enable at least two networks under different ownership, including for online purchases. STAR and Accel have the same owner today, so together they do not satisfy that requirement. The Fed’s explanation also says issuers need not guarantee two usable routes for every individual transaction.
Our take
The most useful thing a retailer can learn before Fiserv names the network it will keep is how much of its own debit volume depends on each route. Fiserv’s timetable gives payments teams time to check that exposure.
🔍 Start with the processor’s routing report. Ask for STAR and Accel volumes separately, split between online and store transactions. Then ask which other networks can handle the same cards. A provider’s list of supported networks tells you less than a report showing where your payments actually go, especially since the issuer’s duty to enable alternatives leaves room for a checkout to have fewer usable options.
📊 Compare the routes on actual payments. Fiserv’s own guide explains that debit networks can price transactions differently. If a provider proposes a replacement, compare total fees and the share of payments that banks approve for similar orders and cards. The change in network ownership or availability alone says little about what any one merchant will pay.
