Payments glossary
What is a merchant account?
A merchant account is the account a business holds with a payment provider or acquiring bank that lets it accept card payments and receive payouts.
Opening one involves verification of the business and its owners (often called KYC/KYB) and an underwriting decision by the provider.
Some providers give each business its own account on their platform rather than a traditional bank merchant account.
How it works in Allidian
With Allidian, you open your account directly with the matched provider through its hosted verification flow. We never collect SSNs, ID documents or bank account numbers ourselves.