Beyond the standard payments stack, there are areas that require specific technical knowledge — card acquiring programmes, virtual asset custody infrastructure and the detailed product specification work that determines whether a payment product actually functions as intended. Steven Faulkner has built these capabilities from scratch, at scale, across multiple institutions and jurisdictions.
Speak to StevenCard acquiring — accepting card payments on behalf of merchants — is a regulated activity with specific scheme rules, technical requirements and risk obligations. Setting up or scaling a card acquiring programme requires both scheme accreditation and operational infrastructure.
Direct membership of Visa and Mastercard as a principal member or registered third-party processor. The accreditation process — PCI DSS compliance, scheme rules adherence, capital requirements — is demanding and slow. Understanding what the schemes require and how to navigate the application process is the difference between a 6-month and an 18-month timeline.
The operational infrastructure behind a card acquiring programme — merchant onboarding, underwriting, terminal management, chargeback handling and settlement. Each element has regulatory and scheme-level requirements. Getting the underwriting and risk management frameworks right from the outset avoids the costly chargebacks and scheme fines that come from poor merchant selection.
Issuing virtual or prepaid cards — for corporate expense management, consumer wallets or disbursement programmes — requires either direct card scheme membership or a BIN sponsor arrangement. The regulatory treatment depends on whether stored value is involved, which determines whether an EMI licence is required.
The custody and movement of virtual assets — cryptocurrency, tokenised assets and digital securities — requires infrastructure that bridges traditional payment rails and distributed ledger systems. Regulatory treatment varies significantly by jurisdiction.
Secure custody of virtual assets requires a combination of technical infrastructure — cold and hot wallet architecture, key management, multi-signature schemes — and regulatory compliance. In the UK, virtual asset custody is regulated activity under the MLRs. Understanding the technical and regulatory requirements before building is essential.
Connecting traditional payment infrastructure to virtual asset platforms — on-ramping and off-ramping — is operationally complex. Banking relationships for crypto businesses are difficult to secure; FX for crypto-linked payments requires specific liquidity arrangements. The AML obligations on virtual asset service providers are the most demanding in the payments sector.
Buying a payment institution, card acquirer or virtual asset business is not like buying a standard technology company. The regulatory, operational and compliance risks are embedded in the business — they survive the transaction and transfer to the acquirer. Proper due diligence is not optional.
Assessing the target's regulatory status — licences held, jurisdictions covered, regulatory correspondence, enforcement history and outstanding requirements. A target with unresolved regulatory issues transfers those issues to the buyer. This must be assessed before heads of terms are signed, not after.
Review of the target's payment infrastructure, technology stack, PSP relationships, banking arrangements and operational dependencies. Identifying single points of failure, vendor lock-in, undisclosed costs and the true cost of maintaining or replacing the technology post-acquisition.
The quality of the target's AML programme — policies, procedures, transaction monitoring configuration, KYC processes and SAR history. Weaknesses in the AML framework become the acquirer's liability. The FCA expects the acquiring entity to remediate any deficiencies promptly post-completion.
Assessment of the target's corridor economics, FX margins, PSP costs and revenue quality. Payment businesses can look profitable on headline revenue while losing money on specific corridors or customer segments. Understanding the unit economics corridor by corridor is essential to accurate valuation.
A payment product that works in practice — that handles edge cases, settlement failures, FX rate moves and regulatory exceptions — requires someone who has operated payment systems at scale, not just designed them on paper.