Payments Firms Put Georgia’s Limited Purpose Bank Charter to Work

# Payments Firms Put Georgia’s Limited Purpose Bank Charter to Work

> Evidence tier: B1
> Evidence type: PYMNTS payments-industry analysis linked to Georgia regulator and company materials
> Source: [PYMNTS](https://www.pymnts.com/news/acquiring/2026/payments-firms-put-georgia-limited-purpose-bank-charter-work)
> Published: 2026-09-14
> Captured: 2026-09-15T02:33:56.558Z

## Source summary

PYMNTS reports that Georgia's Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank charter gives processors a regulated path to direct Visa and Mastercard membership for U.S. acquiring without operating as conventional commercial banks. Fiserv became the first MALPB to process card transactions in April 2025; Stripe received permission to begin business on May 28, 2026; and Checkout.com now describes direct U.S. acquiring through its MALPB while retaining sponsor-bank relationships for other domestic processing.

## Why it matters

The model can move card-network membership and some acquiring responsibility inside a processor's own regulated entity while leaving other bank partnerships intact. This is a retrospective industry analysis combining milestones from 2025 and 2026, not one same-day launch, and it is specific to U.S. acquiring. The article discloses no transaction volume, pricing, merchant adoption, authorization uplift, settlement improvement or direct cross-border scope.

## Key numbers

- **Georgia MALPB charter created:** 2012
- **Fiserv first processed under its MALPB:** April 30, 2025
- **Stripe permitted to begin MALPB business:** May 28, 2026

## Topics and entities

- Industry lane: Payment infrastructure
- Entities: Checkout.com / Fiserv / Stripe
- Company intelligence
- Payment infrastructure

## Evidence and credibility note

Readable PYMNTS analysis linked to state-regulator and company sources. It accurately separates each processor's stage, but the milestones span 2025-2026 and the article establishes U.S. acquiring rather than a new cross-border rollout.

Date evidence: PYMNTS article metadata records 2026-09-14T22:08:31+00:00 and the visible page is dated September 14, 2026

## First-party corroboration

- [https://dbf.georgia.gov/press-releases/2025-05-01/fiserv-merchant-acquirer-limited-purpose-bank-begins-processing](/en/items/https://dbf.georgia.gov/press-releases/2025-05-01/fiserv-merchant-acquirer-limited-purpose-bank-begins-processing)
- [https://www.checkout.com/blog/checkout-com-secures-us-bank-charter](/en/items/https://www.checkout.com/blog/checkout-com-secures-us-bank-charter)

## Original-source traceback

[Open the original PYMNTS report](https://www.pymnts.com/news/acquiring/2026/payments-firms-put-georgia-limited-purpose-bank-charter-work)

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This is a structured Payments Hot Markdown source summary derived from external reporting. Use the original link above to read the publisher's article; copyright remains with the original publisher.