Acquirers and ISOs recognize the impact that acquiring and retaining customers has on their revenue stream. In fact, 55% of the acquirers and ISOs surveyed currently rank merchant acquisition as the leading priority, while 64% rank merchant retention as a secondary priority.

Boston, MA, November 12, 2007 – A new report from Aite Group, LLC looks at the two most important challenges that acquirers and ISOs in the United States face: signing up new accounts and retaining the ones they have booked. The report focuses on the acquisition process, and looks closely at the roles of different factors and their importance in acquiring new accounts. It also looks at attrition numbers and various strategies implemented by acquirers in order to curb attrition rates.

The report, titled "Acquisition and Retention in Today's Merchant Acquiring World," is based on a phone/e-mail survey conducted by Aite Group between September and October 2007 of 11 of the top 70 acquirers and ISOs in the United States and Puerto Rico (ranked by total volume processed). It confirms that acquirers and ISOs alike recognize that increasing their merchant base is key to increasing revenue. In fact, of the total respondents, 55% currently rank increasing their merchant base as their number-one priority, and 64% currently rank the retention of existing customers as their second priority. Not surprisingly, 36% of the acquirers and ISOs ranked developing and deploying new solutions as their third-highest priority. Through developing and deploying new solutions and products, acquirers and ISOs will be better positioned to increase their merchant bases and retain existing customers.

"Acquirers and ISOs must increasingly face the pressures of growing their business through merchant acquisition and the retention of their existing clients," says Adil Moussa, analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. "In an industry in which pricing is the number-one concern of customers, acquirers and ISOs have to navigate through increasing margin compression and more demanding customers to be able to offer more with less. Acquirers and ISOs have to be creative in devising strategies to win new accounts, as well as retain the ones they have worked so hard to obtain."

This 31-page Impact Report contains 14 Figures. Clients of Aite Group's Retail Banking service can download the report by clicking on the icon to the right.

Related Aite Group Research:

• Prepaid Cards: The State of the Industry
• The Next Big Thing in Cards: Co-Branded Decoupled Debit Cards
• Loyalty & Rewards: A Market Overview
• Prepaid Cards: A Market Overview

To purchase this report or
for additional information,
please contact:
Aite Group Sales
Tel: +1.617.338.6050
sales@aitegroup.com