Payments glossary
Payment aggregator
A payment aggregator pools many merchants under one master merchant account and processes their payments collectively, so individual businesses can accept cards without their own acquiring relationship - fast to join, with settlement flowing via the aggregator.
How aggregation works
A payment aggregator processes payments for many merchants through one master merchant account held with an acquiring bank. Individual businesses sign up with the aggregator - not the bank - and their transactions flow through the shared account, with the aggregator settling funds onwards to each merchant. The model trades individual underwriting for standardised onboarding, which is why joining an aggregator typically takes days while a direct merchant account can take weeks.
Aggregator versus payment facilitator
In everyday use the terms are near-synonyms, and the underlying model is the same: many merchants, one master account. "Payment facilitator" (PayFac) is the card schemes' formal designation, and it carries specific obligations - registering sub-merchants with the schemes, performing KYC on each one, and monitoring their transactions. A provider described as an aggregator in conversation is usually operating as a registered payment facilitator in scheme terms.
The trade-offs to understand
Aggregation buys speed and simplicity at the cost of individual terms: pricing is standardised, settlement comes from the aggregator rather than in your own name, and because risk is pooled, the aggregator's controls - transaction limits, reserves, monitoring - apply to you even when your own record is clean. For growing merchants the sensible path is often aggregation first, then a direct merchant account once volume justifies it - a route LekkaPay supports in both directions without a re-integration.
Last updated:
Payments without the jargon.
One integration, every way Africa pays - we'll handle the acronyms.