February 23, 2026
In an era where commerce and software are more tightly woven than ever, businesses of all sizes, from digital marketplaces to SaaS platforms, are looking to embed payments into their services. But building a fully compliant, high performance payment stack yourself takes time, money and specialised expertise.
That’s where Payment Facilitation (PayFac) comes in, and why Cardstream’s PayFac-as-a-Service (PFaaS) offering is empowering platforms, ISVs and payment providers to integrate payments quickly, competitively and with far fewer barriers to entry.
If you want a deeper look at how PayFac-as-a-Service is reshaping the payments landscape, download “The future of payment facilitation: The rise of PayFac- as- a Service,” a white paper produced by Mastercard in collaboration with Cardstream.
What is a Payment Facilitator?
A Payment Facilitator (PayFac) is a specialised payments partner that allows a platform to onboard and manage Sub-Merchants, your sellers or users, often under a single master Merchant account, rather than requiring each one to create their own Merchant account.
In practical terms, that means your business can:
Rather than building or managing all the underlying payment infrastructure yourself, a PayFac model helps you deliver these capabilities under your own brand, faster than traditional alternatives.
Why Payment Facilitation Has Become Essential
Traditional Merchant setup requires individual Merchant accounts and underwriting for each business, a process that can take weeks or months and imposes a heavy operational burden and compliance overhead. The PayFac model turns that on its head by enabling much faster onboarding and a centralised payment stack, a clear advantage for platforms, marketplaces, ISVs and software providers that want payments built-in rather than bolted on.
This shift has been accelerated by the broader move toward embedded finance, in which every platform seeks to unlock revenue streams and gain greater control over the customer journey while delivering a seamless user experience.
Cardstream’s PayFac-as-a-Service: Built for Scale and Speed
Becoming a payment facilitator from scratch typically involves investment into infrastructure, compliance, risk frameworks, and regulatory approvals. Cardstream’s PayFac-as-a-Service (PFaaS) removes those barriers by providing a ready-built, White-Label PayFac platform with the tools you need to launch fast and operate confidently.
Here’s what Cardstream brings to the table:
Together, this toolkit transforms what would otherwise be a long, complex project into a modern, agile, brandable payments service you control, not just resell.
Who Benefits Most from PFaaS?
Cardstream’s PayFac-as-a-Service empowers a range of businesses to unlock embedded payments:
The white paper from Mastercard and Cardstream underscores how PFaaS is dramatically lowering barriers to entry for new PayFacs and embedded payment platforms, reducing setup time from 12-24 months to just a few weeks and Merchant onboarding from weeks to minutes.
In Summary: Power Payments the Smart Way
Payment facilitation has transformed how platforms approach payments, shifting from lengthy onboarding and fragmented systems to centralised, fast, and compliant payment experiences. But launching your own PayFac operation isn’t simple, unless you partner with a service that handles the heavy lifting.
With Cardstream’s PayFac-as-a-Service, your business can:
If you’re building embedded payments into your platform, or thinking about how to get there, contact sales@cardstream.com to discuss how we can support your journey and explore opportunities with PayFac as a Service.
