CERF Payment Solutions is a Paris-based merchant account placement and payment infrastructure firm serving regulated and specialty industries. We build and maintain acquiring relationships for businesses that conventional processors routinely decline.
CERF Payment Solutions is a merchant account placement and payment infrastructure firm incorporated in France. Founded in 2022, we specialize in securing and maintaining acquiring relationships for businesses operating in regulated, high-risk, and restricted verticals -- from nutraceuticals and research peptides to forex, online gaming, and telemedicine.
We do not operate a payment gateway. We do not process payments. Our role is to structure banking relationships, coordinate underwriting, manage documentation, and oversee merchant onboarding from application through account activation.
Our acquiring bank network spans the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and continental Europe. This geographic diversification means we can place merchants across jurisdictions and accommodate businesses that conventional processors decline as a matter of policy.
We do not chase quick approvals. We engineer processing stability for businesses in industries where banking relationships are difficult to establish and harder to maintain.
We assess your processing profile, volume trajectory, industry classification, and compliance posture before recommending any acquiring institution. Every placement is deliberate, not speculative. This upfront diligence is what drives long-term account retention.
We maintain direct working relationships with 30+ acquiring institutions. This means faster escalation paths, more flexible underwriting dialogue, and better commercial terms than a merchant receives approaching the same banks independently or through aggregator channels.
Our commercial incentive is your continued, stable processing -- not a quick approval that terminates in 90 days. We structure accounts with multi-MID setups, diversified banking arrangements, and proactive risk management to protect your processing continuity.
Understanding our role helps set the right expectations from the first conversation.
We do not provide technical payment processing infrastructure. Payment gateways are assigned through the acquiring institutions we place merchants with. Our scope is the banking relationship, not the technical stack.
We work exclusively with businesses that mainstream processors decline on principle. Our network consists of licensed acquiring banks and regulated payment institutions -- not fintech platforms with automated underwriting and automated terminations.
We structure acquiring relationships, coordinate underwriting, manage compliance documentation, and remain involved throughout the lifecycle of your merchant account. We coordinate underwriting, compliance documentation, acquiring bank communication, and post-approval account management.