The PSP-agnostic approach that disrupts the power balance in payments

Andy Wiggan, Chief Product Officer at Mangopay, explains why platforms running multi-party flows are separating who processes the pay-in from who manages the money afterwards, and what that shifts in their relationships with payment providers.

The platform industry has evolved in so many directions that no single change tells the whole story. Many platforms have gone far beyond their starting category, combining different business models and expanding into adjacent services. The same platform can now connect buyers and sellers, deliver goods and services, offer financial products, and move money between several types of users. With that evolution come more types of transactions, recipients, payment methods, markets, and, more importantly, multiple payment providers supporting them.

A multi-provider setup is virtually inevitable once a business reaches a certain scale in transaction volumes, users, and markets. But payments become more complex for reasons that have little to do with the checkout itself. Large platforms need a mix of PSPs for payment processing, while the funds collected through those providers need to move between different parties, under certain conditions. Along with their business model’s evolution, platforms need the flexibility to adjust these flows, but when they are tied to end-to-end payment setups, even relatively small adjustments risk disrupting the entire payment stack.

A PSP-agnostic approach changes the traditional dynamic between platforms and their payment providers. Platforms should be able to choose who processes their pay-ins without allowing that decision to influence how downstream payments are managed. 

What does PSP-agnostic mean in the platform economy?  

At the enterprise size, working with several providers avoids the proverbial 'all your eggs in one basket' problem. Spreading payments volumes between PSPs means more options to respond to performance, adapt to commercial changes, add local payment methods, all without turning every change into a major tech project.

Being PSP-agnostic means separating who processes the pay-in from who manages what happens to the money afterwards without affecting the payment operations. Platforms can add or switch PSPs according to their payment acceptance needs, while plugging into a separate setup to manage what happens downstream, from funds management to payouts. Payments processed by different providers are centralised in one system instead of creating a separate flow for every PSP.

This approach is more important to businesses handling multi-party flows. Their job is more challenging after the transaction is approved than it is in the case of linear payments. The payment journey is a bit longer after acceptance.

Regardless of which PSP processes a payment, the platform still needs to understand what the transaction relates to, reconcile the funds received, attribute them to the right users, apply its commission, and ultimately move money to the right stakeholders. One payment may need to be split between two parties, another across three, some funds may need to be held before being released, while others follow different allocation or payout rules.

This is a standard, yet already complex, scenario when everything goes well. If refunds, disputes, or other exceptions come in, the benefits of a PSP-agnostic approach are even more visible. These payment outcomes, even originating from different providers, can be handled through one infrastructure and matched back to the pay-in in one place rather than reconciled separately for every PSP.

A different balance in the payments relationships

In the traditional end-to-end payment models, payment acceptance and the processes that follow it are closely connected. A PSP-agnostic approach loosens that dependency by decoupling acquiring from the rest of the payment flow. Platforms can evaluate providers based on their own criteria, such as pricing, conversion rates, geographic coverage, or payment methods, without making the same provider responsible for the full payment flow. 

According to a PaymentGenes research, 84% of enterprise businesses are considering switching PSPs or keeping the options open, while 83% cite integration complexity as a barrier. A provider-agnostic model offers more freedom to make these changes. Adding, replacing, or negotiating with a PSP no longer has to affect the existing payment setup, putting platforms in a stronger position when making decisions according to their own commercial priorities. 

Payment providers are still and will always be crucial for acceptance, but processing the pay-in no longer gives them, by default, the key decision-making in everything that follows.

How Mangopay enables platforms to take part in this shift 

Mangopay has been part of the platform economy for over a decade, watching and supporting the evolution of business models from simple marketplaces into what is now a much more diverse landscape. For a scaling platform, growth means higher transaction volumes, more users, and diversifying the products and services. And as the business evolves, other needs are identified, like more visibility into the payment process, more flexibility in customizing the payment flows, and more opportunities to capture revenue and increase margins.

A multi-PSP setup is also a starting point for all these ambitions. So other benefits of bringing payments into one ecosystem, like, for example, the wallet infrastructure from Mangopay, reduce fragmentation and give platforms a clear view of where money comes from, where it goes, and what happens in between. On the backend, reconciliation is automated with funds correctly matched to the right user wallet. Overall, platforms have more flexibility, visibility, and automation over their payment operations.

Last but not least, keeping the downstream flow independent of other providers gives platforms more room to adjust as they scale and to create more and better experiences for users who pay or generate revenue in their ecosystem. A good example is increasing sellers, drivers, hosts, investors, or other service providers’ engagement through loyalty programmes, wallet-based re-spend, and financial services.

To address these evolving needs, we’ve recently launched Echo, which is a multi-PSP infrastructure for complex multi-party payments. Platforms connect their pay-ins processed by different providers to Mangopay’s wallet-first infrastructure, bringing settlements, reconciliation, wallet allocation, splits and payouts into one place. Echo gives platforms more flexibility over how their payment operations advance, a clear view of funds coming in and moving through, while making it easier to work with select providers. Whether pay-ins are processed by Adyen, Stripe, Worldpay or another PSP, Mangopay takes care of the payment journey onward.

So the balance starts to shift. Payment providers keep their valuable role, and enterprise platforms are in a much stronger position to decide how the payment model should work around their needs. The future of payments will also be about giving businesses more means to operate on their own terms, while keeping that freedom within a regulated and secure environment.

About Andy Wiggan

Andy has more than 15 years of experience in the fintech, payments, and platform businesses. He held leading product roles at Spotify and GoCardless, with hands-on exposure to both the supplier and customer sides of the ecosystem. His experience now benefits Mangopay’s existing and future customers, bringing a perspective that matches the way platforms think and operate. His background covers digital goods, consumer payments, and high-growth environments

 

 

About Mangopay

Mangopay is the wallet-first infrastructure for multi-party payment flows, designed to give platforms the control, scalability, and revenue opportunities they need to thrive. Mangopay offers programmable wallets, enabling platforms to hold, split, and move funds across buyers, sellers, and partners, while unlocking new monetisation streams. With over EUR 200 billion processed, 800 million wallets created, and 380 million users onboarded, Mangopay has demonstrated scale and reliability. Leading platforms like Vinted, Wallapop, Mirakl, Chrono24, Debenhams, and many more use Mangopay to power complex flows, double transaction volumes, and streamline global operations.