Payment facilitation is a buzzword in the industry. Fundamentally, it just means a platform or a software that sits in the middle between buyer and the seller, and it facilitates just a transaction or a payment between those two parties. It actually allows them to own the underlying client experience. So that goes anywhere from servicing, or a more integrated experience from a solution technology standpoint, and then it also provides them an ability to offer differentiated solutions around their core offering.
Payments are complex because there are so many different variables, more than just taking in payment. There is the compliance aspects, the fraud. Data security is obviously implied. It's creating frictionless consumer experiences because that's their expectation. It is an easy payment experience. And then also just managing the back end fees and the costs associated with it, it's oftentimes one of the top five line items for any direct-to-consumer business.
On top of that, it's a global marketplace. So you have to look at this cross-border transactions and alternative method of payments and ensuring that you're authorizing the most transactions or approving the most transactions coming in at the lowest possible cost. The biggest differentiator that we have in this segment is that we are an acquiring bank but also the largest issuer of credit cards here in the US. That enables us to bring our merchants a different perspective and insight, intelligence, and data around who their own customers are so they can better serve those customers as well as reach new ones.
So we do have a different line of sight and lens into the end-to-end payment ecosystem than most other providers. We've got amazing people who know payments. And we support our clients anywhere from that small micro merchant and SMB all the way up to global multinational corporations. And they lean on us for our expertise and guidance on maneuvering through what can be an extremely complex marketplace and a evolving and changing marketplace.