Adyen's business model is built on a transparent, volume-based pricing structure that charges merchants a processing fee per transaction — a blend of interchange costs passed through at cost, a fixed Adyen processing fee, and a payment method fee. This structure, often called the "interchange++ model," is fundamentally different from the bundled, opaque pricing used by many legacy payment processors. **The Interchange++ Model** Under interchange++ pricing, Adyen charges merchants three components on each transaction: the interchange fee set by the card network (Visa, Mastercard) and paid directly to the issuing bank; a scheme fee set by the card network; and Adyen's own processing margin. This transparency benefits merchants because they can see exactly what each component costs, optimize their payment mix to minimize interchange, and hold Adyen accountable for its specific margin. For large-volume enterprise merchants, this transparency is highly valuable — a 0.1% difference in total payment cost on 1 billion euros of annual GMV is a 1 million euro difference. Adyen's processing fee per transaction ranges from approximately 0.3 to 0.8 euros per transaction for card payments, with variance based on payment method, geography, and merchant volume. The company does not publish a standard rate card because fees are negotiated individually with enterprise merchants at scale. **Settlement and Treasury Services** Beyond transaction processing, Adyen earns net interest income on merchant funds in transit. When a consumer pays a merchant, those funds flow through Adyen's balance sheet before being settled to the merchant — typically within one to two business days. The float on 1.3 trillion euros of annual payment volume, even for short settlement windows, generates meaningful interest income. In a high-interest-rate environment (2022–2024), this income grew substantially and became a more significant component of Adyen's total revenue. **Adyen for Platforms (Embedded Finance)** One of Adyen's most strategically important business lines is Adyen for Platforms — its embedded finance infrastructure that allows software platforms to offer payment processing, payouts, and financial services to their own sub-merchants. When a platform like a restaurant management software company, a marketplace operator, or an e-commerce enabler integrates Adyen for Platforms, it can offer payment acceptance to its business customers without building payment infrastructure itself. Adyen earns processing fees on every sub-merchant transaction and shares a portion of revenue with the platform operator. This business line is structurally attractive because it multiplies Adyen's merchant reach without requiring direct sales to each end merchant. A single platform integration with a company serving 10,000 small businesses gives Adyen access to 10,000 payment relationships through one commercial agreement. As of 2024, Adyen for Platforms was one of the company's fastest-growing product areas. **Issuing** Adyen also offers card issuing services — enabling merchants and platforms to issue branded Visa and Mastercard debit and prepaid cards to their employees or end users. A gig economy company can issue Adyen-powered cards to its contractors for instant payout of earnings. A corporate expense management platform can issue Adyen cards to employees. Each card transaction generates interchange revenue for Adyen in addition to the processing fees on any subsequent merchant purchases. Issuing represents a relatively small but strategically important revenue line that deepens platform stickiness. **Financial Services** Adyen holds banking licenses in multiple jurisdictions, including the Netherlands where it operates as a regulated bank under the European Central Bank. This banking status enables Adyen to offer financial services beyond payment processing — including multi-currency accounts, treasury management, and business lending. Capital Adyen, a merchant financing product, provides working capital loans to Adyen merchants with repayment tied directly to their payment volume — a product that competes with Stripe Capital and Square Loans in the embedded lending space.