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REST API | Visa Platform Connect
Understanding Accounts and Organizations
You are assigned a
portfolio
account when you sign up. All merchant accounts are
subordinate to the portfolio account. A merchant account consists of a merchant
organization and its subordinate organizations, which always includes at least one
transacting
organization. You can use structural
organizations to extend the
hierarchy of merchant accounts. - Theportfolioaccount is always the top node in the hierarchy.
- Amerchantorganization represents a business entity. For example, a brand or company. There can only be one merchant in any branch of the hierarchy.
- Atransactingorganization represents an entity that processes payment transactions. For example, a physical store or a payment form on a web page or app. No other organization can be directly subordinate to a transacting organization.
- Astructuralorganization represents a conceptual entity that enables you to build an expansive hierarchy between merchant and transacting nodes. For more information on using structural organizations to extend the hierarchy, see Extending the Hierarchy.The image below shows a simple merchant account. The merchant organization is directly beneath the portfolio organization, and contains one transacting organization.