Credit/Debit Card Processor

Check out this McKinsey prompt and sample case interview practice to prepare for your upcoming interview.

Case Study Example Video

Case Prompt

Pierce Processing is a credit/debit card processor.  It provides outsourced services to credit/debit card issuers.  The issuer pays a percentage of transaction fees to Pierce for providing the following services: Credit authorization, Fraud detection, Accounting and reporting.

Issuers outsource this function to companies like Pierce because of the high cost of maintaining their own IT systems to perform this function.  

Pierce currently serves the 10 of the top 20 issuers of the country.  The 20 top issuers comprise 90% of the credit card market.  The 10 of the top 20 that are not Pierce’s customers either use Pierce’s competition or perform the function in-house. The number of credit card transactions is growing at 3% annually.

Pierce earns a percentage of the transaction fee of each transaction.

Case Overview

Are you preparing for a second round interview at McKinsey? Get your sample case interview practice in with this case. Start with the Market Study Framework, but don’t stop there. Take it a step further and build your own framework that blends your experience into the solution to come up with a case specific framework.

This case has three math questions. The qualitative difficulty is 3 out of 4, which makes this an advanced case interview you would see in a McKinsey second round.

McKinsey Interview Tips

What does McKinsey look for in its case interview candidates? Outstanding problem-solving and next level communication skills.

As you work through this case, focus on the following:

• Come away with 1 key takeaway or area you can improve
• Time yourself throughout the case -(2min for structure, 5min for math, 2min for brainstorming, 2min for conclusion)
• Polish your communication and presentation

For quality case practice with a pro, book an hour with an ex-MBB interview coach. For more sample case interview practice, head back to the Case Library for 500+ practice case studies.