The payment card industry (PCI) denotes the debit, credit, prepaid, e-purse, ATM, and POS cards and associated businesses.
The payment card industry consists of all the organizations which store, process and transmit cardholder data, most notably for debit cards and credit cards. The security standards are developed by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council which develops the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards used throughout the industry. Individual card brands establish compliance requirements that are used by service providers and have their own compliance programs. Major card brands include American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, Mastercard, RuPay, UnionPay and Visa. Most companies use member banks that connect and accept transactions from the card brands. Not all card brands use member banks, like American Express, these instead act as their own bank. [1] [ promotional source? ]
As of 2014 [update] , the United States uses a magnetic stripe on a card to process transactions and its security relies on the holder's signature and visual inspection of the card to check for features such as hologram. This system will be outmoded and replaced by EMV in 2015. [2] [ needs update ] EMV is a global standard for inter-operation of integrated circuit cards (IC cards or "chip cards") and IC card capable point of sale (POS) terminals and automated teller machines (ATMs), for authenticating credit and debit card transactions. It has enhanced security features, but is still susceptible to fraud. [2]
On 7 September 2006, American Express, Discover Financial Services, Japan Credit Bureau, Mastercard and Visa International formed the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) with the goal of managing the ongoing evolution of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. The council itself claims to be independent of the various card vendors that make up the council. As of 1 August 2014, the PCI SSC website lists 688 "Participating Organizations". [3] Internationally, 61 different financial institutions were noted, including Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, TD Bank and Wells Fargo. [3] A total of 275 merchants were listed, including Amazon, Burger King, Citgo, Dell, Equifax, ExxonMobil, Global Cash Access, Motorola, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines and Walmart. [3]
MasterCard's Nicole Krieg has noted that the Russian credit card market started in early 2000, when issuers first began launching products. [4] However, credit products became especially popular in Russia in 2005, after new legislation took effect. Immense growth was noted in just eight years, by comparing second quarter growth on Visa card purchases, which went from $306 million in 2002 to $61.5 billion in 2010. Merchants who accepted Visa cards also increased from 21,000 to 331,000 during the same period. Visa also noted that they had issued 70 million cards and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation reported that 8.6 million credit cards were on issue. [4]
The Interac Association is Canada's national organization linking Financial Institutions and enterprises that have proprietary networks, to enable communication with each other for the purpose of exchanging electronic financial transactions. The Association was founded in 1984 by the big five banks. Today, there are over 80 members. The Interac Association is the organization responsible for the development of Canada's national network of two shared electronic financial services: Shared Cash Dispensing (SCD) for cash withdrawals from any ABM not belonging to a cardholder's financial institution; and Interac Direct Payment (IDP) for Debit Card payments at the Point-of-Sale
A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either the front or the back. Many new cards now have a chip on them, which allows people to use their card by touch (contactless), or by inserting the card and keying in a PIN as with swiping the magnetic stripe. Debit cards are similar to a credit card, but the money for the purchase must be in the cardholder's bank account at the time of the purchase and is immediately transferred directly from that account to the merchant's account to pay for the purchase.
Electronic funds transfer at point of sale is an electronic payment system involving electronic funds transfers based on the use of payment cards, such as debit cards or credit cards, at payment terminals located at points of sale. EFTPOS technology was developed during the 1980s.
EMV is a payment method based on a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them. EMV stands for "Europay, Mastercard, and Visa", the three companies that created the standard.
Interac is a Canadian interbank network that links financial institutions and other enterprises for the purpose of exchanging electronic financial transactions. Interac serves as the Canadian debit card system and the predominant funds transfer network via its e-Transfer service. There are over 59,000 automated teller machines that can be accessed through the Interac network in Canada, and over 450,000 merchant locations accepting Interac debit payments.
Mastercard Maestro is a brand of debit cards and prepaid cards owned by Mastercard that was introduced in 1991. Maestro is accepted at around fifteen million point of sale outlets in 93 countries.
Visa Debit is a major brand of debit card issued by Visa in many countries around the world. Numerous banks and financial institutions issue Visa Debit cards to their customers for access to their bank accounts. In many countries the Visa Debit functionality is often incorporated on the same plastic card that allows access to ATM and any domestic networks like EFTPOS or Interac.
A merchant account is a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments in multiple ways, typically debit or credit cards. A merchant account is established under an agreement between an acceptor and a merchant acquiring bank for the settlement of payment card transactions. In some cases a payment processor, independent sales organization (ISO), or member service provider (MSP) is also a party to the merchant agreement. Whether a merchant enters into a merchant agreement directly with an acquiring bank or through an aggregator, the agreement contractually binds the merchant to obey the operating regulations established by the card associations. A high-risk merchant account is a business account or merchant account that allows the business to accept online payments though they are considered to be of high-risk nature by the banks and credit card processors. The industries that possess this account are adult industry, travel, Forex trading business, multilevel marketing business. "High-Risk" is the term that is used by the acquiring banks to signify industries or merchants that are involved with the higher financial risk.
Payment cards are part of a payment system issued by financial institutions, such as a bank, to a customer that enables its owner to access the funds in the customer's designated bank accounts, or through a credit account and make payments by electronic transfer with a payment terminal and access automated teller machines (ATMs). Such cards are known by a variety of names, including bank cards, ATM cards, client cards, key cards or cash cards.
The Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS) is an interbank network service provider in Malaysia. In August 2017, MEPS merged with Malaysian Electronic Clearing Corporation Sdn Bhd (MyClear) to form Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet).
Moneris is a Canadian financial technology company that specializes in payment processing.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is an information security standard used to handle credit cards from major card brands. The standard is administered by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, and its use is mandated by the card brands. It was created to better control cardholder data and reduce credit card fraud. Validation of compliance is performed annually or quarterly with a method suited to the volume of transactions:
A payment card number, primary account number (PAN), or simply a card number, is the card identifier found on payment cards, such as credit cards and debit cards, as well as stored-value cards, gift cards and other similar cards. In some situations the card number is referred to as a bank card number. The card number is primarily a card identifier and may not directly identify the bank account number(s) to which the card is/are linked by the issuing entity. The card number prefix identifies the issuer of the card, and the digits that follow are used by the issuing entity to identify the cardholder as a customer and which is then associated by the issuing entity with the customer's designated bank accounts. In the case of stored-value type cards, the association with a particular customer is only made if the prepaid card is reloadable. Card numbers are allocated in accordance with ISO/IEC 7812. The card number is typically embossed on the front of a payment card, and is encoded on the magnetic stripe and chip, but may also be imprinted on the back of the card.
Credit card fraud is an inclusive term for fraud committed using a payment card, such as a credit card or debit card. The purpose may be to obtain goods or services or to make payment to another account, which is controlled by a criminal. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is the data security standard created to help financial institutions process card payments securely and reduce card fraud.
A credit card is a payment card, usually issued by a bank, allowing its users to purchase goods or services or withdraw cash on credit. Using the card thus accrues debt that has to be repaid later. Credit cards are one of the most widely used forms of payment across the world.
Card schemes are payment networks linked to payment cards, such as debit or credit cards, of which a bank or any other eligible financial institution can become a member. By becoming a member of the scheme, the member then gets the possibility to issue cards or acquire merchants operating on the network of that card scheme. UnionPay, Visa and MasterCard are three of the largest global brands, known as card schemes, or card brands. In recent years domestic card schemes such as AfriGo(Nigeria), Cartes Bancaires(France), Dankort(Denmark) and RuPay(India) have emerged, competing with the global brands. Billions of transactions go through their cards on a yearly basis.
Debit Mastercard is a brand of debit cards provided by Mastercard. They use the same systems as standard Mastercard credit cards but they do not use a line of credit to the customer, instead relying on funds that the customer has in their bank account.
A card security code is a series of numbers that, in addition to the bank card number, is printed on a credit or debit card. The CSC is used as a security feature for card not present transactions, where a personal identification number (PIN) cannot be manually entered by the cardholder. It was instituted to reduce the incidence of credit card fraud. Unlike the card number, the CSC is deliberately not embossed, so that it is not read when using a mechanical credit card imprinter which will only pick up embossed numbers.
Ukrainian Processing Center is a Ukrainian company founded in 1997 which provides processing services and software for banks. UPC was the first Ukrainian company within the sphere of processing that received MSP and TPP status in Visa and Mastercard. In April 1997 UPC processed the first ATM EC/MC card transaction. Since 2005 UPC has become part of the Raiffeisen Bank International. The head office of UPC is based in Kyiv. Ukrainian Processing Center provides services to banks in Central and East Europe in the sphere of processing payment cards, merchant acquiring and ATM channel management. UPC also offers integrated IT systems for electronic commerce, card transactions monitoring systems of fraud prevention, card issuing system and SMS banking service. Moreover, UPC was the initiator of the establishment of the united ATM network "ATMoSphere", which consists of payment cards issuing banks. Annually UPC processes more than 400 million of payment card transactions.
Google Pay is a mobile payment service developed by Google to power in-app, online, and in-person contactless purchases on mobile devices, enabling users to make payments with Android phones, tablets, or watches. Users can authenticate via a PIN, passcode, or biometrics such as 3D face scanning or fingerprint recognition.
The Four Corners model, often referred to as the Four Party Scheme is the most used card scheme in card payment systems worldwide. This model was introduced in the 1990s. It is a user-friendly card payment system based on an interbank clearing system and economic model established on multilateral interchange fees (MIF) paid between banks or other payment institutions.