Appendix
This chapter contains a brief description of the most important roles for scheme-based payment cards. More detailed information can be found, for example, in the following source: https://www.swiss-payment-association.ch/kreditkarten/kreditkartensystem
Depending on the provider, some roles might be covered by the same organization.
- Uses the payment card as payment instrument.
- Has a contractual relationship with the issuer.
- Is selling cards legally offered by issuers to cardholders by using his own brand.
- Does not directly own the data about payment cards and transactions. But access to these data can be possible based on the contractual setup between issuer and cardholder without an explicit con-sent of the cardholder.
- Can take over some duties and obligations for the card issuing, depending on the contract with the card issuer.
- Bank or other organization which is legally issuing a payment card under a certain payment scheme (e.g. Mastercard, Visa, American Express, others) to cardholders.
- Is responsible that payment cards and the issuer-side processing follow the rules of the payment scheme.
- Manages the payment cards of cardholders, authorizes transactions, and guarantees towards the scheme and acquirer the payment of valid authorizations.
- Is directly the owner of data about payment cards and transactions.
- Card issuers in Switzerland are for example banks, Cembra, Swisscard, Viseca Card Services.
- Is operating the card and transaction processing on behalf of the card issuer.
- Has a contract with the card issuer.
- Can cover many parts of scheme and legal regulations as service for the card issuer.
- Card Service Providers in Switzerland are for example UBS Card Center, SIX, Viseca Payment Ser-vices.
- Provides services for the card service provider related to the card management and transaction pro-cessing.
- Has a contract with the Card Service Provider.
- Is producing the physical card upon request of the card issuer.
- Has a contract with the card issuer.
Several players are needed to enable cashless payments:
A company that offers card products and services and defines the associated card brands associated card brands, processing rules and fee structures (interchange and payment scheme fees). It also controls the standards and handles the central processing of card transactions such as authorization, clearing and settlement.
The bank or institution with a contractual business relationship with the merchant, which settles the card transaction data submitted by the merchant with the respective card issuer via the corresponding payment scheme.
Physical points of sale (POS), virtual web stores (e-commerce) or ATMs that accept card payments.
The card issuer manages the card accounts of its customers, authorizes card transactions and guarantees the acquirer the settlement of valid card transactions.
Uses the prepaid, debit or credit card as a means of payment.
Authorization: involves the process of authorizing financial transactions by verifying the user's identity and confirming authorization for the transaction. This includes the verification of account information, security features and other relevant data to ensure that the transaction is legitimate and can be executed within the usable spending limit.
Transaction: Transaction (booking) describes the actual execution of the financial transaction. This includes payments to third parties (e.g. merchants), the transfer of funds between accounts or other financial activities. The transaction is processed according to the user's authorized instructions and all relevant information is logged and secured.
Matching: The API user does not have to worry about matching for this use case. Authorization and transaction are mapped via the status of the Transactions entity. There are separate identifiers for authorization and transaction.
Matching between authorization, update and transaction
Reservation: A reservation is a temporary blocking of funds in an account for a specific transaction. In the case of a reservation, the amount is temporarily deducted from the available balance to ensure that sufficient funds are available for the transaction before it is actually carried out.
Authorization: Authorization is carried out to confirm the authorization for the reservation and to ensure that the transaction is legitimate.
Update: Updates may occur during the reservation period, e.g. if the status of the transaction changes or additional information is required.
Transaction: The actual transaction takes place when the reservation is released and the money is actually transferred
Matching: Matching of an authorization to the corresponding entry for the update and finally to the transaction (booking).