What is a Card Scheme?

Is a payment network that manages payment transactions, using both debit and credit cards to process payments. Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, and American Express are brand examples of card schemes. The cardholder, issuing bank, merchant, and acquiring bank are the main players in the card scheme process. The card scheme transfers the card transaction information from the acquiring bank to the issuing bank (merchant to customer), and then the payment is sent back to the acquirer to accept and confirm the payment.