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Bank payment card companies, the largest of which are Visa International (hereinafter Visa) and MasterCard International (hereinafter MasterCard), play an extremely important role in the organization and functioning of card payments. Initially, these companies were united by American banks that issued credit cards, and now they have turned into payment institutions of a worldwide scale. They develop general rules that are binding on all participants in the system, analyze operations and coordinate the activities of the system. They accumulate resources to use the latest technologies and create gigantic communications that ensure the rapid and reliable exchange of financial information.
One of the important operational functions performed by the processing centers of these companies for their members is authorization, which was already mentioned above. They ask the issuing bank for permission to carry out the transaction if the purchase amount exceeds a one-time limit or if the merchant has doubts about the identity of the client and the legality of using a bank card.
Another important function of card companies is to organize the process of final settlement of settlements and repayment of debt on card transactions.The procedure for the final settlement of transactions is clearly defined and strictly followed by the banks - participants in the system. The essence of settlement is that the acquiring bank, having received trading accounts from the merchants it serves, “sells” them to the card company and receives an amount for the goods sold and services rendered. This is the so-called outgoing interchange. At the same time, the issuing bank “buys” the transactions of its customers - cardholders, for which it is necessary to write off money from their accounts, from the respective card company (Visa or MasterCard). At the end of the working day, the bank, based on the results of card transactions, settles with the company through the information exchange system. In this case, the final settlement is carried out on the basis of the net balance, received by mutual offset of amounts for outgoing and incoming information exchange. The role of the clearing center is performed by the settlement bank, which has opened correspondent accounts of banks participating in the card system.
Payment card companies issue licenses to issue cards with their logos, conduct research and analysis, develop new types of payment products and market them. Companies' expenses are covered by contributions from participating banks in proportion to the volume of their card transactions.
The main issuers of payment cards in the world market are banks - members of the international card systems Visa and MasterCard. These companies account for 50 and 30%, respectively, of the total number of issued cards. American Express ranks third (18%), while Diners Club, JCB and other international card payment systems account for less than 2% | Sakseltseva, 2006] [1]... Large card systems are characterized by high growth rates of transactions. Thus, over the past 30 years, the number of cards issued by Visa has increased from 40 million units (with an annual turnover of 12 billion US dollars) to 1.8 billion units (with a turnover of 2.9 trillion US dollars). The number of financial institutions participating in the Visa payment system is 16,000, they are located in more than 200 countries. Payment cards with the Visa logo in Europe are accepted at 1.6 million ATMs and terminals in retail outlets (Visa).
The second major card payment system and main competitor of Visa - MasterCard - unites 24,000 financial institutions in 210 countries of the world. In 2008, it issued 981 million cards. MasterCard cards are accepted at over 28 million points of sale. The volume of transactions with MasterCard cards in 2008 amounted to 2.5 trillion US dollars (MasterCard).
The cards of the Visa (Visa Electron, Visa Classic, Visa Gold, Visa Platinum) and MasterCard (Cirrus, Maestro, MasterCard Mass, MasterCard Gold, MasterCard Platinum) payment systems have gained great popularity in the global payment circulation. The most affordable are Visa Electron and Cirrus / Maestro debit cards.
There are significant country differences in the extent to which different types of bank cards are used. So, in countries where the check-flow has traditionally been developed (USA, Canada, Great Britain), credit cards prevail. However, in recent years there has been a steady trend towards more intensive use of debit cards. Thus, the number of transactions using debit cards in 2008 in the EU amounted to 18.3 billion transactions, which is several times higher than with credit cards (2.7 billion transactions) [Electronic Payments International, 2009J. This is due to the fact that servicing debit cards is less expensive than servicing credit cards outside the grace period, since holders of debit cards do not incur additional costs for servicing a credit line.
In Russia, transactions performed using cards of members of international payment systems Visa and MasterCard dominate. In 2007, they accounted for about 80% of all issued cards. 17.3% of cards were issued by major Russian payment card systems such as Zolotaya
Crown "(about 5.8%)," SBERKART "(about 4.2%), STB (about 3.6%)," Union Card / NCC "(about 3.7%) [Payment cards .., 2008 , with. 507]. Another 2.7% of cards were issued by other Russian payment systems. In 2009, the share of Visa and MasterCard members' cards in the issue of payment cards in Russia increased even more and reached 88.4% [Bank of Russia, 201 Ov).
Russian payment systems participate in joint projects with international payment systems. They issue joint cards, for example MasterCard - Zolotaya Korona. On the other hand, in order to maintain their customer base by increasing infrastructure availability and lowering service costs, some Russian payment systems are pursuing mergers. An example is the union of the Union Card and NCC companies. However, most of the payment systems, mainly operating in the regions of Russia, serve local enterprises within the framework of small "salary" projects [for more details see: Payment cards .., 2008, p. 507J.
As already mentioned, the majority of debit cards in Russia were issued by credit organizations within the framework of “salary projects”. The bank opens a card account for each employee of the company, to which his salary is received. The client is issued a bank card linked to the card account. It is possible that an employee concludes an agreement with the bank and opens a card account, and then reports all the necessary details to the company's accounting department.
Salary projects allowed commercial banks to test cross-selling retail services: overdraft lending, premium cards with increased lending and other additional card services. The latter include Internet banking and SMS-service, which will be discussed below, payment of bills of mobile operators and housing and communal enterprises at ATMs, replenishment of the current account and repayment of loans in cash through ATMs with the function of accepting cash (cash-in) and dr.
The ratio of non-cash payments using cards and cash withdrawals in Russia has not changed for many years and amounts to 10 and 90%, respectively [Bank of Russia, 201 Ov; 20106]. Cards are used by the population mainly to pay for housing and communal services, mobile services, Internet providers, cable TV, etc. In foreign countries, the structure of transactions with bank cards is completely different. Approximately 60% of the amount of card transactions accounts for non-cash payments, and the rest - for cash withdrawals through ATMs | Bank of Russia, 2010c |.
The main factors holding back the development of the Russian bank card market include:
One of the important operational functions performed by the processing centers of these companies for their members is authorization, which was already mentioned above. They ask the issuing bank for permission to carry out the transaction if the purchase amount exceeds a one-time limit or if the merchant has doubts about the identity of the client and the legality of using a bank card.
Another important function of card companies is to organize the process of final settlement of settlements and repayment of debt on card transactions.The procedure for the final settlement of transactions is clearly defined and strictly followed by the banks - participants in the system. The essence of settlement is that the acquiring bank, having received trading accounts from the merchants it serves, “sells” them to the card company and receives an amount for the goods sold and services rendered. This is the so-called outgoing interchange. At the same time, the issuing bank “buys” the transactions of its customers - cardholders, for which it is necessary to write off money from their accounts, from the respective card company (Visa or MasterCard). At the end of the working day, the bank, based on the results of card transactions, settles with the company through the information exchange system. In this case, the final settlement is carried out on the basis of the net balance, received by mutual offset of amounts for outgoing and incoming information exchange. The role of the clearing center is performed by the settlement bank, which has opened correspondent accounts of banks participating in the card system.
Payment card companies issue licenses to issue cards with their logos, conduct research and analysis, develop new types of payment products and market them. Companies' expenses are covered by contributions from participating banks in proportion to the volume of their card transactions.
The main issuers of payment cards in the world market are banks - members of the international card systems Visa and MasterCard. These companies account for 50 and 30%, respectively, of the total number of issued cards. American Express ranks third (18%), while Diners Club, JCB and other international card payment systems account for less than 2% | Sakseltseva, 2006] [1]... Large card systems are characterized by high growth rates of transactions. Thus, over the past 30 years, the number of cards issued by Visa has increased from 40 million units (with an annual turnover of 12 billion US dollars) to 1.8 billion units (with a turnover of 2.9 trillion US dollars). The number of financial institutions participating in the Visa payment system is 16,000, they are located in more than 200 countries. Payment cards with the Visa logo in Europe are accepted at 1.6 million ATMs and terminals in retail outlets (Visa).
The second major card payment system and main competitor of Visa - MasterCard - unites 24,000 financial institutions in 210 countries of the world. In 2008, it issued 981 million cards. MasterCard cards are accepted at over 28 million points of sale. The volume of transactions with MasterCard cards in 2008 amounted to 2.5 trillion US dollars (MasterCard).
The cards of the Visa (Visa Electron, Visa Classic, Visa Gold, Visa Platinum) and MasterCard (Cirrus, Maestro, MasterCard Mass, MasterCard Gold, MasterCard Platinum) payment systems have gained great popularity in the global payment circulation. The most affordable are Visa Electron and Cirrus / Maestro debit cards.
There are significant country differences in the extent to which different types of bank cards are used. So, in countries where the check-flow has traditionally been developed (USA, Canada, Great Britain), credit cards prevail. However, in recent years there has been a steady trend towards more intensive use of debit cards. Thus, the number of transactions using debit cards in 2008 in the EU amounted to 18.3 billion transactions, which is several times higher than with credit cards (2.7 billion transactions) [Electronic Payments International, 2009J. This is due to the fact that servicing debit cards is less expensive than servicing credit cards outside the grace period, since holders of debit cards do not incur additional costs for servicing a credit line.
In Russia, transactions performed using cards of members of international payment systems Visa and MasterCard dominate. In 2007, they accounted for about 80% of all issued cards. 17.3% of cards were issued by major Russian payment card systems such as Zolotaya
Crown "(about 5.8%)," SBERKART "(about 4.2%), STB (about 3.6%)," Union Card / NCC "(about 3.7%) [Payment cards .., 2008 , with. 507]. Another 2.7% of cards were issued by other Russian payment systems. In 2009, the share of Visa and MasterCard members' cards in the issue of payment cards in Russia increased even more and reached 88.4% [Bank of Russia, 201 Ov).
Russian payment systems participate in joint projects with international payment systems. They issue joint cards, for example MasterCard - Zolotaya Korona. On the other hand, in order to maintain their customer base by increasing infrastructure availability and lowering service costs, some Russian payment systems are pursuing mergers. An example is the union of the Union Card and NCC companies. However, most of the payment systems, mainly operating in the regions of Russia, serve local enterprises within the framework of small "salary" projects [for more details see: Payment cards .., 2008, p. 507J.
As already mentioned, the majority of debit cards in Russia were issued by credit organizations within the framework of “salary projects”. The bank opens a card account for each employee of the company, to which his salary is received. The client is issued a bank card linked to the card account. It is possible that an employee concludes an agreement with the bank and opens a card account, and then reports all the necessary details to the company's accounting department.
Salary projects allowed commercial banks to test cross-selling retail services: overdraft lending, premium cards with increased lending and other additional card services. The latter include Internet banking and SMS-service, which will be discussed below, payment of bills of mobile operators and housing and communal enterprises at ATMs, replenishment of the current account and repayment of loans in cash through ATMs with the function of accepting cash (cash-in) and dr.
The ratio of non-cash payments using cards and cash withdrawals in Russia has not changed for many years and amounts to 10 and 90%, respectively [Bank of Russia, 201 Ov; 20106]. Cards are used by the population mainly to pay for housing and communal services, mobile services, Internet providers, cable TV, etc. In foreign countries, the structure of transactions with bank cards is completely different. Approximately 60% of the amount of card transactions accounts for non-cash payments, and the rest - for cash withdrawals through ATMs | Bank of Russia, 2010c |.
The main factors holding back the development of the Russian bank card market include:
- - unfavorable tariff policy of payment systems for merchants: according to various estimates, retail chains lose about 20% of their income when making payments using cards;
- - low awareness of “salaries and covs” about the availability of infrastructure for accepting cards and the advantages of using cards for non-cash payments;
- - high commission for servicing the card and carrying out cash withdrawal operations;
- - low interest rates on card account balances, etc. [see: Payment cards .., 2008, p. 507].
- [1] National card systems operate on the territory of the EU, for example, in Germany - GeldKartc, in France - Cartes Bancaires. For more details see: Lstunovskaya, 2007; Rambure, Nacamuli, 2008.
