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Acquirer

A bank having a business relationship with merchants, retailers and other service providers to process their plastic card transactions. Acquirers obtain financial settlement for the card issuers, typically via the card schemes, which maintain the clearing systems, and pay the proceeds to the merchant, charging a fee.

American Express

An international card scheme.

ATV (Average Transaction Value)

The average value for each card transaction calculated by dividing the total value of card transactions by the number of transactions.

Authentication

A process where a cardholder proves that they are the genuine cardholder. In the case of a card present transaction, a cardholder will be authenticated by inputting their Personal Identification Number (PIN) which is checked against the one held in the chip on the card. In the case of an internet transaction, the cardholder can be authenticated using either MasterCard's SecureCode or Visa's Verified by Visa.

Authorisation

An authorisation is provided by acardholder’s issuer and confirms that the card number is valid, that the funds were available at the time the transaction took place and the card had not been reported as lost or stolen at the time of the transaction. It is not a guarantee of payment.

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