Glossary

Below are definitions for commonly used terms in the Prepaid Card Programs Industry. Please contact us with any additional questions.

ATM Machine
An automated teller machine (ATM) is a computerized telecommunications device that provides the customer with access to financial transactions in a public space without the need for a human clerk or bank teller. On most modern ATMs, the customer is identified by inserting a plastic card with a magnetic stripe or a with a microchip, that contains a unique card number and select security information. Security is provided by the customer entering a personal identification number (PIN). Using an ATM, customers can access their accounts in order to make cash withdrawals, view previous transactions and check their account balances. ATMs are known by various casual terms including automated banking machine, cash machine, hole-in-the-wall, cashpoint or Bancomat (in Europe and Russia).

BIN / BIN Sponsor
A Bank Identification Number (BIN) is the first six digits of the number of various financial cards. These digits identify which network the card belongs to as well as which organization issued it. Cards participating in the BIN system include:credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, stored value cards and electronic benefit transfer cards. A BIN Sponsor is a financial institution who issues a card program on behalf of another financial institution or program manager.

Card Processing Services
A service provided by a company to manage the authorizations, profiles, balances, settlements, debits, credits and security of a card program. Card Processing services may also include client support schemes such as call centers, integrated voice response (IVR), web support and related customer service functions.

Financial Institutions
Financial institutions act as agents providing financial services for their clients. Financial institutions generally fall under financial regulation from a government authority. Common types of financial institutions include e-money institutions, banks, building societies, credit unions, stock brokerages, asset management firms, and similar businesses.

Financial Services Commission (Gibraltar)
The functions of the Commission are to keep under review the operation of Gibraltar legislation and the effectiveness of supervision of financial services; to monitor the extent to which Gibraltar legislation and supervision complies with European Union obligations and the supervisory standards governing financial services in the United Kingdom where Community law applies; to protect the public against financial loss arising out of dishonesty, incompetence or malpractice; to advise the Government of Gibraltar and the Government of the United Kingdom on matters concerning financial services; and to draw up codes for regulating the terms of service of persons employed by the Commission.

The Commissioner, who is also the Commissioner of Banking and the Commissioner of Insurance, is the chief executive officer of the Commission and is charged with the responsibility of supervising institutions carrying on finance business in or from within Gibraltar. He is required to ensure that such supervision complies with any applicable obligation Gibraltar has as a constituent of the European Union and to establish supervisory standards which match those required by legislation and supervisory practice governing the provision of financial services within the United Kingdom.

Loading Network
A network of retail business locations which have established a secure electronic facility with the issuer of a stored value card program to accept a cash transaction. The retailer through its electronic facility will communicate the acceptance of a cash transaction to the issuer and the corresponding value will be added to the customers prepaid card. The retailer usually receives a processing fee for this service.

Prepaid Card
A prepaid card represents money on deposit with the issuer, and is similar to a credit card. One major difference between prepaid cards and credit cards is that credit cards are usually directly linked to an account with a financial institution who in most cases extends credit to consumers, while prepaid cards have their own balance and do not grant credit to the cardholder. The often used term stored-value card is usually a misnomer, as most indicants of the cards' value are maintained on computers affiliated with the card issuer. The value associated with the card can be accessed using a magnetic stripe embedded in the card, on which the card number is encoded; using radio-frequency identification (RFID) or smart card chips.

E-money Association (EMA)
The EMA is the trade body representing electronic money issuers and payment institutions. It brings together payments companies, the telecommunications and transport sectors as well as specialist e-money issuers to address issues of common interest and to act in the interest of the industry as a whole. The EMA represents industry with regulators, government bodies as well as international organizations. It responds to regulatory proposals, drafts industry guidelines and acts as a forum for communication and education.

ID Verification / KYC.
Transact Network is obliged by regulation and the card networks to do certain necessary checks to verify the identity of cardholders. KYC (know your customer) is a multi-stage process which involves monitoring of account activity over the lifetime of a card account. Transact Network also carries out continual enhanced due diligence and monitoring to build up profiles of the activity of cardholders to put us in an optimal position to prevent money laundering and fraudulent activity by cardholders.