Card networks connect buyers, merchants, and financial institutions to process retail transactions at the point of sale.

• Four-Party Network Structure: Managing transactions across four key participants: the cardholder, the card issuer (the customer’s bank), the merchant, and the acquirer (the merchant’s bank).
• EMV Chip Cryptography: Replacing easily cloned magnetic strips with microchip technology that generates unique security codes for every physical transaction.
• Tokenization Infrastructure: Replacing actual 16-digit card numbers with secure digital tokens during mobile wallet payments (like Apple Pay) to protect card data.
• Interchange Fee Allocation: Calculating processing fees paid by merchants to card issuers to cover credit risk and rewards programs.
• Chargeback Dispute Procedures: Operating consumer protection frameworks that allow cardholders to formally dispute unauthorized charges or undelivered goods.