Banks must go through a costly and arduous process in order to issue cards (issuer) and accept cards (acquirer). Every bank or processor wishing to enter this sector must pay high entry fees, under the name of membership fees, to international license providers and, where applicable, to local organizations (such as BKM, Turkey's interbank card center).
The membership types for the two most common payment schemes, Mastercard and Visa, are as follows:
Visa has 3 types of membership:
- Principal Membership: Can use the Visa brand and Electron card (debit) programs, can enable merchants to accept cards under the Visa brand, can extend credit to cardholders and/or collect credit, can clear slips/transactions arising from card usage, and can provide authorization services.
- Associate Membership: Under the principal member's written guarantee, can carry out all the activities a principal member can carry out.
- Participant Membership: Under the guarantee of a principal or associate member and on their behalf, can carry out all the activities a principal member can carry out.
MasterCard has 2 types of membership:
- Principal Licensee: Can use the MasterCard emblem and rights, and is responsible for the transactions carried out by its own affiliate members.
- Affiliate Licensee: Can use the MasterCard emblem and rights, and can obtain different affiliate licenses from different principal members.
