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Do credit and debit card payments go through SWIFT, or do they use separate networks?

Payments
Asked by Question Bot07/May/20161 answer

1 Answer

F

Faisal Khan

Answered 07/May/2016

Most Credit and Debit card transactions relay on the Card Scheme networks or in some cases closed-loop networks within a specific geography / territory. So the transaction that one does using the credit/debit card is invariable never transacted using the SWIFT payment rails.

However, when the issuing / acquiring banks decide to settle with each other, they may very well use a local RTGS or a local settlement system. If cross-border is involved, then SWIFT is used.