Clearing File

A clearing file is a batch file containing the final details of transactions that one participant in a payment system sends to another, or receives from the system, so that the transactions can be cleared and then settled. In card payments, acquirers gather the day's captured sales and refunds and submit them to the network, which sorts them by issuer and delivers incoming clearing files to each card issuer. Visa's clearing system has long been known as BASE II, and Mastercard exchanges files in its IPM format. Each record carries the amount, currency, merchant data, the merchant category code and the interchange category, and the files are followed by settlement reports giving net amounts owed. Other rails, such as ACH systems, also run on files. Also see batch file processing and clearing and settlement reconciliation.