Clearing Message

A clearing message is the structured record of a transaction that passes between participants during clearing. In card payments, it is the presentment record that an acquirer sends to the card network after the merchant captures a sale, containing the final amount, currency, merchant details, card number or token, authorisation code and the acquirer reference number. The network applies fees and passes it to the issuer, which posts the transaction to the cardholder's account. Clearing messages are usually exchanged in batch files, often based on the ISO 8583 standard or scheme-specific formats, and the same channels carry refunds, chargebacks and other exception items. In bank payment systems, the equivalent is the payment message exchanged between banks, increasingly in ISO 20022 form, such as the pacs.008 customer credit transfer. Accurate clearing messages are essential for settlement, reconciliation and later dispute handling.