At Nuvei, we aim to be jargon-free and believe that everyone should have access to clear and concise information. That's why we have created this glossary to help demystify complex terms and concepts that you may come across in the articles on the Help Centre. Whether you're new to the topic or just need a quick refresher, this glossary is designed to be a handy reference guide that you can turn to whenever you need it. We hope you find it helpful and informative.
ABA Routing Number: a nine-digit code, used in the United States, which appears on the bottom of checks to identify the financial institution on which it was drawn.
ABN - Australian Business Name: Identifies your business to the government and community.
ACH - Automated Clearing House: an electronic funds-transfer system run by the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA). This payment system deals with payroll, direct deposit, tax refunds, consumer bills, tax payments and many more payment services. The function is only available in the U.S. only.
Acquirer: is an organisation that manages the merchant’s account and processes payments on behalf of a merchant by accepting payment from an issuing bank.
AMEX - American Express: Credit card company that extends credit and issues cards directly to consumers.
API - Application Programming Interface: Software that allows two applications to communicate with each other.
ARBN: Australian Registered Business Number.
ARN - Acquirer Reference Number: Reference number emitted by the acquirer.
Authorisation Code: Usually a six or seven-digit number that is provided at the Point of Sale as well as printed on the sales receipt. This number should always be captured if doing a phone or voice transaction, so you have it for reference.
Authorisation Fee: The amount charged to the merchant each time communication happens between the point of sale and the authorising network. This fee can be charged on multiple forms of transactions including: the transaction, post authorizations and refunds.
Authorisation Only Transaction: This is a special type of transaction that usually only occurs in some specific industries or unique sales cases. An auth only, authorises a transaction and places a hold on the consumer’s card. The transaction does not settle immediately, and in some cases could be days or weeks later. This is typical in a hotel environment where you do not necessarily know what the final transaction amount will be.
Authorisation Response: This is the response from the issuing financial institutions to the authorisation request. The response will be either an approval or a decline.
AVS - Address Verification Service: Required for all card-not-present transactions. When a transaction is processed in this manner, the street address and the ZIP code should be entered with the rest of the transaction information like card number and CVV code. This information helps reduce the cost of the transaction and provides additional security for the merchant and cardholder. It can help reduce the potential for chargebacks.
Bank Identification Number: First 6 / 8 digits of the card identifying its origin.
Beneficial Owner: An individual who ultimately owns or controls an entity.
BIN - Bank Identification Number: BIN is embedded within the credit card number and tells which financial institution issued the card as well as the industry of the issuing financial institution.
BIP - Business Intelligence Platform: Platform used to review transactions/export reports for manual reporting.
BNPL - Buy Now Pay Later: A financial product that allows the customer to instantly buy goods or services and pay for them in instalments.
BO - Beneficial Owner: one of the owners of the company.
Card Networks: Process transactions between merchants and issuers and control where credit cards can be accepted. They also control the network costs. Examples include Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX.
Card Security Code: 3-digit card on back of card.
Cardholder Initiated Transaction: Used commonly in tandem with COF transactions.
CCV - Credit Card Verification: Also known as Card Verification Value (CVV) or Card Verification Code (CVC).
CHAPS: Clearing House Automated Payment System, only available in the US.
Chargeback: The return of funds to a consumer, initiated by the issuing bank of the instrument used by a consumer to settle a debt. Specifically, it is the reversal of a prior outbound transfer of funds from a consumer's bank account, line of credit, or credit card.
CNP - Card Not Present: This refers to a transaction that occurs when the cardholder or card are not physically present for the transaction, for example, when the purchase is made via the Internet or phone call.
CP - Card Present: Refers to a merchant trading via a physical payment terminal where the cardholder is tapping, inserting, swiping their card or tapping their phone on the terminal to complete the transaction.
Credit Card Processor: A company appointed by a merchant to handle transactions from various channels such as credit cards and debit cards.
Cross Border Fees: Fees associated with cross -border transactions.
CSC - Card Security Code: 3 digit card on back of card.
CSP - Customer Selected PIN: Used when customer wishes to change their PIN.
CVC - Credit Card Verification: Also known as Card Verification Value (CVV) or Card Verification Value (CVV).
CVV - Card Verification Value: A three or four-digit number found on most debit and credit cards.
DCC: Dynamic Currency Conversion.
Designated Services: The services we provide that fall under the applicable legislation for the implementation of an Anti-Money Laundering/ Counter-Terrorism Funding (AML/CTF) Program. A service that is listed in applicable legislation has been identified as posing a risk for Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing. Entities that provide any of these services are reporting entities. Reporting entities have obligations under the applicable AML/CTF Act.
DFM - Data File Manager: A reporting file that is delivered from First Data to be provided securely to partners and merchants to help them reconcile their settled transactions with POS-level reports.
DMS - Deal Management Systems: A strategy/tool that gives companies the ability to define deal parameters.
EBT- Electronic Benefits Transfer: The electronic system that allows state welfare departments to issue cards for their food stamp benefits
Effective Rate: The overall rate that a merchant pays on their processing fees and other billed fees by the credit card
EFT - Electronic Funds Transfer: Transfer of funds initiated electronically, including card payments, atm withdrawals, point-of-sale (Pos) and debit transfers without requiring the intervention of bank staff.
EMV - Europay, Mastercard, Visa: EMV is a joint venture between Europay, Visa and Mastercard. Its purpose is to set a standard for processing chip card electronic payments with higher levels of security.
ETF - Early Termination Fee: A fee charged for cancelling a contract early.
FCA - Financial Conduct Authority: The United Kingdom’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing regulator.
FDPOS: First Data/Fiserv POS Management.
Fiserv: An Australian acquirer currently playing a pivotal role in the boarding of Nuvei merchants. Also sometimes referred to as FD- Fiserv or First Data.
Forecast Weighted Revenue: Referring to the estimated revenue/GTV entered in opportunity. Weighting is applied to it based on the possibility of success rate in its active stage.
FOREX - Foreign Exchange: The exchange, or conversion, of one currency into another. Sometimes referred to as FX.
Four-Party System: The four parties involved in processing payments: the cardholder, merchant, acquirer, and issuing bank.
Fraud: Any false or illegal transaction. Typically occurs when someone has stolen a card number or checking account data and uses that information to make an unauthorised transaction.
FSP - Full-Service Provider: For an organisation to be classified as an FSP, it must go through a lengthy and thorough process, meeting specific requirements. An extensive due diligence package with bank statements, tax information and additional financial information must be provided to the bank to be approved as a Full-Service Provider. Once the process is complete and a company becomes a Full-Service Provider, they are subject to regular reviews and audits. There are ongoing annual fees expected to be upheld by an FSP. Nuvei Payments is an FSP in Australia.
Funding Type: Either ‘Net’ or ‘Gross’ and configured statically for a merchant on per MID or per TID basis. Net funding indicates that disbursement to a merchant will already have fees deducted. Gross funding indicates that the full settlement amount is disbursed to the merchant in which case the merchant will be invoiced for fees on a monthly basis.
Gateway: A piece of software that encrypts credit card information on a merchant’s server and sends it to the acquirer; connects the shopping cart, point of sale system or virtual terminal to the next point in the payment authorization process; connects businesses to payment processors, major credit and debit card networks, and the customers' issuing banks.
GTV - Gross Transaction Value: Includes the turnover amount for the business. Also refer to PV.
Heartbeat: A heartbeat connection is established from the terminal to the Bank on a regular basis as it has been configured to do so.
HPP - Hosted Payments Page: A secure checkout page that captures payment information from a merchant's customers.
IBAN: International Bank Account Number.
IFR: Interchange Fee Regulations.
IIN - Issuer Identification Number: It identifies important information that merchant banks need to know to process transactions.
Insurance Carrier: Also called insurance provider or insurance company. The financial resource behind the coverage provided by an insurance policy.
Integrated terminal: Terminal that is integrated with the POS.
Interchange Fee: A fee paid to the issuing bank for processing a card payment. Also known as "swipe fees” where financial companies charge this fee in return for accepting the credit risk and handling charges inherent in credit card transactions.
INV / ROC: Invoice / Record of Charge.
IOS: International Organisation for Standardisation.
Issuer: The entity that assumes the risk or has the checking account and offers the branded payment card to the consumer. Also referred to as issuing bank.
Issuing Bank: The entity that assumes the risk or has the checking account and offers the branded payment card to the consumer. Also referred to as issuer.
KYB / KYC - Know Your Business / Know Your Customer: This is part of Anti-Money Laundering procedures. It involves verifying the identity, suitability and risks involved with having the customer transacting with our system.
MID - Merchant Identification Number: A MID is a unique ID number for the merchant account. It makes it possible to track where credit card payments are going and where they came from.
ML - Money Laundering: The processing of criminal profits to disguise their illegal origin.
Monthly Minimum: The minimum volume or fees that are set on the merchant account to ensure that transaction volume is processed through the account. Typically, the acquirer will charge fees per card brand.
Monthly Processing Limit: A limit that may be set on an account by the merchant service provider on how much volume can be processed in a merchant account monthly.
Monthly Processing Volume: The gross monthly sales volume that is processed.
MOTO - Mail Order / Telephone Order: The ability to process a card not present order by manually keying the card details into a physical or virtual terminal.
MP - Merchant Profile: Description of the merchant data required for payments processing.
MPA - Merchant Processing Agreement: The forms we use to process an application for a MID.
MPGS (MIGP): Mastercard Payment Gateway Services (formerly Mastercard Internet Gateway Services).
mPOS - Mobile Point of Sale: The place at which goods are retailed on a smartphone, tablet or dedicated wireless device.
MSA - Merchant Services Agreement: A merchant agreement/application.
MSC: MasterCard Secure Code.
MSF – Merchant Service Fee: Represents the cost incurred by a bank when a Merchant makes a transaction through an EFTPOS terminal.
MT - Merchant Terminal: POS terminal at the Merchant location.
MVSI – Managed Verification Services International: MVSI provides a broad range of Compliance Verification services to different industries globally.
NDF - Next Day Funding: Funding provided to the merchant effective next business day.
Network Acceptance: Percentage of transactions that are accepted or declined by the issuing bank. A decline can occur due to outdated credentials, suspicion of fraud, or insufficient funds.
Network Costs: Total of interchange and scheme fees.
NZBN: New Zealand Business Number.
Online Payments Funnel: Transactions go through three steps to make a purchase: checkout completion, fraud protection, and network acceptance; conversion happens when a transaction is successfully completed.
Payment Gateway: The software used to transfer payment information from the merchant to the acquirer.
Payment Processor: Facilitates the credit card transaction by sending payment information between the merchant, the issuing bank, and the acquirer. The payment processor usually gets the payment details from a payment gateway.
PayPal: Worldwide online payment system.
PayPass: Mastercard's contactless payment method.
PayWave: Visa's contactless payment method.
PBL – PayByLink (also known as Payment Links): A payment link sent by email or text message that allows the customer to easily pay an amount.
PCI DSS - PCI Data Security Standards: An information security standard that applies to all entities involved in storing, processing, or transmitting cardholder data, and/or sensitive authentication data.
PCI-Non-Validation Fee: A fee that is charged by the merchant services provider when a merchant has not completed their validations for PCI compliance.
PCIPTS: PCI PIN Transaction Security.
PCISSC: Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council.
PIN - Personal Identification Number: A numeric number comprised of 4 digits that is set by the card holder and used when a debit transaction occurs or a withdrawal from an ATM.
PIN Pad: An electronic device used in a debit, credit or smart card-based transaction to accept and encrypt the cardholder's personal identification number (PIN).
POS - Point of Sale: A cashier counter, or checkout, usually located within a retail shop, or an environment where transactions and purchases may occur. Often relates to a particular software system that is used by a merchant to run their business and accept payments.
POTA - Proof of Trading Address: To prove where the payments will take place is genuine.
PPE: Prepayment Exposure.
PPID: PinPad ID.
Pre-Authorisation: Also known as Pre-auth, Pre-authorisation provides the ability to reserve funds on customer cards, similar to what is done by hotel accommodation and car rental merchants, in an attempt to ensure that funds will be available when processed.
PTY - Proprietary: Company's owners are only responsible for partial companies debt.
PV: Processed Volume: Another term for GTV. Includes the turnover amount for the business.
PVS: PIN Verification Service.
Real-time Processing: The execution of data in a short time, providing near-instantaneous output.
Recurring Billing: When a merchant automatically charges a cardholder for specified goods or services on a prearranged schedule.
Retrieval: A process for a cardholder/issuer to retrieve information about a charge on their account.
SAQ - Self-Assessment Questionnaire: A document that a merchant completes themselves to address the PCI scope/exposure of data within their business. This is required to be completed/submitted on a quarterly basis.
SCA: European regulatory requirement to reduce fraud.
Scheme: Brands and associations such as Visa, AMEX, Mastercard and Discover who implement a set of rules defining how payment transactions are processed with the use of payment instruments; uses its rules to transfer the card transaction information from the acquiring bank to the issuing bank.
Scheme Fee: Unregulated fees charged by card schemes such as Visa or Mastercard. Scheme fees are paid by acquirers to card schemes to compensate them for the role that they play within the card system. A single transaction may incur multiple scheme fees, such as authorisation fees or service fees.
SDF – Same Day Funding: Funding transferred to merchant account on same day.
SMR - Strategic Merchant Rate: Interchange rates and fees imposed for Visa and Mastercard transactions.
SoftPOS - Software Point of Sale: Allows merchants to accept card payments directly on their phone or devices without the need for any additional software; Payments can be accepted on a smart phone or another device as long as it is NFC enabled.
STAR: Sales Tracking and Reporting.
Standalone Terminal: Terminal that is separated from the POS, sometimes referred to as Non-integrated.
TID - Terminal ID: A numerical identifier used to locate a specific terminal used by the merchant.
TIN: Tax Identification Number.
Virtual Terminal: A web-based application that allows merchants to accept credit card payments using their internet connected computers.
2FA - Two factor authentication: An additional form of authentication e.g. SMS or authentication app such as Google Authenticator.
3DS - 3-D Secure: A standard developed by and adopted by the card networks to allow for secondary authentication by cardholders for card-not-present transactions to further reduce the likelihood of fraud and chargebacks and shift liability from merchants to issuers. The 3D refers to the three domains, mainly the merchant, the technology that processes the transaction and the issuing bank, all of which share data to authenticate the cardholder prior to payment.