As a card issuer, staying on top of Visa and Mastercard communications isn't just about compliance, it's about protecting your business and serving your customers effectively. Both networks send a constant stream of updates, rule changes, and program announcements that directly impact how you operate. Understanding what to expect and when can help you stay ahead of the curve.
The Foundation: Core Rulebooks
Visa Core Rules & Product and Service Rules
Think of this as Visa's constitution, the master document that governs everything from transaction processing to dispute handling. Visa typically updates these rules periodically, with recent editions including detailed "Summary of Changes" sections that highlight what's new.
The rulebook covers transaction authorization, clearing and settlement requirements, issuer and acquirer responsibilities, chargeback and dispute procedures, new payment technologies like Click to Pay or Visa Passkey, and regional variations that can significantly impact your compliance obligations.
Publishing frequency: Major updates occur 1-2 times per year, with smaller revisions as needed
When these rules change, they often trigger system updates, process changes, and sometimes new product requirements across your organization.
Mastercard's Distributed Approach
Mastercard takes a different path, spreading its core rules across multiple documents like the Transaction Processing Rules and Chargeback Guide. Rather than one rulebook, they publish targeted updates through various compliance programs.
These documents cover transaction processing standards, security and fraud prevention requirements, specific compliance program details, and regional rule variations. Updates vary by document type, but expect quarterly to bi-annual updates for major components.
Other Schemes:
- Amex: Operating Regulations, regulatory publications, and technical implementation guides.
- JCB, UnionPay, Diners Club, Bancontact: Each publishes rulebooks and regulatory communications in formats similar to Visa/Mastercard, though often regionally scoped.
These rulebooks cascade into technical specifications, implementation guides, and best practice documents, each impacting compliance, technology, and product planning.
This is where having a robust scheme compliance management solution like Kajo becomes invaluable for tracking and implementing these changes systematically.
The Real-Time Challenge: Risk and Security Updates
Visa's Monitoring Evolution
Visa has recently consolidated several monitoring programs into the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) and Visa Issuer Monitoring Program (VIMP). This change, effective from mid-2025, represents a significant shift in how fraud and dispute monitoring works.
VIMP flags issuers with elevated fraud or dispute rates for card-not-present (CNP) transactions. Metrics include dispute-to-transaction ratios and fraud-to-sales ratios, plus minimum volume thresholds (which vary regionally)
VAMP updates include monthly performance thresholds for fraud and disputes, new monitoring categories like enumeration attacks, consolidated reporting requirements, and updated fine structures. Program updates typically come quarterly, but threshold changes can happen with 3-6 months' notice.
Security: The Never-Ending Story
Visa's Security Communications
Visa's security updates tend to come through various channels including bulletins, alerts, and program-specific guides. A notable recent change was the sunsetting of their PIN Security Program in late 2023, which shifted more responsibility to issuers for PCI PIN compliance validation.
These communications typically include data security standard updates, new threat intelligence, technology requirement changes, and compliance validation procedures. Security alerts can come monthly or even more frequently during active threat periods.
Mastercard's Structured Security Approach
Mastercard publishes a comprehensive Security Rules and Procedures Manual and maintains regular communication through quarterly PCI newsletters and the Site Data Protection (SDP) Program.
Their security communications include detailed security implementation standards, PCI DSS requirement updates, data breach response procedures, and third-party service provider compliance requirements. The Security Rules Manual updates annually, PCI Newsletters come quarterly, and SDP Program updates arrive as needed, typically 2-3 times per year.
Who Gets Impacted? Your Internal Stakeholders
Understanding how network communications ripple through your organization helps you prepare the right teams for action.
Compliance Team: The Central Hub
Your scheme compliance team serves as the primary interpreter and distributor of network communications. They analyze rule changes and their implications, coordinate cross-departmental responses, manage relationships with network contacts, and track compliance status across multiple programs.
This team is most impacted by all network communications, but especially rulebook updates and new program launches. Having a centralized system to track and manage these communications becomes critical as the volume and complexity continue to increase.
Technology and Engineering Teams
Network updates often require technical implementation, from system configurations to entirely new capabilities. Your technology and engineering teams handle implementing new authorization requirements, building fraud monitoring tools for programs like VAMP, updating security protocols and data protection measures, and integrating new payment technologies.
These teams are most impacted by security rule changes, new payment technology requirements, and monitoring program updates that require system modifications.
Operations Team
Your operations teams feel the immediate, day-to-day impact of network changes, especially those affecting transaction processing and dispute management. They adjust daily processing procedures, manage tighter timelines for dispute resolution, implement new merchant monitoring processes, and coordinate with external partners on compliance issues.
Operations teams are most impacted by monitoring program threshold changes, dispute procedure updates, and operational requirement modifications.
Product Development Team
Network rules often drive product roadmaps by either enabling new capabilities or requiring specific features for compliance. Product development teams incorporate new network requirements into product designs, develop features that help meet compliance thresholds, plan product launches around rule implementation timelines, and ensure new products meet current and upcoming network standards.
These teams are most impacted by core rulebook updates, new payment technology standards, and security requirement changes.
Finance and Risk Management
Every network communication has potential financial implications, from new fees to non-compliance penalties. Finance and risk management teams analyze cost implications of rule changes, budget for compliance technology investments, manage financial exposure from monitoring programs, and calculate ROI on proactive compliance measures.
These teams are most impacted by new fee structures, monitoring program penalty schedules, and major compliance requirement changes that could affect the bottom line.
Visa vs. Mastercard: Different Approaches, Similar Goals
Communication Style Differences
Visa tends toward comprehensive, periodic updates with detailed change summaries. Their recent move to consolidate monitoring programs (like VAMP) reflects a philosophy of simplification and unified compliance frameworks.
Mastercard prefers more frequent, targeted communications through distinct programs. This approach allows for more granular control but requires tracking multiple information streams.
Practical Implications
With Visa, expect larger, less frequent updates that may require significant cross-departmental coordination. For Mastercard, plan for more frequent, smaller updates that may require ongoing attention from specialized teams.
Regional Considerations
Both networks apply many rules regionally, meaning your compliance requirements may vary by market. This is particularly important for multi-market issuers who need region-specific compliance strategies, understanding which updates apply to your specific licensing arrangements, and planning implementation timelines that account for regional variations.
Making It Manageable: Best Practices
Create a Knowledge Hub
Establish a central system for tracking and distributing network communications. This might include regular cross-departmental meetings to discuss upcoming changes, shared documentation systems for tracking implementation status, and clear escalation procedures for time-sensitive updates. Solutions like Kajo can help centralize this process and ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
Prioritize by Impact
Not all network communications require immediate action. Develop a framework for prioritizing updates based on implementation timelines, potential financial impact, technical complexity, and resource requirements.
Build Relationships
Strong relationships with network representatives can provide valuable context and early warning about upcoming changes. Consider participating in network-sponsored webinars and training sessions, attending industry conferences where network representatives present, and maintaining regular communication with your network relationship managers.
Looking Ahead
The payments landscape continues to evolve rapidly, with new technologies, security threats, and regulatory requirements emerging regularly. Network communications will likely become more frequent and technical as digital payments expand and new use cases emerge.
Key trends to watch include increased focus on real-time fraud detection and prevention, more stringent data security requirements, integration of new payment methods and technologies, and enhanced cross-border compliance requirements.
Conclusion
Successfully navigating Visa and Mastercard communications requires more than just a dedicated compliance team, it demands organization-wide awareness and coordination. By understanding what to expect, when to expect it, and who needs to be involved, you can transform compliance from a reactive burden into a strategic advantage.
The networks' communications aren't just regulatory requirements, they're signals about the future direction of the payments industry. Organizations that master this flow of information will be better positioned to serve their customers, manage risk, and capitalize on new opportunities in an increasingly complex payments ecosystem.
Remember: the goal isn't just to avoid penalties, but to use these insights to build stronger, more secure, and more competitive payment products and services.
Ready to streamline your scheme compliance management? Kajo helps card issuers track, manage, and implement network communications efficiently. Book a call with our experts to see how we can help you stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving landscape.