What is a BIN? Have you ever noticed your debit card or credit card? I guess No. Look at it now to see a cord of numbers engraved on it. You will glimpse 16 digits on it; the first six are called BINs (Bank Identification Numbers). The first six digits are important as they contain crucial details regarding the card’s issuer, nation, and type. BINs are essential for secure payment processing, client identification, risk analysis, and fraud prevention. They enable companies to accurately validate payment cards, streamline transactions, and guard against fraud. Understanding BINs is important for merchants, financial institutions, payment processors, and security experts to improve security.
What is a Bin Credit?
Bin credit is a code that identifies the issuing bank of a credit card. This information is used in credit card processing to determine the interchange fees that will be charged for the transaction.
Why Does Bin Matter?
BINs are important for secure and efficient payment processing, fraud prevention, and risk management. By understanding its importance and leveraging BIN data, firms can get the benefits. BINs are important in many ways:
1. BINs make it possible to accurately validate payment cards, which lowers the acceptance of phony or invalid cards.
2. By spotting patterns and abnormalities linked to fraudulent activity, BINs play a crucial part in fraud prevention.
3. Informed decisions on transaction approvals and risk management may be made using BINs, which offer useful information for risk assessment.
4. By quickly routing transactions and instantly identifying the card issuer, BINs expedite payment processing.
5. By confirming consumer identities and adhering to regulations, BINs guarantee industry compliance, including KYC procedures.
6. The customer experience is improved by accurate BIN validation since it reduces mistakes and declines during transactions.
7. Strategic decision-making is aided by the insights and analytics provided by BIN data for analyzing consumer behavior, market trends, and demographics.
Bin Migration
The availability of 6-digit BINs has decreased as the world’s payment ecosystem grows and more organizations start issuing cards. The number of BINs accessible will grow from 100,000 to 10,000,000. As a result, card networks will have greater BIN ranges to offer card issuers. Card networks, including MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Visa, and others, have begun their preparations to prepare for the transition. Several Important factors should be considered while preparing for the switch to 8-digit BINs:
1. To adapt to the lengthier BIN format, payment processors, acquirers, issuers, and other entities engaged in card processing must upgrade their systems and infrastructure.
2. To accommodate the new 8-digit BINs, card issuers must modify their card production and customization procedures.
3. To identify and manage 8-digit BINs, payment processors and acquirers must alter their Routing logic, authorization processes, and fraud detection systems to make the transition to the new BIN format easy.
4. To enable the usage of 8-digit BINs throughout their systems, Payment networks must change their network protocols, regulations, and requirements.
5. Testing and certification processes must be carried out to ensure the proper installation of new BINs.
Who will be Impacted by This Migration?
The transition to 8-digit BINs will have an impact on several companies in the payment industry. The major parties listed below will be affected:
1. Customers may receive new payment cards with updated designs and eight-digit BINs; this will influence cardholders who have both new and existing cards.
2. Financial institutions and card issuers must modify their practices, infrastructure, and credit card designs to accept the eight-digit BIN format.
3. Companies that take credit cards for payment must ensure that their point-of-sale (POS) software, payment gateways, and other infrastructure for accepting payments are compatible with the new eight-digit BIN format.
4. Payment intermediaries, such as payment service providers and gateways, must adapt their systems to support the new BIN format.
Summarize the initiative!
Your points accurately summarize the initiative related to the migration to 8-digit BINs. Here’s a breakdown of the key points:
1. Existing 6-Digit BINs will continue to work, while 8-Digit BINs will be allocated for new BINs after April 2022.
2. Organizations can continue using 6-Digit BINs; transitioning to 8-Digit BINs is optional.
3. According to PCI and Visa guidelines, storing the entire 8-Digit BINs necessitates additional restrictions.
Why Sudden Urgency of BINs Migration?
Although the transition to 8-digit BINs is already begun, 6-digit BINs are optional. Participants must be in favour of both forms. The deadline was in April 2022, but there are worries about how it may affect backend systems, particularly those that deal with issuer processing and routing. The choice by Visa to modify the 16-digit PAN structure now in place has an impact on Payment card industry compliance and truncation regulations. Without regulatory changes, businesses that store the whole BIN and the final four digits risk becoming non-compliant. To minimize transaction challenges and compliance problems, stakeholders are recommended to evaluate the impact on their systems and make sure they are prepared to handle 8-digit BINs.
Impact of this change
Following are some effects that the switch to eight-digit BINs will have on different elements of the payment ecosystem:
Identity of Prepaid Cards: As the market transitions to eight-digit BINs, prepaid card issuers must adapt their procedures and systems to consider the new format. This guarantees appropriate identification of prepaid cards during authorization and transaction management, and proper processing.
Chargebacks and fraud: The move to eight-digit BINs is intended to strengthen fraud defenses. The increased variety of unique identification numbers makes it harder for scammers to predict exact card numbers, lowering the possibility of fraudulent transactions. As a result of increased security and a decrease in chargebacks, this is advantageous to both retailers and cardholders.
Transaction Processing: To identify and work with eight-digit BINs, payment processors, acquirers, and other businesses involved in transaction processing must upgrade their systems. This involves upgrading routing logic, authorization processes, and fraud detection systems to provide smooth and precise transaction processing.
Merchant Services and Disputes: Merchants could encounter difficulties changing their systems to accommodate the new BIN format. It is essential for payment and merchant service providers to help retailers ensure that the eight-digit BINs work with their products. To properly manage the new BIN format, modifications may be needed to customer service and dispute resolution procedures relating to card acceptance, authorization, and transaction processing.
Reporting: As eight-digit BINs become the norm, reporting and analytics platforms may need to be modified to account for the increased BIN length. For merchants and payment service providers, this guarantees reliable data analysis, monitoring, and tracking of transactions.
How to prepare for the change?
1. Recognize the specifications and recommendations offered by payment networks.
2. Check systems and infrastructure for any changes that are required.
3. Engage service suppliers to guarantee migration preparation.
4. Software and programs need to be updated to support the new BIN format.
5. Inform staff members of the impending changes and their effects.
6. Customers should be informed of the migration and any card-related changes.
7. System and process testing and validation should be done thoroughly.
8. After the shift, keep an eye on performance and deal with any problems right once.
Conclusion
To adapt to the shifting environment and guarantee efficient payment processes, players in the financial industry must have a solid understanding of BINs to discover the advanced payment options provided by Fidypay to manage this change smoothly. Fidypay equips companies with cutting-edge payment processing tools so they may improve client experiences, streamline processes, and spur expansion. Use Fidypay’s cutting-edge technology to realize your full potential in the fast-paced payments industry.
