The BPSP program allows buyers to pay their bills with a network-approved commercial card even if the supplier is not a card accepting merchant, thereby providing more payment options for buyers. The buyer pays the BPSP with say, a Mastercard/Visa commercial card, and instructs the BPSP to pay the supplier on its behalf. The BPSP pays the supplier using a non-card method of payment.

The BPSP Model:

• Focuses on commercial or business-to-business payments, usually for invoices based on pre-negotiated terms.
• Disallows BPSPs to enable transactions for billers who do accept Visa for network-approved cards through other channels.
• Establishes contracts between BPSP and TabaPay, not the underlying sellers.
• Requires the BPSP to manage the end-to-end customer experience, processing the customer’s purchase and issuing a transaction receipt under the name of the BPSP.
• Also requires BPSPs to process customer service inquiries, refunds and disputes, though these are usually low on the basis that most payments are post-paid bills for products/services that have already been consumed or delivered.

Cost-Effective Bill Payments

If you as a business accept corporate/commercial cards, you can reduce the overall cost of payment acceptance by providing more data through TabaPay to the networks. This data, when sent to card networks such as Visa and MasterCard enables businesses to secure a much lower interchange rate.

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Interested in Level 2/Level 3 processing?

If you are a business with higher volumes of B2B or B2G payment volume, TabaPay can help you bring down the costs of payment processing with L2 and L3 data shared with the networks.

TabaPay will register you as a BPSP with Visa, and you will be required to sign a commercial agreement with Visa directly.

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Overview: Effective 13 April 2024

Visa will introduce new eligibility and compliance rules to the Business Payment Solution Provider payment model.

Visa Key Requirements

The following items are required for the Visa network.

Supplier Eligibility & Payment Scope

• Certify to Visa that the supplier being paid through the BPSP, conditionally accepts or does not accept Card payment for the good or service being purchased and paid by the buyer and therefore pursues payment via the BPSP.
• Permit payments to overseas suppliers. Buyers may pay suppliers in other countries via a BPSP.
• Accept payments from businesses for business expenses using Visa Commercial Cards, and through April 17, 2027, Visa Consumer Cards.
• Supplier may accept a Visa Commercial Card of their choice
• Ensure the MCC assigned to each supplier accurately describes a supplier’s business is assigned to the supplier

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Consumer Card Acceptance - Until April 2027

Buyers will be able to utilize their preferred Visa card (consumer or commercial) for payments as long as the applicable transaction is initiated by a business and is for a business purchase. It is important to note that consumer cards will only be accepted until April 2027.

Transaction Timing & Processing Rules

• Only perform BPSP services as a Card-Absent Environment Merchant
• Initiate transactions only after:
  • The buyer confirms that goods or services have been shipped or delivered; and
  • The buyer approves the payment.
• Use a secure payment process that ensures funds are deposited into individual supplier accounts.
• Process each invoice from a non-Visa-accepting supplier to a buyer is processed as a separate transaction.

Compliance, Risk & Buyer Responsibility

• Perform KYC and meet all applicable AML requirements for all suppliers, including non–Visa-accepting suppliers, before initiating transactions.
• Require a written agreement with each buyer stating that the buyer assumes all risks associated with supplier nonperformance.
• Ensures that the following MCCs are not eligible to be included in BPSP-supplier flows, unless the buyer utilizing the BPSP provides to Visa a valid government-issued business identification number or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) upon Visa request: | MCC | Description | | :--- | :--------------------------------------------- | | 4900 | Utilities – Electric, Gas, Water, and Sanitary | | 6300 | Insurance Sales, Underwriting, and Premiums | | 6513 | Real Estate Agents and Managers | | 9311 | Tax Payments |

Ensures that the following Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) are not eligible to be included in BPSP-supplier flows:

Note: All designated unique airline and air carrier, car rental agency, and lodging MCCs, as specified in the Visa Merchant Data Standards Manual

Reporting Obligations to Visa

• Provides annual reporting to Visa directly, including:

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Reporting to Visa

All reports are due on the 10th day of the following month.

Please copy [email protected] in your emails with report submissions to Visa.

• Total Visa payment volume flowing through the BPSP
• Total Visa payment volume of overseas payments
• Breakdown of Visa payment volume by supplier MCC
• Breakdown of Visa payment volume and Transaction count by Visa product type
• Effective 13 April 2024 through 17 April 2027 Breakdown of Visa payment volume and Transaction count of the top 100 suppliers paid via Visa Consumer Cards
• Provide quarterly reporting to Visa on overseas payments including breakdown of payment volume and transaction count by country corridor (i.e. buyer country, BPSP country, and supplier country)
• Sign a separate agreement with Visa to ensure compliance with the Visa Rules, including but not limited to the above annual and quarterly reporting requirements

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NEW MasterCard Bill Payment Service Provider (BPSP) Program

Effective 1, January, 2025, Mastercard is revising its Standards to introduce a Business Payment Service Provider (BPSP) category and related requirements for commercial business-to-business (B2B) payments between buyers and suppliers.

Under the MasterCard BPSP program, buyers may source suppliers globally, allowing buyers and suppliers to be located in different markets. Additionally, while payment from the BPSP to the supplier must be completed with a non-card method, the supplier may be a card-accepting merchant for non-BPSP transactions.

Key Requirements

The following items are required for the Mastercard network.

Registration & Commercial Model

• BPSP is registered with Mastercard through the Sponsor Bank.

• The BPSP must pay suppliers using a non-card payment method, even if the supplier accepts Mastercard for non-BPSP transactions.

• The BPSP, buyer, and buyer’s commercial card issuer must be located within the acquirer’s area of use. Suppliers may be located outside that area.

Buyer Agreement & Liability Allocation

• The BPSP must enter into a written agreement with the buyer. The agreement confirms, among other things, that chargeback rights for Goods or Services Not Provided will not apply (except when payment not properly applied to the buyer's account or a credit not processed) and requires the buyer to resolve any non-performance concerns directly with the supplier.

• The buyer must pay the BPSP with a commercial card per the contractual agreement between the buyer and the BPSP.

Transaction Execution & Settlement Controls

• Following the receipt of settlement funds from its acquirer, the BPSP must pay the supplier the invoiced amount as instructed by the buyer.

• All payment origination parties: The BPSP, each buyer initiating payment through the BPSP, and the buyer's commercial card issuer must be located within the area of use of the BPSP's acquirer. Only the supplier receiving payment through the BPSP may be located outside of the BPSP acquirer's area of use.

• The BPSP must only initiate a transaction in accordance with the buyer's payment instructions, for example, following the buyer's confirmation of the supplier's shipment of the goods or delivery of the goods or services and the buyer's approval of the payment.

• The BPSP must submit separate transactions per invoice and use a secure process to deposit funds into individual supplier accounts. Bundling is permitted only when paying multiple invoices from one buyer to the same supplier.

• Mastercard BPSP merchants should be categorized as the following:

American Express Bill Payment Providers (BPPs) are third parties that allow American Express Cardmembers to make purchases at merchant establishments that may not accept the American Express Card.

Key Requirements

The American Express Bill Payment Program (BPP) supports unique processing based on specific contracts between American Express and individual partner merchants. The merchant needs to enroll for BPP directly with American Express and they will assign a unique merchant ID.

TabaPay clients who wish to process American Express through TabaPay must provide the following information.

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American Express Network Mandate

American Express requires the following information about the merchant upon registration:

Each UBO (Ultimate Beneficiary Owner's) must provide the following information:

• First Name (Required)
• Middle Name (Optional)
• Last Name (Required)
• Date of Birth (Required)

Specific merchant category codes are eligible for this program which will be addressed during the enrollment process with American Express.

American Express BPP (Bill Payment Provider)

Data Requirements for American Express BPP Programs and info required to be present for every transaction at American Express for BPP participants, refer to the following:

For field descriptions, refer to Create Transaction API..

...
{
  "softDescriptor": {
    "address": {
      "line1": "123 Street",
      "city": "San Francisco",
      "county": "SFC",
      "state": "CA",
      "zipcode": "94103",
      "country": "840"
    },
    "phone": {
      "number": "5555555555"
    },
    "name": "General Biller Company",
    "mcc": "6012",
    "email": "[email protected]"
  }
}
...