How does a co-badged card work?
One card number carries two brands, usually a domestic scheme and an international one. Stripe notes that cards in the EU may carry a local network, such as Cartes Bancaires, and an affiliated network, such as Visa or Mastercard. Checkout.com’s test cards for Saudi Arabia show mada paired with Visa or Mastercard in the same way. The brand chosen for a payment decides which network carries it, which rules apply and which fees are charged.
Why does it matter?
The choice affects cost and approvals. The domestic brand is often processed in-country with the issuer’s home network, while the international brand may reach more acquirers and support more features. In the EU, Article 8 of the Interchange Fee Regulation prohibits scheme rules that stop issuers co-badging, and lets merchants install an automatic priority selection that the payer can override. As an illustrative example: a merchant processes 1,000,000 euros a month on co-badged cards. If one brand costs 0.4% less in total fees, defaulting to it where the customer makes no choice saves up to 4,000 euros a month.
What are the limits?
Merchants must respect the cardholder’s choice. Adyen’s guidance for the EU says merchants that support both brands must show them with equal prominence, must not route a payment to a different brand than the one selected, and should store the choice for recurring payments on a saved co-badged card. Rules outside the EU differ, and Adyen describes separate requirements for Australia. Not every acquirer supports the domestic brand, so the cheaper route is not always available.
Where does Omno use it?
Omno does not acquire. It connects to PSPs, which work with acquirers, so which brand a co-badged card can be processed on depends on the provider. Card attributes such as issuing country can be routing conditions, and the routing-decision log records the chosen provider and the response code for every attempt.