MasterCard Rules for Member Service Providers (MSPs)

MasterCard requires our members – banks and other financial institutions that issue cards and acquire transactions – to comply with MasterCard rules. Those members, in turn, must ensure that the Member Service Providers (MSPs) providing transaction and cardholder processing services and performing merchant and cardholder solicitation for them receive and comply with MasterCard rules.

MSPs are critical to success of MasterCard, and that success is better assured if MSPs are afforded access to and understand MasterCard rules applicable to their businesses. For this reason, MasterCard is pleased to now be able to share with MSPs the rules applicable to the acceptance of MasterCard cards and Maestro® cards.

Please be aware that these rules establish minimum standards of acceptable conduct; a member may adopt and an acquirer may require a merchant to adhere to additional, more stringent standards than MasterCard rules require.

Please be advised that MasterCard rules and other standards change frequently. While we will endeavour to keep the standards on this website up to date, it is possible, even likely, that this website will not be absolutely current in all regards. In the event of any discrepancy between the rules and standards found at this website and those rules and standards MasterCard deems to be the official rules and standards, the official rules and standards will apply.

We’ve compiled important key excerpts from a variety of MasterCard documents in a manual that presents our rules to you in a concise format. Download the Manual