Transaction APIs for

Acquirers
Product Guide

11 February 2025
 Contents

Contents

Transaction APIs for Acquirers Product Guide overview.............................................. 4

Chapter 1: Guide overview..............................................................................................................5

Guide purpose and usage....................................................................................................................... 6
Intended audience....................................................................................................................................6
Contact information................................................................................................................................6
Revisions.....................................................................................................................................................6

Chapter 2: Product foundational knowledge......................................................................7

Basic transaction processing concepts................................................................................................ 8
Mastercard Network access...................................................................................................................9
Prerequisite information.........................................................................................................................9

Chapter 3: Transaction APIs overview.................................................................................. 10

Introduction to Transaction APIs.........................................................................................................11
Benefits................................................................................................................................................... 11
Supported APIs...................................................................................................................................... 11
Supported messages and transaction types....................................................................................12
APIs message flows...............................................................................................................................13
Authorization API............................................................................................................................. 13
Reversal API.......................................................................................................................................13
Inquiry API..........................................................................................................................................13
Financial Advice API.........................................................................................................................14
Financial Request API...................................................................................................................... 14
API specifications...................................................................................................................................15

Chapter 4: Implementation......................................................................................................... 16
Implementation process overview...................................................................................................... 17
Implementation process..................................................................................................................17
Implementation stages...................................................................................................................17
1. Project initiation..................................................................................................................... 18
2. MTF onboarding......................................................................................................................18
3. MTF testing............................................................................................................................. 19
4. Production onboarding..........................................................................................................20
5. Production testing..................................................................................................................20
6. Go-Live..................................................................................................................................... 20
Customer implementation services....................................................................................................20

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 2
 Contents

Chapter 5: Transaction APIs Production support...........................................................21

Reporting.................................................................................................................................................22
Mastercard support contact information......................................................................................... 22
Customer support process...................................................................................................................22
1. Customer contacts Mastercard................................................................................................ 23
2. Case created and assigned a priority.......................................................................................23
3. Mastercard teams engaged for resolution..............................................................................24
4. Issue resolved................................................................................................................................24
Mission Control & Operations (MC&O) - critical issues................................................................... 24

Appendix A: Glossary........................................................................................................................25
Terms and definitions............................................................................................................................26

Appendix B: Frequently asked questions............................................................................. 28

Transaction APIs FAQs..........................................................................................................................29

Appendix C: Related documentation..................................................................................... 31

Related documentation........................................................................................................................32

Notices.......................................................................................................................................................33

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 3
 Transaction APIs for Acquirers Product Guide overview

Transaction APIs for Acquirers Product Guide overview

Mastercard provides this guide for acquirers and their authorized agents for their sole use.

ATTENTION: Transaction APIs (TAPI) are not yet available in countries with on-soil requirements.

Audience
The intended audience for this guide is acquirers and third-party processors. Refer to the
"Intended audience" section of this manual for additional details.

Product
Transaction APIs for acquirers implements a JSON-based APIs suite for authorization, reversal,
inquiry, and clearing using the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 20022
Acquirer-to-Issuer Card Messages (ATICA) standards.

Table 1: Details

Metadata Value
Audience Acquirers and third-party processors.
Product Network Solutions, Clear Now for Acquirers, Clear
On Demand for Acquirers (GCMS), Mastercard
Edge Connectivity products, Economics as a
Service, Switching (Authorization), Switching
(Clearing), Transaction APIs
Region Global
Type Guide, Product or service guide, Product guide
Publish Date 11 February 2025

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 4
 Guide overview

Chapter 1 Guide overview

This chapter provides an overview of the (TAPI) Transaction APIs for Acquirers Product Guide.

Guide purpose and usage.......................................................................................................................................6

Intended audience...................................................................................................................................................6
Contact information...............................................................................................................................................6
Revisions....................................................................................................................................................................6

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 5
 Guide overview
Guide purpose and usage

Guide purpose and usage

This document provides an overview of the Transaction APIs for Acquirers Product Guide and
explains how acquirers can leverage APIs to interface with the Mastercard Network for
authorization and clearing.

Intended audience
Mastercard provides this guide for acquirers and third-party processors for their sole use.
This guide is for the following audiences:
• Acquiring customers interested in enabling Transaction APIs to interface with the Mastercard
Network for authorization and clearing using Mastercard Edge Connectivity products.
• Third-party processors and other categories of acquirer service providers that are interested
in future phases of Transaction APIs to interface with the Mastercard Network for
authorization and clearing.

Contact information

Customers that have questions related to Transaction APIs can refer to the “Frequently asked
questions” appendix, or contact:
• Their Mastercard representative for further information.
• Customer support at customer_support@mastercard.com.

NOTE: If you do not have a Mastercard representative, assistance can be obtained from the
Mastercard Developers support page: https://developer.mastercard.com/.

Revisions
The guide and related materials are subject to change from time to time. Mastercard has the
right, in its sole discretion, to interpret, amend, and enforce this guide.
A subsequent revision is effective as of the date indicated in the publication and has precedence
over any previous edition. In the event of a conflict between this guide and a subsequently
published edition, the subsequently published edition has precedence.

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 6
 Product foundational knowledge

Chapter 2 Product foundational knowledge

This chapter provides a high-level overview of transaction processing on the Mastercard Network and
the required prerequisite knowledge.

Basic transaction processing concepts................................................................................................................8

Mastercard Network access..................................................................................................................................9
Prerequisite information........................................................................................................................................ 9

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 7
 Product foundational knowledge
Basic transaction processing concepts

Basic transaction processing concepts

The Mastercard Network is the telecommunications and data transport mechanism for routing
and processing financial transactions.
The network links all Mastercard customers and data processing centers into a single online
financial network. Transaction processing through the Mastercard Network is segmented in
three stages:
• Authorization
• Clearing
• Settlement

Authorization
An online authorization message establishes the availability of funds and ensures that the card
is valid for use (for example, not reported as stolen). During authorization, a cardholder presents
the card or cardholder account number as payment in exchange for goods and services to the
merchant. The acquirer transmits the transaction to the Mastercard Network, which then
routes to the issuer responsible for approving or declining the authorization request. Once the
transaction is authorized successfully, both the issuer and acquirer support clearing and
settlement functions to exchange funds between the cardholder and the merchant.

Clearing
Clearing is the process of exchanging financial and non-financial data through a network before
settlement. During clearing, transaction payment data passes between issuers and acquirers
through the Mastercard Network.
Single message systems combine the authorization and clearing messages into a single online
message. Historically, single message systems were only used by Maestro® and Cirrus® card
brands in all regions except the Europe region.
Dual message systems use authorization and clearing messages that are separate instances.
The clearing message then confirms the full details of the completed transaction and includes
the final amount.

Settlement
Settlement is the process by which funds are exchanged based on the net value of all completed
and cleared financial transactions for each settlement day. The exchange of successfully
processed detailed financial transaction data through the Mastercard clearing system
represents an obligation to exchange funds. To facilitate the settlement of funds, Mastercard
uses the Settlement Account Management (SAM) system to streamline the process of moving
funds.

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 8
 Product foundational knowledge
Mastercard Network access

Mastercard Network access

To process online authorization and clearing activity, acquirers must have access to the
Mastercard Network to send and receive authorization and clearing messages and related data.

Prerequisite information
Transaction APIs is offered to acquirers and processors as an opt-in selection. Participation is
not mandatory.
Interested acquirers, issuers, or processors must fulfill these prerequisites:
• Onboarded as a licensed Mastercard member.
• Have a foundational business and technical understanding of transaction processing,
including authorization, clearing, and settlement.
• Have established Mastercard Edge connectivity to Mastercard.

NOTE: For more information on Mastercard Edge Connectivity products see the Mastercard Cloud Edge
Product Guide and Mastercard Co-Lo Edge Product Guide documentation.

To participate in Transaction APIs, acquirers, issuers, and processors must comply with the
Mastercard Standards, Rules, manuals, bulletin announcements, release announcements,
guidelines, technical specifications, Transaction APIs documentation (including but not limited to
this guide), and any other requirements set forth in this guide, each as amended from time to
time:
• Submit a completed enrollment form to their Mastercard representative (subject to
Mastercard approval).
• Support the Transaction APIs implementation process and complete the testing.
• Comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
It is the responsibility of the customer participating in Transaction APIs to ensure that their
infrastructure is configured to support Transaction APIs, according to specified standards in this
guide.

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 9
 Transaction APIs overview

Chapter 3 Transaction APIs overview

This chapter details what Transaction APIs (TAPI) is, supported APIs, features, benefits supported
messages, and transaction types.

Introduction to Transaction APIs........................................................................................................................11

Benefits...................................................................................................................................................................11
Supported APIs......................................................................................................................................................11
Supported messages and transaction types...................................................................................................12
APIs message flows..............................................................................................................................................13
Authorization API............................................................................................................................................ 13
Reversal API......................................................................................................................................................13
Inquiry API.........................................................................................................................................................13
Financial Advice API........................................................................................................................................ 14
Financial Request API..................................................................................................................................... 14
API specifications..................................................................................................................................................15

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 10
 Transaction APIs overview
Introduction to Transaction APIs

Introduction to Transaction APIs

APIs are the critical building blocks for today's digital and data transformation, enabling
seamless communication between systems and driving innovation. APIs empower customers to
deliver new and innovative services, while enhancing customer experiences and accelerating
progress.
Mastercard offers multiple products and services through APIs, but access to traditional card
rails was not exposed through APIs historically. Transaction APIs offer a new REST API-based
integration channel for card services such as authorization and clearing.
The Transaction APIs for acquirers implements a JSON-based APIs suite for authorization,
reversal, inquiry, and clearing using the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
20022 Acquirer-to-Issuer Card Messages (ATICA) standards. The ISO 20022 specification is the
result of years of industry working groups ensuring wide industry adoption.

Benefits
Transaction APIs provide a simpler API interface for acquirers and processors to communicate
with the Mastercard Network. APIs based on the ISO 20022 ATICA specification means that
acquirers can use industry standards for card payments and expand to other payment types.
By using the latest technology, customers are no longer required to use a MIP hardware
appliance, they can now connect using Mastercard Edge Connectivity products. Transaction APIs
help eliminate the manual processes and is designed to enable acquirers to integrate their
payments systems to their other interfaces seamlessly. By using the latest technology,
Transaction APIs help Mastercard acquirers meet their customer expectations, scale-up in the
future, and remain competitive in the long-term.

Supported APIs
Transaction APIs enable acquirers and processors to interface with the Mastercard Network
using APIs. All the information needed to initiate the authorization, reversal, inquiry, and clearing
of card payments can be sent at a transaction level using the APIs channel.
The following table details the ISO 20022 Acquirer to Issuer Card Messages (ATICA) standard.

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 11
 Transaction APIs overview
Supported messages and transaction types

Table 2: ISO 20022 Acquirer-to-Issuer Card Messages (ATICA) standard

Supported APIs Description

Authorization API Used to request the approval of an in-store, e-
commerce, POS and ATM transaction. For all dual
message transactions, Authorization messages
must be followed by a Financial Advice message to
request the clearing of the transactions.
Authorization messages supports refunds with the
use of a Refund Code data field.
Reversal API Used to fully or partially reverse an earlier
authorization request. This API is used for reversing
transactions that are Authorization only. For
transactions that have been cleared, reversals will
be handled as part of the Financial API.
Inquiry API Used to validate cardholder account information.
Initiated by an acquirer on behalf of a merchant to
obtain the issuer's validation that a cardholder's
account is open and active. Use case covered:
Account Status Inquiry (ASI) - Zero-dollar
authorization done with MDES tokens, 3DS, CVC2,
and AVS.
Financial Advice API Used to initiate the clearing and settlement of a
previously approved authorization request.
Clearing can be initiated by acquirers at a
transaction level using the Financial Advice API.
Financial Request API Used to initiate the authorization and clearing of a
transaction using a single API message.
For both Financial APIs: Program Addendum data can be submitted along with the Financial APIs. All
other addendums and fee collection data should be sent through a batch file. For more information,
refer to the IPM Clearing Formats manual.

Supported messages and transaction types

Transaction APIs currently support dual message transactions using e-commerce, POS, and ATM
channels. Dual message is supported using only the ISO 20022 standard.

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 12
 Transaction APIs overview
APIs message flows

APIs message flows

The Transaction APIs enable Mastercard Network customers to process financial and non-
financial requests that follow ISO 20022 ATICA standards. The APIs provide the following use
cases to acquirers.

NOTE: For detailed message flow diagrams of the Transaction APIs, see the Mastercard Developers
support page.

Authorization API
The Authorization API allows exchanging Authorization Initiation Request and Response
messages to request approval of authorization or guarantee for a transaction to proceed.
The Authorization Initiation Request message is not intended to permit the application of this
transaction to the cardholder's account for issuing a bill or statement. Authorization
transactions assume that follow-up information, for example a Financial Advice API message or
a batch file that contains clearing messages are used to affect an actual settlement, cardholder
account posting, and cardholder billing.
The Authorization Response message carries the response information required to service (apply
or deny) the Authorization Initiation Request message.

NOTE: For detailed message flow steps and diagrams of the Authorization API, see the Mastercard
Developers support page.

Reversal API
Acquirers must send a Reversal Initiation Request when they are unable to deliver an issuer's
approved Authorization Response to a merchant. Merchants may also request their acquirers to
send a Reversal Initiation Request message to cancel the full or partial amount of the original
authorization amount.

NOTE: For detailed message flow steps and diagrams of the Reversal API, see the Mastercard
Developers support page.

Inquiry API
The acquirer Inquiry Request message requests the status of various aspects of a cardholder's
account with an issuer.
Inquiry transactions are considered non-financial and must be followed up with a subsequent
authorization, reversal, or financial request or advice. The inquiry response message contains the
results of the inquiry made by the acquirer or processor.

NOTE: For detailed message flow steps and diagrams of the Inquiry API, see the Mastercard
Developers support page.

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 13
 Transaction APIs overview
Financial Advice API

Financial Advice API

The Financial Advice Transaction API allows acquirers to request the clearing processing by
sending the Financial Advice Initiation Request and receiving the Financial Advice Response from
Mastercard.
The API allows acquirers to send transaction-level clearing requests in ISO 20022 format for
authorizations that have been previously approved. The Financial Advice Transaction API
facilitates the Mastercard Online Clearing for acquirers product, which enables acquirers to
receive net position summaries early and clearing validations aligned with Mastercard clearing
system cycles. For more information on the online clearing cycles and associated files, refer to
the “Overview” section of the Global Clearing Management System Reference Manual located in
the Technical Resource Center (TRC) on Mastercard Connect®.

NOTE: It is recommended that a new Transaction API customer that wants to benefit from the
Financial Advice API be onboarded as a new clearing customer.

Financial Request API

The Financial Request Transaction API allows acquirers to send one single message for
authorization and clearing for transactions where the final amount is known at the time of the
authorization. This will eliminate the delay between authorization and clearing, allowing rapid
clearing of transactions.
The Financial Request Transaction API facilitates the Mastercard Clear Now for acquirers
product, which enables a dual-message acquirer to send a single financial transaction (that will
trigger authorization and clearing) for the final amount known transactions. For more
information on clearing cycles and associated files, refer to the Overview section of the Global
Clearing Management System Reference Manual located in the Technical Resource Center
(TRC) on Mastercard Connect.

NOTE: It is recommended that a new Transaction API customer that wants to benefit from the
Financial Request API be onboarded as a new clearing customer.

Table 3: Production testing

Environment Description
MTF (Mastercard Test Facility) The pre-production test environment contains the
latest pre-release or released version of the APIs,
intended for full integration testing, before moving
to production. At this stage, use the MTF keys
generated during the project creation.

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 14
 Transaction APIs overview
API specifications

Environment Description
Production The production environment contains the latest
production API release. You can request approval to
obtain the Production keys. Once approved, you
can proceed to complete your Production
Validation process in the production environment
before launching your solution. You can ramp up
slowly if you choose, but testing is not permitted in
the production environment.

NOTE: For detailed message flow steps and diagrams of the Financial Advice API, see the Mastercard
Developers support page.

API specifications

There are two different environments available to work from:

• MTF (a sandbox will be available in the near future)
• Production

Use cases
Transaction APIs enable Mastercard customers to process financial and non-financial requests
that follow ISO 20022 ATICA standards.
Customers should refer to Mastercard Developers for the current list of use cases supported by
Transaction APIs.

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 15
 Implementation

Chapter 4 Implementation
This chapter provides an overview of how Transaction APIs (TAPI) is implemented, tested, validated, and
the expected timeframes associated with the testing.

Implementation process overview..................................................................................................................... 17

Implementation process.................................................................................................................................17
Implementation stages.................................................................................................................................. 17
1. Project initiation.....................................................................................................................................18
2. MTF onboarding.....................................................................................................................................18
3. MTF testing.............................................................................................................................................19
4. Production onboarding......................................................................................................................... 20
5. Production testing.................................................................................................................................20
6. Go-Live.....................................................................................................................................................20
Customer implementation services...................................................................................................................20

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 16
 Implementation
Implementation process overview

Implementation process overview

Mastercard coordinates with participating acquirers throughout the Transaction APIs
implementation process.

Implementation process
The following table summarizes some of the impacts of implementing Transaction APIs on
participating acquirers' operations.

Table 4: Impact on acquirer operations

Process steps Impact considerations

Requirement to be a licensed Mastercard member. The lead time required to onboard a new member
can take 8-10 weeks to complete the process.
Impacting the overall time to onboard Transaction
APIs and time to production.
Edge connectivity is leveraged for connectivity. New Edge infrastructure requirements are needed.
Edge product setup for use with TAPI takes
approximately 6-8 weeks.
Acquirers must code to the Transaction APIs This process requires resources and time to analyze
specificiations. and code to the specifications. Timeframe is
dependent upon resources and focus dedicated to
support this effort. Development takes
approximately 4-8 weeks. Development resources
are provided by the customer and project and
testing support are provided by Mastercard
through CIS, as required.

Implementation stages
Standard Transaction APIs implementation have the following stages:
Figure 1: Transaction API implementation stages

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 17
 Implementation
1. Project initiation

1. Project initiation
During project initiation, the project scope is discussed, and the acquirer can specify which of
their ICA numbers are eligible for the Transaction APIs implementation.
Transaction APIs are currently only available to support acquirer Mastercard Edge connectivity
infrastructure and not traditional MIP connectivity to acquirer physical data center.

Mastercard terminal integration process

NOTE: This is a prerequesite only for customers using terminals.

The Mastercard terminal integration (M-TIP) is a process designed to provide Mastercard with a
suitable level of confidence that a given acquirer deployment does not damage Mastercard
operations or reputation.
Acquirers participating in Transaction APIs with terminals are required to execute M-TIP
certification before going live with Transaction APIs.
Mastercard responsibilities:
• Work with customer to setup MTLS key exchanges through the Key Management Portal on
Mastercard Connect®
• Implement TLS 1.2 certificates for acquirer security.
• Provide the five Transaction APIs endpoints:
– Authorization
– Reversal
– Inquiry
– Financial Advice
– Financial Request
M-TIP certifies the Transaction APIs instance of an acquirer deployment. On successful
completion of M-TIP, the participating acquirer receives an M-TIP Letter of Approval (LoA).
For more information about the M-TIP process, refer to the M-TIP Process Guide located in The
Technical Resource Center (TRC) on Mastercard Connect.

NOTE: Enabling an Edge product for use with Transaction APIs requires approximately 6-8 weeks.

2. MTF onboarding
The acquirer responsibilities include:
• Validate that their ICA number is active and choose to use their existing ICA number or have
a new ICA number created for them.
• Ensure that their infrastructure is configured to correctly to process the APIs messages
according to the supported APIs in this guide. The build process contains two main activities:
– The setup of Mastercard Edge Connectivity products
– The acquirer's building of their APIs

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 18
 Implementation
3. MTF testing

3. MTF testing
Acquirers are required to test the Transaction APIs functionality in the Mastercard Test Facility
(MTF) before promotion to the production environment.
Mastercard has created specific test cases for this product. Test cases and the additional
Transaction APIs relevant content is accessible through Mastercard Developers. Acquirers are
granted access to Mastercard Developers as part of their onboarding process.
There are four stages to the MTF testing:
• Test Strategy
• Test Approach
• Test Procedure
• Test Cases

Test Strategy
Testing is conducted through a combination of:
• Online Testing: Acquirers are to use the MTF environment listed on Mastercard Developers.
Customers should refer to the Mastercard Developers for information on preparing for
Transaction APIs Testing.
• Integrated Testing: If acquirers choose to perform Authorization API or Financial Request
API testing without using the Financial Advice API, they can use the business as usual (BAU)
Batch clearing process using IPM files

NOTE: To achieve MTF certification, acquirers must execute the prescribed tests and receive sign-off
from the Mastercard CIS Team.

Test Approach
The test approach guides the acquirers through the test procedures for each of the APIs
endpoints that replicate the behavior of the Mastercard Network, providing symmetry of
testing between ISO 8583 and ISO 20022 implementations. Each set uses the test case suite as
the ISO 8583 interface converted to ISO 20022 format. A Customer Implementation Services
(CIS) Test Lead assists each acquirer to tailor the test case suite based upon the
implementation requirements of the customer.

Test Procedure
Transaction APIs use the test case suite of ISO 8583 test cases in association with ISO 20022
mapping. The following are the steps to perform the testing:
1. Based on your implementation requirements, agree with your CIS Test Lead on the scope of
tests to execute from the Acquirer Credit and Debit Test Cases document located in The
Technical Resource Center (TRC) on Mastercard Connect.
2. Using the ISO 20022 to ISO 8583 mapping, you may convert the test cases in the Acquirer
Credit and Debit Test Cases document to ISO 20022 messages. Refer to the Transaction
APIs specific mapping documents on Mastercard Developers.

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 19
 Implementation
4. Production onboarding

3. 20022 messages may then be executed against the MTF.

Test Cases
Customers should refer to Mastercard Developers for examples of test cases and payloads
supported by Transaction APIs. Upon testing completion, Mastercard validates the test results
and issues a Testing Acknowledgement Notification (TAN) to summarize the results and
acknowledges the completion of all testing requirements.

4. Production onboarding
Mastercard promotes the acquirer to the production instance of the Transaction APIs after a
TAN has been issued.

5. Production testing
Acquirers are required to run the recommended test cases available in Mastercard Developers in
the Production environment before scaling their Transaction APIs traffic. The acquirer
collaborates with their Mastercard representative to define an appropriate ramp-up plan.

6. Go-Live
After the acquirer is comfortable using Transaction APIs with limited volume, they can scale
their usage according to the ramp-up plan defined during the Production Testing stage.
Production Go-Live checklist:
1. Production connection to the Mastercard Edge Connectivity products
2. MTF Certification
3. M-TIP Certification (for customers using a terminal)
4. Successful completion of the Production Validation within the Production environment
5. The acquirer has been informed of the go-live support model

Customer implementation services

Following the production implementation steps and upon successful Production Validation, the
CIS 30-day warranty period applies. Any issues that may arise during this time are handled by
the CIS Implementation Manager (“CIS IM”). The CIS IM ensures that the audit documentation
is complete and stored.
Following the product implementation and after the 30-day warranty period, the CIS IM turns
over support to customer_support@mastercard.com for day-to-day operational support during
normal business hours. For critical or after hours support, contact occ@mastercard.com. If
access to the Transaction APIs MTF environment is required, due to post-production
development changes resulting in issues, the acquirers are allowed to test such changes in the
MTF environment.

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 20
 Transaction APIs Production support

Chapter 5 Transaction APIs Production support

This chapter provides an overview of how Transaction APIs (TAPI) are supported in the production
environment.

Reporting................................................................................................................................................................22
Mastercard support contact information.........................................................................................................22
Customer support process..................................................................................................................................22
1. Customer contacts Mastercard................................................................................................................23
2. Case created and assigned a priority...................................................................................................... 23
3. Mastercard teams engaged for resolution.............................................................................................24
4. Issue resolved...............................................................................................................................................24
Mission Control & Operations (MC&O) - critical issues.................................................................................. 24

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 21
 Transaction APIs Production support
Reporting

Reporting
Transaction APIs do not currently provide any external reporting. Acquirers can refer to their
BAU reporting mechanisms.

Mastercard support contact information

Once a customer is live in production with the Transaction APIs, the Mastercard Global
Customer Support team is the first point of contact for service-related interactions.
The following table lists the different ways a customer can contact the Mastercard Global
Customer Support team.

Table 5: Customer Support Communication channels

Channel Description
Phone
(US toll-free) +1-800-999-0363
(International) +1-636-722-6176
Hours of operation: 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week

Service request through Mastercard Connect® 1. Sign in to Mastercard Connect

2. Select My Items.
3. Select the Support Case Management
application.
4. Create a new case.

Email: Customer_support@mastercard.com.
Technical Resource Center (TRC) Enter the TRC and select Contact Us.

Customer support process

The customer support process has the following stages:

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 22
 Transaction APIs Production support
1. Customer contacts Mastercard

Figure 2: Customer support process

1. Customer contacts Mastercard

The recommended method of contact is by telephone. Email messaging is also available for non-
critical or urgent issues.
To ensure the appropriate research and to ensure timely response, provide the required
information:
• Customer name
• Date and specific time of occurrence and time zone
• Service impacted: Transaction APIs
• Description of issue
• Transaction attributes (BIN last four digits, ARN, Date, Amount, and any other relevant
information)

2. Case created and assigned a priority

Customer support creates a case and assigns a tracking number, a priority, and sends a
communication back to the customer.
For escalation, call the Customer Service Support line or use the Escalate Now link in the case
creation email notification.
This table shows the expected customer communication response time from Mastercard to the
customer.

Table 6: Expected customer communication response time

Priority Initial engagement Update frequency

Critical Response provided on inbound Every 3 hours
phone call
Major 1 business day Every business day
Minor, Low Impact 2 business days Every 2 business days

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 23
 Transaction APIs Production support
3. Mastercard teams engaged for resolution

3. Mastercard teams engaged for resolution

Customer support engages all necessary teams at Mastercard to resolve the issue. There is
ongoing communication between Mastercard and the customer between steps 2 and 3.

4. Issue resolved
The customer receives notification when the issue is resolved.

Mission Control & Operations (MC&O) - critical issues

Should a critical issue arise, customers can contact MC&O for assistance.

Table 7: MC&O critical issues

Channel Initial engagement

Phone
Phone: +1-636-722-6220
Toll-free: 1-800-358-3060

Email address occ@mastercard.com

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 24
 Glossary

Appendix A Glossary
This appendix lists the terms and definitions of the Transaction APIs (TAPI).

Terms and definitions...........................................................................................................................................26

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 25
 Glossary
Terms and definitions

Terms and definitions

The following table lists the terms and definitions used throughout this guide.

Table 8: Terms and definitions

Term Definition
cain Corporate Action Instruction Message. A group of
ISO 20022 messages used by Transaction APIs.
Dual Message Authorization System A system that processes financial transactions.
Authorization and clearing occur in two separate
messages. The system typically processes credit
and signature debit transactions.
GET An HTTP method used for retrieving data.
Global Clearing Management System (GCMS) A centralized clearing facility owned and operated
by Mastercard for the daily processing and routing
of financial transactions between Mastercard and
its customers.
Global File Transfer Global File transfer (GFT) provides enterprise-wide
file exchange solutions for Mastercard.
Integrated Product Message (IPM) A format for the processing of clearing activity and
interchange-related activity. The message format
uses a variable-length and variable-format
structure based on the International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) 8583:1993 standard.
International Standard Organization (ISO) An international body that provides standards for
financial transactions and telecommunication
messages.
Mastercard Test Facility (MTF) A production-like test environment for use by all
customers for online testing.
POST A method is used to send data to a server using
APIs. An HTTP method for sending data to a server
using APIs.
Production Bulk File R119: MTF-GCMS Inbound Data.
REST Representational State Transfer. A type of web
service architecture for connecting disparate
computing systems.
TAN Testing Acknowledgment Notification.

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 26
 Glossary
Terms and definitions

Term Definition
Transaction APIs (TAPI) Transaction Application Programming Interfaces.

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 27
 Frequently asked questions

Appendix B Frequently asked questions

This appendix is a sampling of frequently asked questions about Transaction APIs (TAPI).

Transaction APIs FAQs.........................................................................................................................................29

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 28
 Frequently asked questions
Transaction APIs FAQs

Transaction APIs FAQs

About this task

Customers should refer to the Frequently Asked Questions section under Support for
Mastercard Transaction APIs for acquirers on Mastercard Developers. Perform these steps for
developers to access Mastercard Developers to create an account and locate the Mastercard
Transactions APIs for Acquirers page.
About Mastercard Developers
Mastercard Developers is an online portal where developers can view and access Mastercard
payment and payment-related Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

Procedure
1. Go to Mastercard Developers.
Figure 3: Mastercard Developers home page

2. If you are new to Mastercard Developers, select Sign Up.

3. If you have an existing account, select Log In.
4. Navigate to the Mastercard Transaction APIs for Acquirers page.

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 29
 Frequently asked questions
Transaction APIs FAQs

Figure 4: Mastercard Transaction APIs for Acquirers page

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 30
 Related documentation

Appendix C Related documentation

This appendix lists the related documentation that acquirers should read for a fuller understanding of
Transaction APIs (TAPI) and how to implement the product.

Related documentation....................................................................................................................................... 32

© 2025 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.

Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 31
 Related documentation
Related documentation

Related documentation

Refer to the Technical Resource Center (TRC) located on Mastercard Connect® for the following
documents:
• Authorization Manual
• Chargeback Guide
• Customer Interface Specification
• Dual Message System Release Documents
• GCMS Parameter Table Layouts
• Global Clearing Management System Reference Manual
• IPM Clearing Formats
• Mastercard Transaction Calculator Product Guide
• Mastercard Cloud Edge Product Guide
• Mastercard Co-Lo Edge Product Guide
• Mastercard Rules
• M-TIP Process Guide
• Real-Time Clearing Product Guide Global
• Transaction Processing Rules
• Pricing and Billing Resource Center on Mastercard Connect
Refer to Mastercard Developers for the additional Transaction APIs resources:
• Reference Application for an example to get you started
• Use Cases for additional details on how the Transaction APIs work
• Tutorials and Guides for additional guidance

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 32
 Notices

Notices
Following are policies pertaining to proprietary rights, trademarks, translations, and details
about the availability of additional information online.

Proprietary Rights
The information contained in this document is proprietary and confidential to Mastercard
International Incorporated, one or more of its affiliated entities (collectively “Mastercard”), or
both.
This material may not be duplicated, published, or disclosed, in whole or in part, without the
prior written permission of Mastercard.

Trademarks
Trademark notices and symbols used in this document reflect the registration status of
Mastercard trademarks in the United States. Consult with the Global Customer Service team or
the Mastercard Law Department for the registration status of particular product, program, or
service names outside the United States.
All third-party product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective owners.
EMV® is a registered trademark of EMVCo LLC in the United States and other countries. For
more information, see http://www.emvco.com.

Disclaimer
Mastercard makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, with respect
to the contents of this document. Without limitation, Mastercard specifically disclaims all
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Mastercard provides any translated document to its customers “AS IS” and makes no
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damages resulting from reliance on any translated document. The English version of any
Mastercard document will take precedence over any translated version in any legal proceeding.

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 33
 Notices

Information Available Online

Mastercard provides details about the standards used for this document, including times
expressed, language use, and contact information, on the Technical Resource Center (TRC). Go
to the Rules collection of the References section for centralized information.

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Transaction APIs for Acquirers—Product Guide • 11 February 2025 34