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Fundamentals of Cards

The P2 Platform acts as an intermediary between the card networks (VISA, Mastercard, Diners, etc.) and an Affiliate operating under a BIN Sponsorship model. Its purpose is to streamline card process management, while simultaneously providing maximum control over the structure of customers, accounts, and their assigned cards.

Before diving into the operational details of card-related processes it is extremely important to outline the relationship between the Card Scheme, the Card Processor, the P2 platform, and the Affiliate and identifying the touchpoints between these parties.

Definition or relationship between Customer, Account and Card​

Before issuing a card (either Credit or Debit), it is necessary to define the context within which it operates. It is essential to define the card owner (the Customer) and the account to which the card is linked (the one managing funds and balances, the Account). Only at the end of this structure is it possible to define the instrument used to execute transactions and payments: the Card.

The following is a typical configuration for customers, accounts and cards:

  • a customer can have one or more accounts (or none in certain scenarios)
  • an account can have one or more cards, and it is always connected to a customer
  • a card is always linked to just one account

There are a few specifications to keep in mind before generating entities and defining their relationships:

  • Customer: can be either an organization (a Legal Entity, such as a company) or a natural person (a Citizen). Due to this distinction, customer attributes vary based on the entity type. Please refer to the API documentation for Creating a Customer for further details.
  • Account: it is always referred to a customer, an defined the "logical card". Can be locked or unlocked, but it always remains immutate even if the card expires, or was lost and replaced.
  • Card: as said, represents the only method that can be used to register a transaction (an expense). It is always referred to an account, but - in some scenarios - can be also linked to a customer that is not the one that holds the account.

To simplify the relationship between the three main entities, you will find a basic configuration below. This example describes a company (ACME Inc.) that maintains a single account to manage its funds. The company has three employees: Mario, Luigi, and Paolo. Each employee has an individual card to cover company-related expenses; therefore, although the cards are explicitly assigned to each employee, they are all linked to the shared account, as shown below: