A card association is a network of issuing bank

Issuing bank

An issuing bank is a bank that offers card association branded payment cards directly to consumers.-Detail:The issuing bank assumes primary liability for the consumer's capacity to pay off debts they incur with their card....

s and acquiring bank

Acquiring bank

An acquiring bank is the bank or financial institution that processes credit and or debit card payments for products or services for a merchant. The term acquirer indicates that the bank accepts or acquires credit card transactions from the card-issuing banks within an association...

s that process payment card

Payment card

The term payment card covers a range of different cards that can be presented by a cardholder to make a payment.-Types:Typically a payment card is backed by an account holding funds belonging to the cardholder, or offering credit to the cardholder. Payment cards can be classified into types...

s of a specific brand.

Examples

Familiar payment card association brands include Visa, MasterCard

MasterCard

Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States...

, American Express

American Express

American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...

, Discover

Discover Card

The Discover Card is a major credit card, issued primarily in the United States. It was originally introduced by Sears in 1985, and was part of Dean Witter, and then Morgan Stanley, until 2007, when Discover Financial Services became an independent company. Novus, a major processing center, used to...

, Diner's Club, and JCB. Visa, MasterCard and American Express issuers co-brand

Co-branding

Co-branding refers to several different marketing arrangements:Co-branding, also called brand partnership, is when two companies form an alliance to work together, creating marketing synergy...

 with their card association. for example, "WellsFargo-Visa" and "Citi-MasterCard".

Statistics

Card associations Visa and MasterCard each comprise over 20,000 card issuing bank

Issuing bank

An issuing bank is a bank that offers card association branded payment cards directly to consumers.-Detail:The issuing bank assumes primary liability for the consumer's capacity to pay off debts they incur with their card....

s .

Among US consumer

Consumer

Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...

s alone, over 600,000,000 payment cards are in circulation .

Worldwide, Visa issuers have over 1.5 billion payment cards in circulation
.