Is Your Card Network (Scheme) Compliance Strategy Costing You Six Figures?

Most issuers and acquirers still treat card network compliance as a back-office obligation.

That approach is increasingly risky.

Visa and Mastercard, the world’s largest card networks (often referred to as card schemes outside the US), now release hundreds of rule, fee, and monitoring updates each year. Many of these changes carry direct implications for technology, operations, fraud controls, finance, and product design.

Yet in many institutions, compliance processes have not evolved to match this reality.

Why card network compliance has become more complex

Card network compliance is no longer limited to:

• Rulebook adherence

• Deadline tracking

• Periodic attestations

Network updates now frequently introduce:

• New fee structures

• Revised monitoring thresholds

• Technical implementation requirements

• Changes to dispute, fraud, or authorization behavior

These updates are operational by nature, even when they arrive labeled as “compliance.”

Institutions that fail to recognize this shift tend to fall into reactive patterns.

Common compliance operating models that create risk

In many issuers and acquirers, card network compliance still looks like this:

• Network updates stored in shared folders

• Tracking managed through spreadsheets

• Interpretation handled independently by siloed teams

This creates a compliance model that is:

• Slow

• Opaque

• Reactive

And that is where cost begins to accumulate.

The real cost of reactive card network compliance

Direct penalties and assessments

Visa and Mastercard impose non-compliance assessments when requirements are missed or remediation is delayed.

These penalties:

• Often begin around $5,000 per instance

• Can escalate beyond $100,000

• May recur monthly until corrective action is completed

In some cases, multiple findings stack simultaneously.

Hidden network/ scheme fees

New fee categories are frequently introduced through network communications and program updates.

Examples include:

• Issuer “never-approve” fees

• Program-level assessments tied to monitoring initiatives

• Fees triggered by operational behavior rather than explicit violations

When these updates are missed or misunderstood, fees can quietly accumulate without clear attribution.

Operational disruption and elevated scrutiny

Reactive compliance also creates downstream operational impact:

• Delayed or rushed IT implementations

• Outdated dispute or fraud workflows

• Repeated network findings during reviews

Over time, this increases oversight and can push institutions into elevated risk classifications with the networks.

The strategic shift: treating compliance as protection, not overhead

Leading institutions are moving away from spreadsheet-driven compliance toward a proactive, intelligence-driven operating model.

The goal is no longer just to meet deadlines.

It is to:

• Anticipate impact

• Coordinate execution

• Reduce surprises

• Control cost

This requires a fundamental shift in how network updates are handled.

Three capabilities high-performing institutions build

1. Early detection and impact foresight

Network updates must be:

• Ingested promptly

• Interpreted in context

• Routed early enough for technology, operations, product, risk, and finance teams to plan effectively

Late awareness is one of the biggest drivers of cost.

2. Automated ownership and tracking

Each update needs:

• A clearly accountable owner

• Visibility into progress and dependencies

• Escalation when timelines slip

Manual tracking almost always breaks at scale.

3. Centralized audit and compliance readiness

A single system of record allows institutions to:

• Demonstrate compliance decisively

• Reduce audit friction

• Respond quickly to network inquiries

• Avoid recreating history during reviews

This is as much about operational confidence as it is about compliance.

Why structured compliance lowers cost

When card network compliance is treated as a strategic capability:

• Penalties are avoided

• Fees are surfaced earlier

• Operational rework declines

• Network relationships improve

The result is a more resilient payments organization, not just a compliant one.

The bottom line

Card network compliance is no longer administrative.

It is operational, financial, and strategic.

Institutions that continue to rely on spreadsheets and informal workflows often pay for it quietly, in penalties, fees, and disruption.

Those that modernize gain visibility, control, and leverage.

If your organization is rethinking how it manages Visa and Mastercard compliance, monitoring programs, or network fees, it may be time to reassess the operating model behind it.

Are you still managing mission-critical network updates through spreadsheets?

How is your organization evolving its approach to card network compliance?