Advanced Cards and Payments domain knowledge

The Payment networks that carry billions of transactions between merchants, processors and banks are truly modern marvels. In just a matter of seconds, your payment passes information to a processor, to the card network and finally, the issuing bank for approval. Knowing the lay of the land will help you better identify where to improve your business.Find out how much you really know with our advanced brain teaser (Hint: you really need to know your stuff here)
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1. What purpose do “Network management” messages serve

Alert, Process, Terminate

Authorise, Clear, Transact

Echo, Keep alive, Key exchange

Establish, Process, Terminate

2. In a typical ‘ATM’ day which of the following message exchanges would one expect to see? (Select all that apply)

ATM receives x800 to start and request the encryption key (Master Key Exchange)

ATM sends X100 messages for Balance Inquiries and X200 messages for cash withdrawal, over the course of the day

ATM receives X600 messages to check the total Cash Value available during the day, and an X500 reconciliation message at the end of the day, containing the total daily activity

None of the Above

3. What does the X800/X801 ISO 8583 message set Indicate?

System initialization or shutdown

A Network management message

A system audit controls notification

All of the Above

4. How is the “Balance enquiry” message related to the “Payment advice” message, during a typical Card transaction exchange?

Payment advice follows the Balance enquiry message

Balance enquiry message follows the Payment advice

Neither, these are separate transactions

None of the Above

5. The first (leading) digit of the IIN, sometimes referred to as the “bank identification number (BIN), is known as the ___________ of the card issuer.

Major industry identifier (MII)

Issuer identifier number (IIN)

Individual account identification (IAN

Check Digit Number (CDN)

6. When does an X220/X221 ISO 8583 message set Indicate?

Request from a point-of-sale terminal for Merchant staff to retain and destroy the card

Declined Transaction followed by a presentment message to cancel the transaction

Failed Transaction, due to communication and/or software errors between the Host and the Gateway

A financial accumulation presentment message to complete a transaction, usually used in combination with an X100 message.

7. What is PAN Truncation?

PAN truncation replaces the numbers on the customers statement with encrypted digits to prevent fraud

PAN truncation is an anti-fraud measure available on some credit-card-processing point of sale (POS) terminals to mask the identity of the CardHolder

PAN truncation is a measure to combat credit card fraud (and debit card fraud), by replacing the card number printed on a customer receipt with a printout of only the last four digits, the remainder being replaced usually by asterisks

All of the Above

8. The PCI DSS standard dictates that only the ___________ digits of the PAN may be printed on a receipt

Second two and last four

First four and last six

First eight

first six and last four digits

9. The final digit in the IIN (issuer identification number), is a check digit of the IIN calculated using the ___________

Luhn algorithm

ISO/IEC 7812 Algorithm

ISO Register Algorithm

Einstein Algorithm

10. When does an X400/X401 ISO 8583 message set Indicate?

A reversal message (The partial or complete cancellation of the effects of a previous authorization (X100), financial Transaction Message)

A Test Message Set confirming Comms between the Host and the Gateway

Both A and B

Neither A nor B

11. When swiping a card on POS (Point-of-Sale) terminal, which magnetic track(s) is/are read?

Track 1

Track 2

Track 1 and Track 2

Track 3 and Track 4

12. What is an “APDU” on a payment acceptance device, like a POS or ATM, and what does it do?

It stands for “Application Preset Device Unit” that processes preset Transactions, between the bank switch and the network

It stands for “Ancillary Network Display Utility” and is the backup screen on an ATM device

It stands for “All Play Dumb Until”, and is that part of the System that never gets any messages, until requested by the backup system.

It stands for “Application Protocol Data Unit” and is the communication unit between a smart card reader and a card

13. What is the purpose of the field DE52 (PIN block) code?

Allows card Acquirer to decrypt Pin

Allows the card issuer to decypher PIN data and validate the card holder

Allows Visa to identify Customer

Allows MasterCard to view your purchase

14. The PAN (Primary Account Number) is composed of a number identifying the cardholder and the card issuer and comprises ____________

The Issuer Identification Number (IIN), or the first 6 digits

A variable length (up to 12 digits) individual account identifier

A single check digit calculated using the Luhn algorithm.

All of the Above

15. What does the X600/X601ISO 8583 message set Indicate?

An Administrative message and response

A Notification message that Indicates the previous message should contain Alpha-Numeric characters but only contains Numeric characters

An Error Message indicating the System is offline or out of Control and response

A terminal failure notification. Notifies the administrator that the terminal is off-line and response

16. What purpose does the sending of a bitmap serve in a ISO8583 message?

Indicates the presence of particular field

Indicates the absence of particular field

Indicates the relevance of particular field

Indicates the applicability of particular field

17. What type of information does the field DE55 indicate?

Indicates an EMV Data Termination (When terminal is faulty)

Indicates an EMV data field, the result of communication between payment terminal and Chip card

Indicates a CUPS Null Transaction Code

Indicates a Successful Test

18. What is a PAN number and what purpose does it serve?

The first six numbers that are embossed and/or encoded on a card that identifies the Card Issuer (IIN)

The 3 digit number that is printed on the back of the card and used to verify the cardholder during a transaction

The number that is embossed and/or encoded on a plastic card that identifies the Merchant Acquirer and the Scheme (eg. Visa)

The number that is embossed, printed and/or encoded on a plastic card that identifies the issuer and the particular cardholder account.

19. What does an ISO Standard X100/X101 message set indicate?

A fraudulent Transaction and acknowledgement message

A declined Transaction and information response message

An approval or guarantee of funds given by the card issuer to the acquirer, and corresponding response message

An Invalid Transaction and acknowledgement response message

20. Which of the following are PAN Entry modes?

Manual PAN entry

Magnetic card swipe

ICC (Chip Cards)

All of the Above

21. When does an X200/X201 message set and response indicate

Enter PIN followed by a presentment message to Start Again

A financial message and response commonly used to complete transaction, ie to transfer the money from one account to another.

Failed Transaction Request, followed by a PIN block confirmation instruction

None of the Above

22. If the field DE4 (Amount) is set to ‘000000001234’, and field DE49 (Currency code) is set to ‘840’. Which of the following statements is Correct?

Indicates a Transaction value of $GBP123.50, based on actual rate exchange of 1:1

Indicates a Transaction value of $USD12.34

This is a trick question – “840” is an ISO country code

Indicates a Transaction value of €1234.00, based on the preferential mid-market exchange rate

23. When does an X300/X301ISO 8583 message set Indicate?

A file action message used to Add/Change/Delete or Replace an existing File or Perform a File Inquiry or Card Administration function

An International Funds Movement Message Set Inquiry and Confirmation

A reversal message is the partial or complete cancellation of the effects of a previous authorization (x100), financial

A Test Message Set confirming Comms between the Host and the Gateway

24. When does an X420/X421ISO 8583 message set Indicate?

A Cancellation Advice Message

A notification and acknowledgement that the initial transaction failed, usually seen following a failed authorization (x100) or financial transaction (x200).

A reversal advice message

The staff have gone home and cannot process the transaction

25. Which EMV card field contains the PAN (Primary Account Number)?

Field 1

Field 2 (If the field is missing and the message contains data element 35, the PAN can also be read from there)

Field 44

Field 13

26. Which of the following message sets would one usually expect to see in the course of a Phone Recharge Transaction?

X100 message to the bank to authorise the transaction and verify the amount availability

X200 message to the mobile phone company to increase the phone account balance.

x220 to the bank to complete the transaction, or x420 to the bank to cancel the authorisation if the x200 failed.

All of the Above

27. What response code would you expect to see in response to a DE39 code, that indicates ‘Issuer or switch inoperative’?

28. What is the ‘Original Data Elements’ field (ISO-defined data element #90) used for, when tracking Financial Transactions?

A field with the Name of the Card Holder, used by the merchant to identify a customer

A field with the Address of the Card Holder, used by the merchant to identify a customer

A field with the code used to track customers financial payments for fraud detection

A field used for linking financial messages, so these can be clearly identified in the acquirer’s payment system

29. Which type of Messages are contained in field DE2 (PAN)?

Transaction messages that are missing either Sender or Recipient details

Unknown or missing information messages including reconciliation and management messages

Transaction messages with a payment impact e.g payment, balance enquiry or transaction reversal messages

Fraudulent, Risky or Unidentified Transaction messages

30. What information is contained in Field 49 (ISO 4217)

There is no such ISO Standard or value

Alpha Values only

Numeric Values Only

The local currency of the acquirer or source location of the transaction

31. When does an X200/X401 ISO 8583 message set Indicate?

Transaction (x200), or financial transaction and presentment message that it that has been intercepted or corrupted by hackers or a “Man in the Middle” attack

Transaction (x200), or financial transaction advice and response message (X401) indicating that the transaction cannot be processed as instructed

Transaction (x200), and abandonment message (X401) because there are to many errors in both the Transaction and the confirmation message to carry on

There is not enough information in the Transaction Request (X200), and the corresponding deletion confirmation presentment (X401)

32. What is an open API and what purpose does it serve?

Application Programming Interface. An piece of software that provides developers with programmatic access to a proprietary software application or web service

Any Program Instructor. An piece of software that provides developers with programmatic access to a proprietary software application or web service

Allowed Payment Instruction. A piece of software that provides developers with payment access to bank software

All Policy Interface. A piece of software that controls what developers can and can’t do when accessing bank systems

33. What Information does the X500/X501 ISO 8583 message set contain?

The Total Profit Made by the Bank at the end of the Day

The Total Transaction Value processed by the Bank at the end of the Day

A Notification Message exchange of the Total Exchange between two instititions e.g. Sent at the end of the day

A reconciliation message with the exchange of totals between two institutions. e.g. sent at the end of the day.

34. Which services are provided by a payment switch

Transaction routing

Security validation

Terminal & Merchant management

Monitoring, Event management

35. What does the acronym STAN represent, when referring to payments?

STAN- System Tested and Normal

STAN – Set To (a) Null (Used when reversing Transactions)

STAN – System Trace Audit Number

STAN – The process name is derived from Stan Turner, who defined ISO8583 standards

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