Bank Identification Numbers (BIN) uniquely identify networks and issuers. A permanent supply of BINs is necessary to ensure a sustainable and secure payments ecosystem. With the exponential growth in digital payments, the number of card users has increased, and this, in turn, is leading to a shortage of BINs. Hence, the International Standards Organization (ISO) has amended the existing standard from six-digit to eight-digit BIN.
Effective with their April 2022 releases, Visa and Mastercard will begin supporting 8-digit issuing BINs in accordance with the transition announced by ISO. The card networks’ approach is as follows:
- Issuers will only receive 8-digit BINs for new BIN requests as of April 2022
- 6-digit BINs will no longer be assigned after April 2022
- Issuers are not mandated to adopt the 8-digit BIN standard
What is the impact of this change?
It will become increasingly difficult to rely on 6-digit BINs for authorization and transaction clearing. This effect might not be immediate but will become evident when 8-digit BINs become the norm. Issuers are not mandated to make any changes as of April 2022, and the processing will not be affected. They may set their own timeline for when to expand their BINs and can even manage a mixed portfolio. However, 6-digit BIN licencing fees will increase beginning of 2023.
How to address it?
As both six- and eight-digit BINS will be in use after April 2022, Netcetera has already updated its 3DS ACS to operate on six- as well as eight-digit BINS. We are supporting our 3DS Issuer customers in their planning to begin eight-digit issuance to re-arrange their existing Bin ranges. We will take care that the appropriate integration of the new eight-digit card portfolios from the Issuers will be properly stored in the ACS.
We are making sure that the Netcetera 3DS Issuer Service is complying with the ISO 8-digit BIN standard and that our systems and processes are 8-digit capable.
Contact us now to start planning your transition and migration.