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Enfuce receives clearing files from the card Schemes that contain transaction data submitted by acquirers. We validate these transactions, match them with previously authorised transactions and prepare them for posting. The clearing information is then forwarded to the ledger in clearing file copies.

Card schemes process transactions in batches and publish indicative processing schedules, but actual timings vary.
  • Visa processes transactions once or twice per day (region-specific).
  • Mastercard processes transactions four to six times per day, excluding Sundays.

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Ledger’s Responsibilities

The ledger must process the financial transactions, including the following:
  • Release previously held amount, reserved from the authorisation messages of the payment.
  • Book the transaction.approvedAmount on the account.
  • Update the cardholder’s account balance.
  • Merchants and acquirers must submit clearing transactions within the valid authorisation timeframe; however, in practice clearing might still occur after the authorisation has expired. In such a scenario, the transaction is still processed, but the cardholder retains the right to dispute it (if appropriate).
  • Enfuce honours all valid clearing messages received from the card Schemes, regardless of the original authorisation status.
  • In addition, some times clearing transactions might be received without a corresponding authorisation (for example, specific merchant flows or exceptions). These transactions are still processed according to the Scheme rules.

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Enfuce’s Responsibilities

When we receive the financial transactions from the Scheme, we perform the following:
  • Identify the corresponding authorisation messages and accordingly specify the correct transactionId.
  • Save the message in our platform.
  • Transform the message into the clearing file copy format that is shared with the ledger.

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Clearing File Copy Data Delivery

The clearing file copy is made available directly on an SFTP server, after we have received the financial information from the Scheme and processed the data. JSON and Avro are the supported file formats.

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Authorisation Message Clearing

A simple card payment typically includes an authorisation message followed by a clearing message, where the final billing amount (transaction.billingAmount) is confirmed. However, in real-world scenarios, a transaction may involve multiple clearing messages, especially in cases of partial or split shipments where a single online order is shipped in multiple parts, or where the initial authorisation is followed by incremental authorisations due to additional charges from hotels, fuel stations, or car rental companies. In a clearing file copy, the transaction.clearingStatus parameter indicates whether the specific clearing message is a complete clearance of the corresponding authorisation request or whether additional clearing messages are expected. The enums of transaction.clearingStatus parameter are:
  • CLEARED: Once this clearing message is processed, the corresponding authorisation request is entirely cleared.
  • PARTIALLY_CLEARED: The specific clearing message does not completely clear the final amount to be settled. Other clearing messages are expected to clear the corresponding authorisation requests.
In addition, the partialClearingApplied parameter also indicates whether the transaction was completed in a single operation or whether there were multiple flows.