Cartes Bancaires

 

Cartes Bancaires (CB) is France’s national card scheme, operated by the GIE Cartes Bancaires consortium and backed by virtually every French bank. With over 80 million cards in circulation, it is the dominant payment instrument in France, covering debit, credit, and prepaid cards issued by French financial institutions. Almost every card issued in France carries both the CB logo and a co-badge from Visa or Mastercard, meaning the transaction can be routed through either network.

That co-badging arrangement has direct commercial implications for merchants. When a French consumer presents a CB-badged card, the PSP or acquirer can route the transaction over the CB network or over Visa or Mastercard. CB interchange rates are typically lower than Visa or Mastercard rates for domestic French transactions, which means routing through CB where possible reduces the merchant’s per-transaction cost. Not all PSPs optimise for this by default, and some route exclusively over the international networks regardless of the card’s domestic CB eligibility. For merchants processing significant French card volume, confirming how your PSP handles CB routing is a straightforward but often overlooked cost optimisation.

For online transactions, CB supports 3DS authentication in line with PSD2 SCA requirements. The scheme also supports contactless payments, mobile wallets including Apple Pay with CB, and recurring payment flows.

PSP support for Cartes Bancaires is broad among major providers operating in Europe, including Adyen, Stripe, Worldline, and others. However, the quality of CB-specific routing optimisation varies considerably between providers. If France is a meaningful market and you are on an interchange-plus pricing model, the CB routing question is worth raising explicitly with your PSP.

Relevant markets: France