About us

promote the interoperability of card payments
ensure the development, evolution and use of common standards
protect the interests of its member organizations

Nexo standards
nexo standards enables fast, interoperable and borderless payments acceptance by standardising the exchange of payment acceptance data between merchants, acquirers, payment service providers and other payment stakeholders. nexo’s messaging protocols and specifications adhere to ISO20022 standards, are universally applicable and are freely available globally.
 
 
nexo standards is an open, global association dedicated to removing the barriers present in today’s fragmented global card payment acceptance ecosystem. Headquartered in Brussels, its members represent the full spectrum of card payments stakeholders, including acceptors, processors, card schemes, payment service providers and vendors. 
Our Philosophy: WORKING ON BEHALF OF ALL CARD PAYMENT STAKEHOLDERS

nexo standards has been the very first organization to design and develop card payment messages based on ISO 20022 .
The delivery of universal standard and protocols messages ensure the interoperability of different equipment and payment systems, internationally.

nexo standards was established in 2014, when three historical contributors of card payment standards and specifications were merged: EPASOrg, the OSCar consortium and the CIR SEPA-Fast technical working group.

 

nexo standards is at the origin of the entire ISO 20022 standardization process for card payments and its membership base includes,
Acceptors, Processors, Card Schemes, Payment Service Providers and Vendors.

Nexo Goals

Promote the interoperability of card payment transactions – Through design and development of common card payment protocols; interoperability of components and systems through standardized protocol interfaces; adoption of a universal ISO procedure.

Ensure the development, evolution and use of common standards – Through involvement of all actors of the card payment value chain; adherence to a high level of security, notably through a universal ISO security syntax.

Strengthen the commitment to open, common and universal standards – Through adoption of ISO 20022 as the preferred universal way of developing worldwide standards.

Our Value

INTEROPERABILITY
By bringing together industry experts to develop open and common standards and implementation guidelines.

INNOVATION
By designing innovative and state-of-the-art message formats based on the functional and security requirements of the industry.

SECURITY
By protecting key elements of the transaction value chain through secure cryptographic mechanisms.

UNIVERSALITY
By issuing royalty-free standards leading to an open market for card payments worldwide.

Our Commitments

TO DESIGN
Develop and maintain common card acceptance standards protocols and specifications based on universal ISO accreditation

TO DELIVER
Common implementation guidelines to ensure full interoperability

TO PROVIDE
Test cases and tools helping implementers to evaluate their compliance with specifications

TO VALIDATE
Implementation thereby ensuring faster approval and deployment to market

TO PROMOTE
The universal use of nexo standards and specifications

TO SUPPORT
Users implementing nexo standards and specifications

"building the future of card payment harmonization
needs a team that together creates
efficient, consistent and interoperable  standards"

Claude Brun, Chairman

Governance
Mr
Claude
Brun
CAISSE FEDERALE DE CREDIT MUTUEL

Chairman
of the board of directors

Mr
Jacques
Soussana
Nexo standards

General Secretary
of nexo organisation

Mr
Kurt
Gjesten
PNA CARD SERVICE AB

Treasurer
of nexo organisation

Boards of directors

ACCEPTORS

MARKET PAY (Carrefour Group) Isabelle Clairac
GROUPE AUCHAN Frédéric Jeannin
TOTAL MARKETING SERVICES François Mezzina
SNCF Anne-Valérie Bouvier
ACCOR HOTEL SERVICES Matthieu Le Louer

CARDS SCHEMES

CONSORZIO BANCOMAT TBA
EURO KARTENSYSTEME GMBH Karl Matl
GROUPEMENT DES CARTES BANCAIRES TBA
MASTERCARD Esteban Martin
VISA EUROPE SERVICES INC Agnes Revel

VENDORS

ACI WORLDWIDE Sylvie Boucheron-Saunier
INGENICO Stéphane Jacquis
SRC SECURITY RESEARCH & CONSULTING GMBH Regine Quentmeier
VERIFONE David Campoy

PAYMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS

AMERICAN EXPRESS PAYMENT SERVICES Jean Diacono
CREDIT MUTUEL Claude Brun
NATEXIS Jean-Luc Thérond
POSTE ITALIANE Antonio Bracaglia

PROCESSORS

CREDIT AGRICOLE CARDS AND PAYMENTS Olivier Julou
EQUENSWORLDLINE Monique Dijkmans
FDR LTD Steve Robinson
GET INVOLVED IN DESIGNING CARD PAYMENT INTEROPERABILITY IN OUR WORKING GROUPS

The Technical Steering Committee determines the Terms of Reference, the composition and the mandate duration of Working Groups.
Once a member of the nexo organization, businesses could get involved in one or as many working groups they wish to.
By getting involved in the working group, they could share their expertise and make sure protocols and specifications enhancement would meet the market needs.
Task Forces are created under the leadership and supervision of the relevant Working Group(s).

technical steering committee

supervising all working groups

Nexo Acquirer protocol

Acceptor-to-acquirer protocol enhancements

nexo Retailer protocol

ECR-to-POI protocol enhancements

nexo TMS protocol

TMS-to-POI protocol enhancements

nexo ATM protocol

ATM protocol enhancements

nexo implementation specification

implementation specifications and test cases

nexo fast specifications

DEVELOPING POI SPECIFICATIONS

Technical support group

MANAGING CHANGE REQUEST AND SUPPORT

Principal members

Associate members

Observers

nexo standards: What’s behind the name

A card payment standardization initiative covering the card payment and withdrawal value chain
A rather « young » organization inheriting the developments of 3 predecessor organizations

OSCar – Open Standards for Cards

The OSCar project was launched in order to foster the development of SEPAwide POI solutions implementing:

The SEPA-FAST payment application specified by the CIR

The EPAS ISO20022 Acquirer / TMS protocol specified by EPASOrg

Packaged in the OSCar Integration Specification (OIS) as an efficientalternative to the legacy, country or scheme specific, POI payment solutions

 

SEPA-FAST

 SEPA-FAST for SEPA “Financial Application Specification for SCSVolume Compliant Terminals"

The aim of the SEPA-FAST Technical Working Group is to harmonized technical specifications for EMV implementations for any card-based paymentsystem.

Starting in 2007, the SEPA-FAST Technical Working Group working for the European Payments Council (EPC) Cards Working Group as Identified Initiative for the Card-to-Terminal and Cardholder-to-Terminal standardization domains. The Functional Requirements in the European Payments Council(EPC), SEPA Cards Standardization "Volume" are based on the input of the SEPA-FAST Technical Working Group.

EPAS.org

 In 2005, at the initiative and under the coordination of Groupement des Cartes Bancaires (CB)in France, a group of card schemes, acquirers, retailers, and payment solution providers belong ingto the card payment value chain, set up a consortium to address the interaction between electronic payment terminals and other systems in the card transaction ecosystem. That group was the predecessor to what is now EPASOrg.

The consortium started by defining three main protocols to be used in a POI (Point of Interaction) environment: 

The Acquirer protocol, The TMS protocol, The Retailer protocol

By fall 2005, the members of the consortium endorsed a Consortium Agreement,modelled on the framework of an Information Technology for European Advancement (ITEA) European research program. Over the next three years, work continued on the definition of the EPAS protocols, with an iterative revision process enabling state-of-the art technology and security requirements to be incorporated into the specifications.

From its inception, the EPAS initiative has developed its project with a clear aim to enable card payment industry stakeholders to benefit from the extensive expertise of the EPAS consortium and later EPASOrg in the implementation of concrete projects.

 

Why nexo ?
Francois Mezzina
TOTAL MARKETING SERVICES
Interview