What is a “Sponsoring Bank?”

A Sponsoring Bank is a Chartered Bank or Savings & Loan that has obtained membership in Visa or Master Card in order to allow a Processor access to the Visa and Master Card networks (in order to process these types of transactions).

-Since only a Bank may join Visa or Master Card, many Processors make deals with a Sponsoring Bank in order to gain access to the Visa and Master Card networks.

-Because these Sponsoring agreements are usually like a partnership, the line between the Sponsoring Banks and their Processors is not always clear; sometimes the partnership is referred to by the name of the bank, while other times they are referred to by the name of the Processor.

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