Cardflo for Businesses needing local payment methods.
For high-risk businesses operating internationally, offering local payment methods is essential for market penetration and customer trust. Cardflo provides a comprehensive suite of local payment options, allowing merchants to seamlessly accept payments in various currencies and through preferred regional channels, enhancing conversion across borders.
- Industry
- Businesses needing local payment methods
- Category
- High-risk
- Cardflo support
- Yes
The overview
Local payment methods, often referred to as alternative payment methods or APMs, encompass any form of electronic commerce transaction that does not involve a major international card scheme like Visa or Mastercard.
For high-risk merchants, relying solely on international credit cards often results in high decline rates due to issuer fraud filters and cross-border restrictions.
Integrating regional options such as bank transfers, mobile wallets, and domestic debit schemes allows businesses to align with the behaviour of local consumers. These methods often bypass the traditional interchange and scheme fee structure, potentially reducing the total cost of acceptance.
Within the payments stack, local payment integration sits at the checkout layer, requiring specific routing logic to ensure the correct method is presented based on the customer's geographic IP or BIN.
This approach is particularly critical in regions like Latin America, Southeast Asia, and parts of Europe, where domestic payment networks frequently outperform international cards in terms of authorisation rates and consumer preference.
How it works
Geographic location identification
The payment gateway identifies the customer's location using their IP address or the Bank Identification Number of their card. This data determines which regional payment options are displayed at the checkout.
Proper identification ensures that only relevant, domestic methods are shown to the user, reducing friction during the final steps of the transaction.
Regional method selection
Once the location is established, the system presents specific APMs such as Pix in Brazil, iDEAL in the Netherlands, or Alipay in China.
The merchant must maintain configurations for these methods within their PSP or orchestration layer to ensure that the request is correctly formatted for the specific regional provider's API.
Transaction authorisation and redirect
Many local methods require a redirect where the customer authorises the payment within their own banking environment or digital wallet app. This step satisfies Strong Customer Authentication requirements by default in many jurisdictions.
The merchant receives a pending status from the acquirer or provider until the consumer completes the external authorisation.
Funds settlement and reconciliation
After successful authorisation, the local provider moves funds to the merchant's account, often through a domestic clearing house. These funds are then consolidated by the PSP and settled to the merchant in their preferred base currency.
Reconciliation involves matching these diverse payment types into a single reporting format for the merchant's back-office.
Why it matters
Improved authorisation performance
International card transactions suffer from higher refusal rates due to stringent issuer risk profiles in cross-border scenarios. Local payment methods use domestic rails which are inherently trusted by regional banks.
By utilising these methods, high-risk merchants can see a significant reduction in hard declines and false positives, directly contributing to higher successful conversion rates in specific target territories.
Alignment with consumer behaviour
In many emerging markets, credit card penetration remains low compared to mobile wallets or bank transfer apps. Forcing a card-only checkout can lead to high cart abandonment rates.
Providing domestic methods allows a business to capture a larger share of the addressable market by offering the specific payment instruments that the local demographic uses for everyday purchases and bill payments.
Reduction in chargeback liability
Many local payment methods, particularly push-based bank transfers, do not have a built-in chargeback mechanism similar to card schemes. This shift in liability protects high-risk merchants from the costs associated with friendly fraud and lengthy dispute processes.
While refunds can still be issued, the absence of a formal retrieval and representment cycle provides greater revenue certainty.
Regulatory notes
Regional Licensing and Compliance
Accepting local payments requires adherence to regional financial regulations, such as the Payment Services Directive in the EU or specific central bank requirements in markets like Brazil or India.
Merchants must ensure their PSP is authorised to handle funds in these jurisdictions and that they comply with local Know Your Business (KYB) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards, which may differ from those in the merchant's home country.
Scheme Rules and Data Privacy
Each local payment scheme, whether a bank transfer network or a mobile wallet, operates under its own set of rules regarding transaction limits, refund windows, and data handling.
Merchants must also comply with regional data protection laws, such as GDPR in Europe or LGPD in Brazil, when capturing and transmitting the PII required to initiate these local transactions.
Use cases
Direct-to-consumer digital goods
Subscription services or digital content providers targeting the European market can utilise SEPA direct debit or iDEAL to maintain consistent recurring revenue without relying on card expirations or renewals.
International travel and hospitality
Booking platforms catering to Asian travellers can integrate WeChat Pay and Alipay to facilitate high-value transactions that might otherwise be flagged by western credit card fraud systems.
Cross-border professional services
B2B firms providing specialised consultancy can accept domestic bank transfers in the client's local currency, avoiding expensive wire transfer fees and complex FX spread issues for the payer.
E-commerce expansion in LATAM
Online retailers entering Brazil can offer Pix or Boleto Bancário, allowing them to reach the significant portion of the population that prioritises instant bank transfers over revolving credit.
By the numbers
Typical increase observed by merchants who introduce relevant regional payment options alongside card schemes in fragmented markets.
Industry range for the reduction in dispute volume when shifting from card-based transactions to push-payment bank transfers.
The average percentage of users who fail to complete a purchase if their preferred domestic payment method is unavailable.
Related terms
Book a scoping call to see how Cardflo would set you up.
What's included.
- Support for domestic bank transfer schemes across Europe, Asia, and Latin America regions.
- Integration with major global digital wallets to facilitate fast mobile-first checkout experiences.
- Dynamic currency conversion capabilities to present prices in the customer's native currency.
- Automated routing to local acquirers to minimise cross-border transaction fees and interchange costs.
- Centralised reporting for all payment types to simplify treasury management and financial reconciliation.
- Compliance with regional data privacy and financial regulations such as PSD2 in Europe.
- Lower transaction costs compared to standard international credit card processing in specific markets.
- Support for recurring billing via domestic direct debit and specific regional wallet functionality.
- Reduced exposure to card-specific fraud types by utilising push-payment architectures and bank-level security.
- Customisable checkout interfaces that prioritise methods based on the user's specific geographic profile.
Talk to an acquiring specialist about your MID setup.
Common questions.
What is the difference between an APM and a local payment method?
In the payments industry, these terms are often used interchangeably. An Alternative Payment Method (APM) is defined as any payment type that is not an international credit card brand.
A local payment method is a subset of APMs that are specific to a particular country or region, such as a domestic debit network like Cartes Bancaires in France or a specific bank transfer system like Przelewy24 in Poland.
The distinction is largely semantic, as both aim to provide non-card options to consumers.
How do local payment methods impact my chargeback ratio?
Local payment methods often help lower overall chargeback ratios. Many APMs, particularly bank transfers and some e-wallets, are 'push' payments where the customer must authorise the transfer through their own bank.
This typically makes the transaction final and non-reversible through a standard dispute process. While this reduces the merchant's liability for friendly fraud, it does not exempt them from providing refunds for legitimate consumer complaints or service failures.
Are domestic payment methods subject to PSD2 and SCA regulations?
Yes, if the merchant and the consumer are both located within the European Economic Area, the transaction must comply with PSD2 and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements.
Many local methods, such as iDEAL or Sofort, are inherently SCA-compliant because they require the user to log into their bank account using multi-factor authentication to complete the payment. This can simplify the compliance burden compared to 3D Secure implementations for cards.
Can I settle funds from local methods in my home currency?
Most global PSPs and orchestrators allow for multi-currency settlement.
While a customer may pay using a local method in their domestic currency, the processor can perform the FX conversion and settle the funds to the merchant in a major currency such as GBP, EUR, or USD.
Merchants should be aware of the FX margins and conversion fees applied by the processor when consolidating these diverse revenue streams.
Is a separate Merchant ID (MID) required for each local payment method?
It depends on the architecture of the PSP. Some providers offer a 'master merchant' model where multiple payment methods are aggregated under a single contract and reporting structure.
Other configurations, especially when working directly with domestic acquirers for better rates, may require the business to obtain separate MIDs or specific gateway credentials for each regional scheme to ensure proper tracking and settlement.
Do local payment methods support recurring billing and subscriptions?
Certain domestic methods, such as SEPA Direct Debit in Europe or specific wallet tokens, support recurring payment logic. However, many bank transfer methods are one-time 'push' transactions and do not natively support Merchant Initiated Transactions (MIT).
For subscription models, merchants often use a hybrid approach, favouring card vaulting where possible and using local methods for the initial payment or customer-initiated top-ups.
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