Closed-Loop Payments Glossary

A payment system where funds can only be spent within a defined ecosystem — one merchant, a group of related merchants, or a specific program.

Open-loop payments (Visa, Mastercard) work across millions of merchants globally. Closed-loop payments work only within a defined ecosystem.

A digital pass stored in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet that represents value (balance, prepaid amount) or access rights (tickets, membership).

Money loaded onto a customer account in advance, to be spent within a specific merchant or ecosystem.

A stored-value payment card, usually for use at a specific merchant or group of merchants.

A redeemable offer stored digitally (email, SMS, or wallet), used for promotions, cross-marketing, event tickets, or targeted discounts.

A business-controlled prepaid or spending account, typically distributed to employees or customers of the account owner, often with spending limits.

Business-to-Business-to-Employee. A distribution model where a platform provider works with businesses that in turn provide products or services to their employees.

White-label payment platforms allow banks, PSPs, or businesses to offer payment services under their own brand, using another company's underlying technology.

A Point of Sale hardware device used by merchants to process customer payments, typically issued by an acquiring bank.

Money or credit held in an account or on a card, available for spending within a defined ecosystem.

A fee paid by the merchant's bank to the customer's bank on every card transaction. Set by Visa and Mastercard. Applies to open-loop card payments — not closed-loop.

PassKit is Apple's framework for creating digital passes in Apple Wallet — loyalty cards, gift cards, tickets, boarding passes, and more.

A ready-to-embed JavaScript component that adds "Pay with 7Konto" to a merchant's online checkout, with four one-click authentication methods.

An integration where 7Konto is added as a native payment method inside a payment service provider's existing checkout — so every merchant on that PSP's gateway sees "Pay with 7Konto" automatically, with zero code changes on the merchant side.

Automatic routing at checkout that identifies whether the paying customer has a personal (B2C) balance or a corporate (B2B/B2E) account, and applies the correct rules, limits, and merchant restrictions.