Can a merchant choose the card brand on co-badged cards in France?

The merchant can set a preferred brand on co-badged cards, for example Cartes Bancaires or Visa. Under the EU Interchange Fee Regulation, the cardholder keeps the right to choose another brand at checkout. A checkout that applies this rule per country lets an operator serve French merchants without each merchant rebuilding its payment form.

Co-badging in France

Most French cards carry two brands: the domestic scheme Cartes Bancaires and Visa or Mastercard. Each brand has its own interchange, scheme fees and acceptance rules. Which brand processes the payment affects the merchant's cost and sometimes the approval rate.

What the regulation says

• The EU Interchange Fee Regulation lets the merchant set a preferred brand for co-badged cards at checkout.
• The cardholder keeps the right to override that preference and choose another brand.
• The checkout must present the choice in a way the cardholder can see and use.

How a platform applies it

The preference is set per merchant and per country, in the checkout configuration, and the hosted page applies it automatically: it defaults to the preferred brand and shows the alternative. Operators serving French merchants handle this once at platform level, rather than each merchant rebuilding its payment form and keeping up with the rule. Reporting then shows volume per brand, which helps merchants and operators measure the cost effect of the preference and adjust it.