Domestic instant rails

Several central banks have built instant account-to-account rails and priced them at or near cost. India's UPI carries no charge to the payer on ordinary transfers, and Brazil's Pix settles for a fraction of what a card costs a merchant. Neither has to fund interchange, scheme fees or a global card network.

Because they move money directly between bank accounts within one jurisdiction, they avoid nearly every layer a card payment passes through. Their reach is the trade: they stop at the border.

What cards are charging for

A card fee pays for interchange to the issuing bank, a scheme fee to the network, an acquirer's margin, and the cost of a dispute system that can pull money back months later. That last one is a genuine service, and it is most of why card acceptance costs multiples of a domestic transfer.

The practical consequence

If you sell into a market, the local rail is usually the cheapest way to be paid there and often the one buyers prefer. That is an argument for accepting several methods per market rather than one global default, and it is why a comparison that only ranks the international networks will mislead you in most of the world.