Co-badging
Also known as: Co-badged card, Dual-brand card
Co-badging is when one card carries two or more payment brands, typically a domestic scheme plus an international one. Under Article 8 of the EU Interchange Fee Regulation the card cannot be locked to one brand: the merchant may set a default, and the payer can override it.
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Example
A debit card shows a domestic debit brand and an international brand. At the terminal the shop's default is the cheaper route, but if the customer asks for the other brand, the shop has to let them.
A customer taps. The terminal picks a network. Unless someone set it up, nobody chose it.
That is co-badging. One piece of plastic, or one wallet token, carries two payment brands. In Europe the usual pair is a domestic scheme and an international one: Cartes Bancaires with a Visa or Mastercard brand in France (the Banque de France says cardholders with a co-badged card can choose the network), the girocard with a Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit brand in Germany, BANCOMAT (formerly PagoBANCOMAT) with an international brand in Italy. The second brand lets the card work where the domestic scheme is not accepted, which is often abroad.
Who decides the brand
Article 8(6) of the Interchange Fee Regulation sets the rule. Schemes, issuers, acquirers and technical providers may not insert "automatic mechanisms, software or devices on the payment instrument or at equipment applied at the point of sale" that limit the choice of brand or application by the payer or the payee on a co-badged instrument. The payee keeps one right. It can install automatic mechanisms in its point-of-sale equipment that make a priority selection of a brand or application. It must not prevent the payer from overriding that priority.
So the order is: the shop sets a default, the customer has the last word.
What it changes for a merchant
Each brand has its own scheme fees, and the routing can change what a payment costs the acquirer and so the merchant. That is why the default is worth setting on purpose, and why it must be set on the payment terminal and not assumed.
Contactless adds a wrinkle. Banca d'Italia's consumer guide says that on a contactless payment the terminal "may choose automatically" one of the two circuits, while for other payments the shop should normally follow the customer's preference. Check how your terminal handles the override.
The rule protects the customer's choice. The default is yours to set.
