Authorize in milliseconds, account for every swipe
Run the full card lifecycle (authorization, capture, reversal, refund) on a ledger fast enough for the auth window and exact enough for the network files.
The auth window does not wait for your database
Card programs live and die on balance checks under one second.
An authorization must check and hold funds inside the network's window, then survive captures that arrive days later, partial reversals, and settlement files that never quite match. Most home-built ledgers fail on both speed and truth.
Authorization checks race against the network window, and latency spikes decline good transactions.
Captures, partial captures, and reversals arrive late and out of order, corrupting balances.
Interchange, program fees, and BIN sponsor splits are hard-coded and unauditable.
Network settlement files reconcile against internal records by hand, at month-end.
_PROOF/ Card programs run authorization balances on Formance, with holds and captures modeled natively.
From swipe to settled, one lifecycle
Authorization holds, capture settles, reversal releases, atomically.
The swipe posts a hold against available balance, the capture settles the exact amount and splits fees, and reversals release cleanly. Network settlement reconciles continuously against what the ledger already knows.
The primitives issuers need
Built on the open-source Formance ledger.
Low-latency balance checks, a native card lifecycle, and declarative fee splits, composed for issuing programs.
Balance checks and holds fast enough for the network auth window, at thousands of transactions per second.
in-window auth
Holds, captures, partial captures, reversals, and refunds as native patterns, consistent even when events arrive out of order.
out-of-order safe
Interchange, program fees, and sponsor shares modeled declaratively in Numscript, captured at settlement by construction.
declarative splits
Read the Numscript docsMatch network settlement files against ledger state continuously, surfacing breaks the day they happen.
file-level matching
Issuing-grade, by design
Capture settles the hold, splits the fees
One transaction closes the loop the swipe opened.
Capture settles the merchant amount from the hold, routes interchange and program fees to their accounts, and releases any remainder to the cardholder, atomically.
Trusted by builders
“Formance enabled us to ship new lending products faster by providing a customizable foundation that let us reliably express the complexities of our flow of funds.”
Embedded finance · reconciliation across 14 countries
See customer story
“Formance is the foundation of our Financial OS, the open-source approach lets us retain control over this key component.”
Healthcare · Financial OS
“Formance helped us kick off our move into fintech, with robust infrastructure and intuitive developer tooling.”
Benefits · fintech infrastructure
Built for regulated money.
Enterprise controls, the certifications auditors ask for, and an immutable record, out of the box.
09:41:07Z AUDIT gateway POST /api/ledger/v2/main/transactions 200 sub:ops@acme.io
09:41:09Z LOG id:4093 NEW_TRANSACTION ledger:main
09:41:12Z LOG id:4094 SET_METADATA ledger:main
09:41:15Z LOG id:4095 REVERTED_TRANSACTION ledger:main
09:41:18Z AUDIT gateway GET /api/ledger/v2/main/logs 200 sub:audit@acme.io
Keep going
Everything you need to evaluate and build on Formance.
Card issuing, answered
01 / IS IT FAST ENOUGH FOR THE AUTH WINDOW?
Yes: balance checks and holds execute in milliseconds at thousands of transactions per second, sustained, so latency never declines a good swipe.
02 / WHAT ABOUT PARTIAL CAPTURES AND REVERSALS?
The lifecycle is modeled natively: a hold can settle in parts, reverse in parts, and expire: every path posts deterministically, even out of order.
03 / HOW ARE INTERCHANGE AND PROGRAM FEES HANDLED?
Splits are declared in Numscript and captured at settlement in the same atomic transaction, auditable per swipe, not reconstructed at month-end.
04 / CAN WE RECONCILE NETWORK SETTLEMENT FILES?
Yes. Files from the network and BIN sponsor normalize through Connectivity and match continuously against ledger state, with breaks flagged immediately. And agent card programs (single-use, scoped credentials on the network standards) are a natural fit for the same lifecycle: one funded account per agent, ledger-enforced budgets, transaction-level attribution back to the agent and task.
Issue on a ledger that makes the window
See how Formance fits your card program: book a demo or start building.