Payment rail
A scheme or network over which payments travel, such as Faster Payments, SEPA, Bacs or card networks.
A payment rail is the scheme that carries a payment between institutions, for example Faster Payments, SEPA, Bacs, ACH or the card networks. Which rails are available depends on the configured providers and the jurisdiction. The same capability can use different rails in different markets without changing the product.
This term is featured on on 8 November 2026.