Merchant Brand Controls

Granular Spending Controls

All Airwallex transactions contain Merchant Brands and Categories, which can be used to manage allowable purchases on your cards by categories or merchant brands.

• Control by Merchant Brand: To restrict spending to specific companies (e.g., "Allow Uber"), use the allowed_merchant_brand_ids parameter. You can look up specific merchants and retrieve their IDs using the Merchant Brand Search API API.
• Control by Category Type: To restrict spending based on the category of the transaction regardless of the merchant (e.g., "Allow all Transport"), you can use the Category or Subcategory codes for even more granular control.

When would you prefer to use Categories?

Merchant Categorization is transaction-based, distinct from the merchant entity. This is critical because a single Merchant Brand may operate multiple lines of business.

• Example: A transaction at Costco (Merchant Brand) is not automatically classified under a single label.
  • If the transaction occurs at the fuel pump, it may be classified under Service Stations.
  • If the transaction occurs inside the warehouse, it may be classified under Supermarkets and Other Grocery Stores.

By using the category codes, your controls automatically adapt to the specific context of the transaction. If you prefer to allow ALL transactions from Costco, then you can use Merchant Brand instead of Categories.

Implementing Card Controls

You can use the table below to configure the allowed_merchant_brand_categories and allowed_merchant_brand_subcategories parameters when creating or updating card controls.

⚠️ Important Integration Note: When configuring card controls, you must strictly use the Category Code and Subcategory Code. Do not rely on the string names (e.g., "Credits and Loans") for business logic, as these labels are subject to change in future versions.

The table below outlines the complete hierarchy of Categories and Subcategories used to classify transactions associated with specific Merchant Brands.

Category Reference Table