What is a Merchant Category Code (MCC)? 2026 Singapore Guide

Key Takeaways:

• A merchant category code (MCC) is a four-digit number that classifies a business by the type of goods or services it sells. It affects everyone in a card transaction, from the cardholder to the business owner.

• If you run a business, your MCC determines the interchange fees you pay, how card networks assess your fraud risk, and which reward categories apply when customers pay by card.

• With Airwallex corporate cards, you can restrict specific MCCs to control where your team spends, giving you tighter oversight without the manual work.

A merchant category code (MCC) is a four-digit number that classifies a business by the type of goods or services it sells.

For Singapore consumers, knowing how MCCs work helps you maximise your card rewards and understand why some purchases don't earn the bonus rates you expected. For business owners, it helps you avoid unexpected fees, dispute a wrong classification, and manage how your team spends on corporate cards.

This guide covers how MCCs work, who assigns them, how to look one up, and what to do if your code is wrong.

Who sets merchant category codes?

MCCs are not assigned arbitrarily. They follow an international standard called ISO 18245, which defines the full list of merchant category codes used in retail financial services. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and other card networks all build their MCC lists from this standard.

In practice, your acquiring bank or payment processor assigns your MCC when you first set up a merchant account. Three parties are involved:

• Card networks (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) —  maintain and publish their own MCC lists based on ISO 18245, defining which codes exist and what each covers.

• Your acquiring bank or payment processor — reviews your business type during onboarding and assigns the MCC that best fits your primary activity.

• You, the merchant — you don't choose your MCC, but you have the right to dispute it if you think it's wrong. More on that later in this guide.

How are merchant category codes used?

Your MCC does more than label your business type.

It feeds directly into four things: how much you pay in interchange fees, how card networks evaluate your fraud risk, which reward categories your customers earn when they pay by card, and how businesses can control employee spending.

Interchange fees

Every time a customer pays you by card, you pay an interchange fee to the cardholder's issuing bank. Your MCC influences how that fee is calculated.

Card networks group MCCs into risk tiers. Businesses in lower-risk categories, such as grocery stores or utilities, typically qualify for lower interchange rates. Businesses in higher-risk categories pay more.

In Singapore, businesses in categories like online gaming, travel, and certain eCommerce services are often classified as higher-risk MCCs. This means higher processing costs per transaction, regardless of your individual business track record.

If you're being charged more than you expected, your MCC classification is one of the first things worth checking.

Want to make sure your MCC isn't costing you more than it should? Airwallex's payment acceptance engine includes smart MCC assignment to help optimise your processing costs and reduce unnecessary declines. Learn more about Airwallex Payments or sign up now.

Credit card rewards

If you're a consumer, your bank uses the merchant's MCC to decide whether a purchase qualifies for bonus rewards. Singapore credit cards frequently define bonus categories (such as dining, transport, overseas spend) by MCC ranges, not by merchant name.

This is why the same spend amount can earn different rewards depending on where you pay:

• A meal paid at a restaurant (MCC 5812) may earn dining bonus points on your card.

• The same amount paid at a food court operated under a different MCC may not.

It also explains why a purchase at a large retailer that sells both groceries and electronics might be coded under a general merchandise MCC rather than a grocery MCC, resulting in lower rewards than expected.

Fraud risk and transaction monitoring

Card networks use MCCs as one signal in their fraud detection systems. Certain MCCs are associated with higher chargeback rates or dispute frequency — money transfer services, for example, or online marketplaces. Transactions from these MCCs may face stricter authentication requirements or additional scrutiny.

For merchants, being assigned a high-risk MCC can also affect your ability to accept certain card types or trigger higher reserve requirements from your payment processor.

Spend controls on corporate cards

For businesses, MCCs are a practical tool for managing employee spending. Most corporate card platforms allow you to block or allow specific MCC categories on individual cards or card groups.

A common example: you might allow MCC 5541 (petrol stations) for drivers on your team while blocking MCC 7995 (gambling) across all cards. You can also restrict cards to a narrow set of MCCs, which is useful for cards issued for a specific business purpose, such as a card only for software subscriptions or only for travel.

This gives finance teams a way to enforce spend policies without reviewing every transaction manually.

Merchant category code ranges

MCCs are grouped into broad industry ranges, each covering a band of four-digit codes. The full list is defined under ISO 18245 and implemented by card networks including Visa and Mastercard.¹

Within each range, individual codes identify more specific business types.

For example, MCC 5812 covers eating places and restaurants, MCC 5411 covers grocery stores and supermarkets, MCC 4121 covers taxicabs and limousines, and MCC 7372 covers computer programming and data processing services.¹

Note: Visa and Mastercard maintain separate MCC lists, both based on ISO 18245. Codes are identical in most cases, but minor variations exist between networks. Contact your acquiring bank or payment processor if you need to confirm your exact code.

How to find your merchant category code

The most reliable way to find your MCC is through your payment processor or your merchant documentation.

Check with your payment processor or acquiring bank

Your payment processor or acquiring bank assigned your MCC when you set up your merchant account. They are your most direct source. Contact their support team and ask specifically: "What MCC is my account registered under?"

Check your merchant agreement

Your MCC is often listed in your merchant agreement or the onboarding paperwork you received when you first set up card acceptance. Check any emails or documents from your payment processor: the MCC is typically included in the account summary section.

For Visa merchants: Use the Visa Supplier Locator

Visa operates a publicly accessible Supplier Locator tool at visa.com/supplierlocator that allows you to search for merchants by MCC or MCC description.

This tool is designed for business-to-business purposes and lets you browse merchants registered under a specific MCC. It is useful if you want to understand what category a particular MCC code covers, but it does not allow you to search for your own MCC directly by account.

For consumers: Check your card statement or bank app

If you are a consumer and want to know what MCC a merchant was assigned, your bank or card issuer may display transaction categories in their app — these are typically derived from the merchant's MCC.

Some Singapore banks also allow you to query a merchant's category through their in-app support tools. If the category shown does not match the purchase you made, contact your card issuer to raise a query.

Wrong MCC? How to spot it and request a change

MCC misclassification is more common than you might expect. A business that sells both software and hardware might be coded under general retail instead of a technology-specific MCC. A food delivery company might be coded as a restaurant rather than a courier service.

These misclassifications have real consequences: they can increase the interchange fees you pay, raise the fraud risk threshold applied to your transactions, and affect which card types are accepted at checkout.

How to spot a wrong MCC

The clearest sign is a mismatch between your business type and the fees or card acceptance rules you are experiencing. If your interchange costs seem unusually high for your industry, or if a card type you expect to accept is being declined, your MCC is worth checking.

How to request a change

You cannot change your MCC directly. Only your acquiring bank or payment processor can do this, and they must submit the request to the card network for approval.

• Contact your payment processor or acquiring bank and explain why you believe your current MCC is incorrect. Describe your primary business activity and the MCC you believe is more accurate.

• Provide supporting documentation if asked — this might include your business registration, website, or a description of your products and services.

• Allow time for review. The card network makes the final decision. This is not an instant process.

There is no guarantee the change will be approved. If your request is declined, ask your processor to explain the reasoning. This can help you understand whether a different MCC would be a better fit to request.

How Airwallex uses MCCs to give Singapore businesses more control

Understanding MCCs is one thing. Having tools that act on them is another. Airwallex puts MCC data to work in two practical ways: spend controls on corporate cards, and smarter payment acceptance for businesses that take card payments.

MCC controls on corporate cards

With Airwallex Corporate Cards, you can set spending controls based on MCC categories, deciding exactly where each card can and cannot be used.

This means you can allow petrol station spend for a driver, block gambling-related MCCs across your entire team, or issue a card that only works for software subscriptions. Beyond MCC controls, each card comes with:

• Spending limits you set — daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually

• Custom approval workflows so finance stays in the loop before spend happens

• A real-time dashboard showing every transaction as it occurs

• Instant card management — create, freeze, or cancel cards in seconds

• Multi-currency support — employees pay in local currency directly from your held balances, with no foreign transaction fees

• Apple Pay and Google Pay support for contactless purchases

Cards sync with Xero automatically, so your expense reconciliation happens without manual data entry. Airwallex corporate cards are free to create and available as both virtual and physical cards.

Smart MCC assignment for payment acceptance

If your business accepts card payments through Airwallex Payments, MCC data is also part of how Airwallex optimises your payment acceptance rates.

Airwallex's ML-powered engine includes smart MCC assignment as one of several tools — alongside automatic retries, 3DS logic, and ISO message optimisations — to improve the likelihood that a transaction goes through on the first attempt.

This matters because the wrong MCC assignment can cause legitimate transactions to be flagged or declined. Having an engine that actively manages this in the background reduces friction for your customers and reduces failed payments for your business.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is a merchant category code?

A merchant category code (MCC) is a four-digit number that classifies a business by the type of goods or services it sells. Card networks including Visa and Mastercard define the list of MCCs; your acquiring bank or payment processor assigns the appropriate code to your business when you set up a merchant account. MCCs are used to determine interchange fees, assess fraud risk, and decide which reward categories apply when a customer pays by card.

Can I choose or change my merchant category code?

No, you cannot choose your own MCC. Your acquiring bank or payment processor assigns it based on your primary business activity when you set up your merchant account. If you believe your MCC is wrong, you can request a review, but the final decision rests with your processor and the card network. There is no guarantee the change will be approved.

What if my business sells more than one type of product or service?

Your MCC is assigned based on your primary source of revenue — the activity that generates the majority of your sales. If you run a hotel that also has a restaurant, your processor will assign the MCC that best represents your main business. This is why a meal at a hotel restaurant may not appear as a dining transaction on a customer's card statement.

Why didn't my purchase earn the credit card rewards I expected?

Your card issuer uses the merchant's MCC — not the merchant's name — to determine reward categories. If the merchant's MCC doesn't match your card's bonus category, you won't earn the higher reward rate. Common reasons include a merchant being coded under a broader category than expected, or a third-party platform processing the payment under its own MCC rather than the underlying merchant's code.

Does my MCC affect my GST filing in Singapore?

Not directly. Your MCC does not change how GST is calculated or filed. It is a payment processing classification, not a tax reporting code. That said, keeping your MCC accurate is good practice — it ensures your transactions are processed correctly and your business is categorised consistently across your payment records.

What is the difference between an MCC and a SIC code?

A Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code is a broad government classification of an entire company's industry. An MCC is a more specific code used for card payment processing. While both classify businesses by type, only the MCC travels with a card transaction — making it the code that matters for interchange fees, spend controls, and card rewards.

Sources:

1. https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/merchants/visa-merchant-data-standards-manual.pdf

2. https://www.mastercard.com/content/dam/public/mastercardcom/na/global-site/documents/quick-reference-booklet-merchant.pdf

3.  https://www.airwallex.com/sg/spend-management/cards

4.  https://www.airwallex.com/sg/payments

This publication does not constitute legal, tax, or professional advice from Airwallex, nor does it substitute seeking such advice, and makes no express or implied representations / warranties / guarantees regarding content accuracy, completeness, or currency. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [[email protected]]. Airwallex (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (201626561Z) is licensed as a Major Payment Institution and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.