Visa vs Mastercard vs DinaCard: which cards should your Serbian store accept?

A customer lands on your checkout page. They have three cards in their wallet: a Visa, a Mastercard, and a DinaCard. They'll use whichever one your site accepts. If you only accept one — you just lost two-thirds of potential sales.

But do you actually need to support all three? What's the difference? And does it matter for your business? Let's break it down.

The basics

All three do the same thing: move money from the buyer's bank to your bank when someone pays with a card. The difference is in who runs the network, where it works, and what it costs.

Visa — the world's largest card network. 4.4 billion cards in circulation globally. Accepted in 200+ countries. In Serbia, most bank-issued debit and credit cards are Visa.

Mastercard — the world's second-largest network. 3.3 billion cards globally. Similar acceptance to Visa in Serbia. Most Serbian banks issue both Visa and Mastercard.

DinaCard — Serbia's national card scheme, operated by the National Bank of Serbia. Only works domestically — you can't use a DinaCard in France. But in Serbia, it's everywhere: ATMs, stores, and increasingly online.

For a child: Visa and Mastercard are like international airlines — they fly everywhere. DinaCard is like a local bus company — it only works in your city, but everyone in the city uses it.

Market share in Serbia

There are no exact public figures, but the landscape looks roughly like this:

• Visa: ~45% of cards in circulation
• Mastercard: ~35% of cards in circulation
• DinaCard: ~20% of cards in circulation

However, DinaCard punches above its weight in domestic transactions. Many Serbians carry a DinaCard for everyday purchases (groceries, utilities) and a Visa or Mastercard for larger or international purchases.

If you only accept Visa and Mastercard, you cover ~80% of cards. Add DinaCard, and you cover virtually everyone.

What matters for merchants

Acceptance rate

Accept all three. This is the most important takeaway. Every card type you don't accept is a customer who can't pay. In a market where 70% of online shoppers are on mobile and have low patience, "your card is not supported" means they leave — not that they go get a different card.

Processing costs

DinaCard transactions typically cost less to process than Visa or Mastercard because there's no international network fee. The interchange stays within the Serbian banking system.

Visa and Mastercard have similar pricing structures, though exact rates depend on your acquiring agreement.

Settlement speed

DinaCard settlements can be faster because the entire transaction stays within the NBS clearing system. Visa and Mastercard transactions go through international clearing, which can add a day.

In practice, the difference is small — all three settle within the 1–7 business day window depending on your acquirer.

Security

All three networks now support 3D Secure for online payments:

• Visa: Visa Secure (formerly Verified by Visa)
• Mastercard: Mastercard Identity Check (formerly SecureCode)
• DinaCard: DinaCard Secure (launched 2025, EMVCo compliant)

From your perspective as a merchant, 3D Secure works the same regardless of the card network — the customer's bank handles the authentication step.

International customers

If you sell to customers outside Serbia, you need Visa and Mastercard — DinaCard won't help here. DinaCard is purely domestic.

If you sell exclusively within Serbia, all three are relevant, and DinaCard is particularly important for the budget-conscious segment that uses domestic cards for everyday spending.

What about American Express, UnionPay, JCB?

In Serbia, these are edge cases. Amex has minimal presence, UnionPay is growing but still niche, and JCB is practically nonexistent. Unless you specifically target Chinese tourists (UnionPay) or premium corporate travelers (Amex), Visa + Mastercard + DinaCard covers your market.

How Polako Finance handles this

When you integrate with Polako Finance, you accept all three card networks through a single integration. One API call creates a payment session — the customer sees their available cards on the hosted payment page and picks whichever they prefer.

You don't need separate integrations for each network. You don't need to worry about 3D Secure differences. One connection, all cards.

In short

• Accept all three (Visa, Mastercard, DinaCard) — don't leave money on the table
• Visa + Mastercard cover ~80% of Serbian cards; adding DinaCard covers virtually everyone
• DinaCard is cheaper to process and settles faster, but only works domestically
• 3D Secure works on all three networks — no extra effort for merchants
• A payment gateway like Polako Finance handles all three through one integration