What aspect of transactions is managed by activity limits?

Activity limits are designed to manage the ultimate value and count of authorizations allowed within a specific transaction. These limits are critical for mitigating risk and ensuring compliance with financial regulations. By setting maximum thresholds for both the monetary value of transactions and the number of authorizations, financial institutions and transaction processors can protect against fraud and unauthorized activities. This management of transaction limits helps in maintaining the security of financial operations, while also ensuring that customers can complete legitimate transactions without encountering unnecessary barriers.

In contrast, the other options relate to different aspects of transaction processing that are not directly connected to the concept of activity limits. For instance, the settling of transactions pertains to timing rather than authorization limits, customer satisfaction ratings evaluate service quality rather than transaction security, and the types of cards accepted involve merchant agreements and capabilities, rather than the management of authorization values or counts.