Ongoing monitoring is required by regulatory authorities and credit card organizations as part of enhanced due diligence for certain merchant types. Especially acquirers with many high-risk merchants in their portfolio have to implement a solid monitoring framework. For them, monitoring isn’t an option but a legal obligation.
Hidden high-risk industries could be hiding risky business behind ‘low risk’ MCCs, as this saves them from the acquiring bank’s high scrutiny applied during the on-boarding process of high-risk merchants. Merchants, involved in high-risk business, use camouflage tactics to ‘fly under the radar’ and negotiate favorable (low risk) processing rates.
During the past decade, fintech has revolutionized the payments industry, and incumbent merchant acquirers have been struggling to compete. Why have Silicon Valley innovators been so successful in challenging powerful incumbents with decades of experience in financial services?