Understanding how payments are evolving takes more than technical fluency, it takes perspective. The ability to see how the different parts of the value chain connect.

The payment industry is one in constant evolution, never failing to change and keeping every stakeholder in the ecosystem on their toes. It has always been dynamic, but the nature of that change is different today!

When merchants talk about payments, they often focus on conversion, cost, and customer experience. Acquirers, however, see something else: risk.

One of the biggest misconceptions in acquiring is that risk is static, a set of fixed thresholds merchants simply need to stay under.

When merchants talk about payments, the conversation usually comes back to three things: conversion, cost and customer experience. But acquirers see a completely different picture.

The language of payments risk has changed. Once, acquirers were judged mainly on chargeback ratios, a clean chargeback report at the end of the month, or a quarterly review…

Acquiring isn’t just about approvals. It’s about sustaining them. Many merchants believe their relationship with the acquirer is defined at onboarding.

The process of applying for a merchant account leads to the assignment of two core attributes from the acquirer: the MID (Merchant ID) and MCC (Merchant Category Code).