Chargeback ratios define liability and exposure under the scheme rules, but acquirers are now driven by fraud counts when deciding which merchants face scrutinity.

While chargebacks are commonly seen as the main risk factor in an acquirer’s portfolio, the true defining metric today is fraud, specifically fraud count.

Every approval carries an implicit risk tradeoff. Every merchant account (MID) carries exposure. And to every acquirer, risk isn’t something that gets eliminated, it’s something that is actively managed, constantly evaluated, and continuously interpreted.