Managing payments risk today isn’t just about fraud. While fraud and chargebacks remain critical, they are only part of a broader ecosystem of risk controls now under greater scrutiny.

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

While often viewed as a compliance requirement, the onboarding decisions shape the entire structure a merchant builds.

Onboarding isn’t just how you get a merchant account, it’s how your entire acquiring setup is defined. It’s not a single-step approval, but a layered, strategic process.

Merchant risk isn’t always a question of trust, it’s a question of exposure. Some business models, by design, introduce higher levels of financial liability for acquirers and processors.