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.