Acquirers turn fraud intelligence into commercial advantage

Acquirers are packaging fraud intelligence as a commercial offering as merchants make false positive rates and chargeback handling core selection criteria. Visa lowered the Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) threshold from 220 to 150 in April 2026, increasing oversight of portfolio-level fraud and dispute rates.

Merchants now include fraud performance alongside price in requests for proposals. The Merchant Risk Council reports that about 65% of merchants in 2026 estimate their e-commerce false positive rates are between 2% and 10%. Industry forecasts expect global merchant losses from false positives to exceed $231 billion in 2026, while projected card fraud losses are $39.6 billion.

VAMP measures a portfolio’s combined fraud and dispute incidents divided by total settled Visa transactions. The April 2026 reduction in the VAMP ratio raises the acceptable bar for incident rates at the acquirer level. Schemes and regulators can hold acquirers liable when merchant portfolios exceed scheme thresholds, which affects underwriting standards, pricing, and which merchants an acquirer will accept or apply closer monitoring to.

Acquirers are deploying technology to meet these requirements. Artificial intelligence is used for real-time decisions across channels and payment types. Digital identity tools and network intelligence add context to cardholder profiles. Firms are adopting explainable models and clearer decision logic to reduce false positives while keeping fraud losses in check. Automation in dispute handling aims to shorten resolution times and lower operational costs.

Some acquirers now include fraud metrics in commercial pitches, showing false positive rates, chargeback response times and recovery performance to prospective merchants. The intent is to approve more legitimate transactions and reduce declines that cost merchants sales, while managing chargeback exposure and compliance with scheme programs.

An industry webinar, with participation from ACI Worldwide and moderated by researcher Sharon Kimathi, will bring payments experts together to discuss how acquirers can use AI, digital identity and operational change to meet the tighter VAMP threshold and offer fraud prevention as a commercial service.

Background: Visa’s Acquirer Monitoring Program compares the sum of fraud and dispute incidents to total settled transactions for an acquirer’s Visa portfolio. The April 2026 change reduced the VAMP ratio from 220 to 150, tightening the performance limit for acquirers.