Acquirers turn fraud intelligence into commercial edge

Acquirers are packaging fraud intelligence as a commercial offering while merchants add false-positive rates and chargeback handling to selection criteria. Visa updated its Acquirer Monitoring Program in April 2026, lowering the VAMP threshold from 220 to 150.

The Merchant Risk Council reported that about 65% of merchants estimate e-commerce false-positive rates between 2% and 10% in 2026. Industry estimates put global merchant losses from false positives at more than $231 billion in 2026. Projected card fraud losses for the same year are $39.6 billion.

Visa’s April 2026 revision reduced the VAMP ratio — combined fraud and dispute counts divided by total settled Visa transactions — from 220 to 150. The lower threshold increases portfolio-level monitoring and potential compliance consequences for acquirers. When merchants cannot absorb losses, acquirers may face liability.

Many legacy, rule-based fraud controls apply fixed rules that can block legitimate transactions or fail to catch sophisticated attacks. Acquirers are adopting systems that score risk in real time across payment types and sales channels.

Artificial intelligence models analyse transaction patterns, device signals and network data to flag suspicious activity. Digital identity checks and shared network intelligence help create a fuller view of customer behaviour and payment risk.

Explanations for automated decisions are being recorded and made auditable to support compliance reviews and dispute handling. Changes to chargeback workflows, faster evidence collection and clearer merchant communication are used to reduce dispute counts and speed resolutions.

Commercialisation takes several forms. Some acquirers publish performance metrics on false positives and dispute handling. Others offer tiered fraud protection or managed services that include analytics and dispute management. Lower false-positive rates can increase authorization rates and raise processed transaction volumes.

Procurement documents increasingly request historical false-positive rates and details on chargeback workflows alongside price and technical specifications. Merchants view lower false-positive rates as a direct reduction in lost sales, and acquirers are presenting performance on these metrics in commercial discussions.

Industry participants are combining real-time AI, digital identity services and network signals with operational changes in ticketing, evidence handling and merchant communication. These elements are being applied across e-commerce and card-not-present transactions.

Merchant demand for clearer fraud performance data and the tightened VAMP threshold have altered expectations for acquirers’ fraud programmes. Acquirers are including fraud-related services and performance metrics in commercial offers to merchants.