Blog

Using APIs to Improve Merchant Risk Management

API integration is a growing trend in nearly all industries—and the merchant acquiring/financial services space is no exception. From speeding up merchant underwriting to consolidating vendor insights into your internal platform, numerous processes can be improved with API integration.    So, what exactly is an API? Put simply, an Application Programming Interface (API) is a technical… read more

Post Date: Posted on October 6, 2023October 6, 2023 Post Categories: Merchant Monitoring, Merchant Risk

KYC Automation: You’re sold…but now how to implement?

You are convinced—automating your merchant Know Your Customer (KYC) due diligence process will greatly benefit your business. What now? How do you go from your current, manual processes to automation?  The first step is picking a vendor, and to do that, you need to clearly understand your requirements. Are you trying to improve compliance, or… read more

Post Date: Posted on September 30, 2021September 30, 2021 Post Categories: Merchant Boarding, Merchant Underwriting

Nutraceutical Marketing and Regulatory Risk

When onboarding a nutraceutical merchant, how do you know which claims are compliant versus which claims cross the line? Obviously, a dietary supplement cannot be marketed with claims to miraculously cure COVID-19, but can it be marketed to relieve joint pain? Or reduce inflammation? What if the merchant’s website is claim-free, but its social media includes claims to help treat hypertension? Can a merchant… read more

Post Date: Posted on May 18, 2020July 7, 2020 Post Categories: Blog, False Claims, FDA, Merchant Risk, Misleading Marketing Claims, Nutraceuticals, Problematic Health Claims

UK’s Food Standards Agency Offers Concrete Guidance on CBD

In January 2019, the European Commission confirmed that CBD is considered a “novel food” in the EU.  A “novel food” is defined as “food that had not been consumed to a significant degree by humans in the EU before 15 May 1997.” Why is this important? Because “novel foods” must be authorized by the European… read more

Post Date: Posted on February 19, 2020April 16, 2020 Post Categories: CBD International Laws, CBD Laws, CBD Merchant Risk

FDA Cracks Down on CBD Merchants

Last week, the FDA took off the gloves in its fight against illicit CBD products. The agency updated its consumer advisory on CBD to warn of possible negative side effects and issued 15 warning letters to CBD companies – which is more CBD-related warning letters than the FDA has issued in the past three years…. read more

Post Date: Posted on December 3, 2019April 16, 2020 Post Categories: CBD Laws, CBD Merchant Risk, FDA Warning Letters

Why Frictionless Merchant Onboarding is Irresistible

By: Dan Frechtling, President, Verisk Financial | G2  Last week I was in Dubrovnik, Croatia, speaking on a panel at the Mastercard GRL Cybersecurity & Risk Summit. The topic was frictionless merchant onboarding, which employs digital information capture and automated tools in place of paper forms and manual review of traditional merchant applications. It is… read more

Post Date: Posted on October 9, 2019February 14, 2020 Post Categories: Merchant Boarding, Merchant Onboarding, Merchant Underwriting

Regulators Target Transaction Laundering Operations

With the continued growth of e-commerce, transaction laundering – a scheme in which an entity hides transactions for illicit goods and services through the use of a seemingly-unrelated merchant account – is on the rise. The payments industry has been aware of transaction laundering for years, and G2 (via our Transaction Laundering Detection Solution) has… read more

Post Date: Posted on June 27, 2019February 14, 2020 Post Categories: Fraudulent Credit Card Processing, Merchant Boarding, Transaction Laundering

FDA’s Public Hearing on CBD

The US CBD market (which is projected to hit $16 billion by 2025) currently operates without significant federal oversight. Indeed, some describe the industry as the “wild west”—a regulatory-free zone that puts consumer safety at risk. On Friday, the FDA grasped the regulatory reins: the agency held a nearly 10-hour public hearing on cannabis-derived products…. read more

Post Date: Posted on June 3, 2019February 21, 2020 Post Categories: CBD International Laws, CBD Laws, CBD Merchant Risk, FDA, FDA Warning Letters

Online Gambling in the US Becomes Less Predictable

Recently, the Justice Department made public a legal opinion that has re-interpreted the federal Wire Act to include all forms of online gambling, not just sports betting. In doing so, it reversed a 2011 opinion on the Act, which established the law as applicable to only sports betting (See Figure 1). At this point, the… read more

Post Date: Posted on January 29, 2019April 22, 2021 Post Categories: High-risk Merchants, Online Gambling

The War on Child-Marketed Nicotine Products Continues

In a recent press release, the FDA ordered the top five e-cigarette manufacturers to reverse the recent trends of child-marketed nicotine…

Post Date: Posted on September 18, 2018June 11, 2021 Post Categories: Blog, FDA, High-risk Merchants, Merchant Risk, Misleading Business Models