Merchant Account Underwriting Tools

Monthly Archives: May 2014

FINCEN ADVISORY MAY 20, 2014

The Alert A004 can apply equally to merchant account applicants.

“Certain foreign individuals are abusing the Citizenship-
by-Investment program sponsored by the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN) to obtain SKN passports for the purpose of engaging in illicit financial activity. Financial institutions can mitigate exposure to such risk through customer due diligence, including risk-based identity verification consistent with existing customer identification program requirements.”

http://www.fincen.gov/news_room/advisory/

I’M NO ACCOUNTANT BUT…..

it appears from the referenced documents that a couple of million dollars was paid in merchant fees to “somebodies.”Perhaps there is a lesson for underwriters here. “The defendants formed and organized more than 240 shell companies and DBAs that were created to open more than 400 bank accounts and nearly 500 merchant processing accounts. TheRead More

More Merchant Due Diligence Required

Acquirer Risk Management Solutions, Inc can assist ISO s in complying with the increased likelihood of government intervention. “Payment processing companies must respond to this increased regulatory scrutiny or risk being held accountable for merchant activities that result in harm to consumers. They should consider implementing additional monitoring and security procedures, many of which haveRead More