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Overview

Technology, Insights, and Solutions

The market is polarizing, consolidation amongst the biggest players is accelerating modernization, while fintech and paytech disruptors are setting new expectations for experience and value. The payment processing domain is being reshaped by disruptive innovations such as embedded finance, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies are revolutionizing transaction management and presenting acquirers with opportunities to enhance their service portfolios.

To maintain a competitive edge, acquirers must prioritize investment in these technologies to streamline onboarding processes, fortify security measures, and address the diverse requirements of their merchant base. Strategic adoption of such advancements will not only drive operational efficiency but also ensure sustained growth and relevance within the rapidly evolving marketplace.

Key challenges faced by acquirers

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Retention of small and medium-sized enterprises
operating with razor-thin margins & facing a market perception of commoditization this is a key challenge. SMEs are often susceptible to switching providers if offered services or pricing that fails to align with their expectations.
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Global expansion
poses additional complexities for acquirers aiming to scale operations across regions characterized by varying payment habits, currencies, and regulatory environments
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The rise of paytech
has introduced new players that have redefined expectations around speed, simplicity and data-driven UX
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Embedded finance demand
means merchants increasingly expect access to working capital, buy-now-pay-later and cashflow solutions as part of their acquiring relationship

What merchant acquirers want and need

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Faster onboarding

Reduces abandonment and activates merchant revenue faster
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Smarter approvals

Increases acceptance while controlling fraud risk
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Chargeback protection

Directly protects margins and brand reputation
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Risk-based pricing

Defends margin while enabling smarter merchant personalisation
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Dynamic limits and reserves

Minimize friction and control risk
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Merchant-facing analytics

Drives loyalty, differentiation, and upsell potential
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Embedded lending

Boosts LTV and creates new net revenue streams
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Lower attrition

Reduce churn and increase long-term stickiness with early warning signals and predictive tools

Why FICO

FICO brings a powerful advantage to merchant acquiring: the ability to embed decision intelligence across the entire merchant lifecycle. By aligning data to decisions, turning those decisions into real-time insights, automating intelligent actions, and tracking measurable outcomes, we empower acquirers to optimize key touchpoints across the merchant lifecycle—driving smarter decisions in onboarding, monitoring, engagement, and portfolio management. This Data-Insights-Actions-Outcomes model positions acquirers to lower risk, unlock hidden margin, deepen merchant loyalty, and transform their portfolios into growth engines.

01 .

Lifecycle Decisioning—End to End

We are enabling acquirers to build dynamic, configurable decision strategies across key lifecycle stages:

  • Onboarding: Automate approval decisions using configurable risk, identity, and behavioral signals
  • Transaction Monitoring: Apply real-time risk thresholds, velocity logic, or merchant-specific rules
  • Interchange Optimization: Use merchant data to route transactions toward optimal interchange buckets
  • Chargeback Triage: Score disputes based on fraud signals, transaction history, and merchant behavior

Instead of static rule sets, acquirers gain a strategy-driven decision layer—adaptable over time and designed to support growth and risk reduction simultaneously.

02 .

Smart Segmentation Without Siloes

Acquirers need to treat SMBs, mid-market, and enterprise merchants differently—without maintaining separate systems. Our platform makes it possible to:

  • Apply unique onboarding or risk rules per merchant profile
  • Automate comms and workflows based on merchant type or transaction patterns
  • Drive personalization at scale—within a single orchestration layer

This enables precise treatment without added operational complexity.

03 .

Revenue-Generating Intelligence

FICO’s approach unlocks new revenue streams for acquirers—not just efficiency gains. For example:

  • Interchange fee intelligence: Classify merchant segments and transactions to unlock cost savings
  • Churn scoring: Predict merchant attrition before it happens and trigger intervention strategies
  • Chargeback automation: Reduce losses and manual review with dispute decision models

These are the kinds of high-margin, monetizable insights that traditional processors can't deliver.

04 .

Modular Platform Fit for Acquiring

FICO Platform is built to integrate into existing infrastructure through modular APIs and tools. Acquirers can start with a single use case and expand over time without replatforming. Key advantages:

  • Faster implementation than custom dev
  • No disruption to current workflows
  • Scales with acquirer growth and complexity

05 .

Differentiation Through Decisioning

In a market where onboarding speed and integrations are table stakes, acquirers need a new edge. FICO provides that edge through applied decision science—so acquirers can manage risk, reduce attrition, and grow revenue intelligently across their merchant base.

We’re not just enabling faster flows—we’re enabling smarter ones. That’s the difference between being a vendor and being a strategic growth partner.

Why FICO® Platform is built for the entire merchant lifecycle

From risk to retention, FICO powers smarter merchant decisions at every stage

64% of merchant acquirers still rely on siloed systems for onboarding, risk, fraud, and collections.

This creates friction, delays, and inconsistent decisions. FICO solves this with one orchestrated platform. Source: Forrester, 2024

Only 27% of acquirers say their credit, fraud, and pricing decisions are made using a unified strategy.

FICO unifies these decisions with configurable, explainable workflows, reducing loss and improving speed to decision. Source: 2024 Aite-Novarica Acquiring Infrastructure Survey

Acquirers lose an average of 22% of high-quality SMB leads due to manual or slow onboarding decisions.

FICO drives real-time approvals and automated triage for smarter merchant growth. Source: McKinsey Global Payments Report, 2024

Fraud, credit, and underwriting teams often use different data sets — cited as the #1 internal blocker to automation by global acquirers.

FICO integrates siloed data to deliver lifecycle intelligence and better portfolio management. Source: Capgemini World Payments Report, 2024

91% of global acquirers plan to replace or augment their decisioning platforms within the next 24 months.

FICO is purpose-built for this moment — a modular, AI-driven platform ready to scale across risk, fraud, pricing, and onboarding. Source: Forrester Consulting, 2024 survey of payment providers

FICO Platform use cases for acquirers

These are some of the high impact, revenue-driving use cases that FICO can deploy to solve immediate merchant acquirer pain points — each tied to clear KPIs that demonstrate measurable business value.

 

Use CaseDescriptionKPIsValue to Acquirer
Instant OnboardingKYC, KYB, MCC validation, approval orchestrationTime to Activation, Abandonment Rate, Pull-ThroughAccelerates merchant revenue, reduces drop-off
Fraud PreventionFraud monitoring capabilityChargeback Rate, False Positives, Fraud LossReduces losses and enables upsell to merchants
Risk-Based PricingDynamic pricing based on risk profilesMargin per Merchant, Approval RatePreserves margins; enables safer growth
Merchant DashboardsWhite-labeled analytics, trends, and benchmarkingDashboard Engagement, Retention RateImproves stickiness; creates new monetization option
Churn/Upsell ModelsPredictive merchant behavior scoringRetention Rate, Lifetime Value (LTV) GrowthBoosts retention and expands high-potential accounts
Embedded Lending EnablementPre-qualification and risk scoring for SMB creditOffer Conversion, Lending VolumeDrives new revenue without requiring acquirer lending 

Learn more about FICO Platform

Ready to modernize your merchant acquiring platform with embedded AI, reduce costs and unlock new revenue streams? Discover how FICO® Platform can help you act faster, reduce risk, and build deeper merchant relationships.
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