Mastercard Onboard Risk Check – What To Know

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Last Updated on November 15, 2022 by Corepay

In a year that’s seen many revisions and updates from card brands comes another one. Mastercard announced that they are introducing Onboard Risk Check, effective immediately, as of May 1, 2022.

This article will break down Mastercard AN 6202 and explain its benefits for the payment ecosystem.

Note: Mastercard also just released the Mastercard Acuirer Collaboration Revisions which is a gamechanger, which we highly recommend checking out.

Overview

The Onboard Risk Check for merchants was just made available by Mastercard on May 1, 2022. This tool provides merchants with an extensive view of the potential risks a specific merchant brings to them, so they can make faster and more intelligent decisions when boarding a new merchant.

The Onboard Risk check is available for all acquirers/processors globally, and it is recommended for all acquirers moving forward.

What Is The Onboarding Risk Check?

Mastercard introduces the onboarding risk check to elevate the current risk check tools by enhancing the identification of potential vulnerabilities in a merchant’s online presence while improving standard underwriting.

Why The Onboarding Risk Check?

This new Onboarding Risk Check aims to identify the risk factors of merchants so that acquirers/processors can ultimately save money.

Onboarding Risk Check assists acquirers by providing a comprehensive view of potential merchants to improve onboarding decisions.

Let’s take a brief look at the benefits of the Onboard Risk Check:

• Financial Savings: Increased merchant risk visibility can help acquirers/processors make the right decision when onboarding a specific merchant, ultimately reducing financial losses on risky merchants.
• Reduced Decision Time: Quick access to merchant risk information allows acquirers to make swift decisions on merchants.
• Improved Underwriting: Onboard Risk Check allows for a significant improvement in the underwriting process so that acquirers can stamp out unqualified merchants quickly and efficiently.
• Improved Process Efficiencies: Automation of onboarding leads to improved merchant risk management.

Summing this up: Onboard Risk Check helps acquirers make correct decisions regarding the onboarding process, which is quite effective for high-risk merchant processing decisions.

Who Is Affected By The Onboard Risk Check?

It’s important to note that Onboard Risk Check is an opt-in available globally to all Mastercard acquirers, as well as those involved in the payment ecosystem, including:

• Pay Facilitators
• Payment Service Providers
• Independent Sales Organizations
• Value-Added Resellers

How Does Onboard Risk Check Work?

Onboard Risk Check sets itself apart from other risk tools by implementing a unique set of differentiators which enable superior identification of merchant risk by evaluating their entire online environment.

This is set to allow for extensive checks regarding crypto risk exposure and forex, both extremely high-risk.

Onboard Risk Check introduces industry-leading features such as:

• IT profile encompassing the merchant’s host details, including the host’s location.
• Downloadable reports uncovering any merchant vulnerabilities
• Actionable risk plans that merchants can immediately implement should the acquirer go through with onboarding
• Snapshot of the merchant’s risk profile that can be accessed through API

Onboard Risk Check alleviates some of the stress from the acquirer and allows them to make more informed decisions during onboarding, potentially saving considerable sums of money. 

How Acquirers Can Implement Onboard Risk Check

Users have a few different ways to initiate an Onboard Risk Check inquiry. This can be done directly on the ORC interface or by using API – which is more accessible.

Users will need to access the Mastercard Connect Store and request ORC to download ORC. Implementation of ORC requires no coding experiences to maintain user-friendliness.

So, What Will This Cost Acquirers/Onboard Risk Check Fees

Fees are entirely based on the number of inquiries an acquirer makes via API. One inquiry is defined as submission through either the ORC interface or API. All inquiries are reset quarterly.

*Invalid or incomplete inquiries will not count as an inquiry.

Please note there are three different tiers, and prices vary depending on the currency.

Tier 1 (1-500)

Tier one inquiries include inquiries between 1-500.

• USD: 15.00
• EUR: 15.00
• BRL: 94.56
• IDR: 200,130

Tier 2 (501-1,000)

• USD: 12.50
• EUR: 12.50
• BRL: 78.80
• IDR: 166,775

Tier 3 (1,001 & Higher)

• USD: 10.00
• EUR: 10.00
• BRL: 63.04
• IDR: 133,420

Wrapping Up

The Onboard Risk Check is just one of the many updates from Mastercard to improve the payment ecosystem for acquirers/processors.

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