Mastercard SPME §9.2.1 · Jun 2022 → May 2023

Merchant Registration Fees and Noncompliance Assessments

breaking
⚠ Extraction warning — review against source PDF. One side of the Mastercard SPME text below appears to contain only the page-running header, not body content. This usually means the section heading fell on a page boundary and the body was attributed to a neighbouring section in the source PDF. The AI summary and proposed edit below may be misleading. Verify in: Jun 2022 · page 94 ↗ · May 2023 · page 102 ↗.

The entire paragraph regarding fraud deterrent measures and acquirer responsibilities was removed from the section.

Sources Mastercard SPME · Jun 2022 · page 94 PDF Mastercard SPME · May 2023 · page 102 PDF Fraud Monitoring current
Also in §9.x this release breaking §9.4.1 Non-face-to-face Adult Content and Services Merchants substantive §9.3 General Monitoring Requirements substantive §9.4.2 Non–face-to-face Gambling Merchants substantive §9.4.3 Pharmaceutical and Tobacco Product Merchants substantive §9.4.6 High-Risk Cyberlocker Merchants substantive §9.4.7 Recreational Cannabis Merchants (Canada Region Only)
Why these edits? The removal of the obligation for acquirers to ensure merchants comply with fraud control Standards in Chapter 6 reduces specific acquirer responsibilities relating to fraud deterrent measures previously linked to section 3.7, referenced by the fraud_monitoring policy.
Mastercard SPME §9.2.1
This section was substantively restructured between versions (32% text overlap). Compare the texts directly below.
Before · Jun 2022 · page 94

Security Rules and Procedures—Merchant Edition • 22 February 2022

When attempted fraud is evident, a Merchant should implement temporary bank identification number (BIN) blocking as a fraud deterrent.

  • The Acquirer must ensure that each such Merchant complies with the fraud control Standards in Chapter 6 of this manual.
After · May 2023 · page 102

Security Rules and Procedures—Merchant Edition • 7 February 2023

Halyard Pay · 2 files
program: Fraud Monitoring
- authority: Mastercard SPME §3.7
+ authority: Mastercard SPME 1.3.7
fraud_to_sales_ratio_threshold: 0.015
min_count_per_month: 100
monitoring_cadence: monthly
escalation_actions:
- escalate_to_human_review
- notify_acquirer
lookback_period_months: 1
remediation_review_interval_days: 30
agent_owner: fraud_ops_agent
+
+ # The updated Mastercard SPME removed the requirement that acquirers must ensure merchant compliance with fraud control standards, thus reducing acquirer obligations referenced in this policy.

Fraud Monitoring

Halyard Pay monitors merchant fraud activity on a monthly basis to detect patterns that exceed Mastercard's acceptable fraud-to-sales thresholds. A merchant whose rolling monthly fraud-to-sales ratio meets or exceeds 1.5% (0.015) and whose fraud count reaches at least 100 transactions in that same month triggers mandatory escalation under this policy.

When this policy applies

This policy applies to all merchants processed through Halyard Pay's acquiring platform where Mastercard is the applicable card network. It governs both card-present and card-not-present transaction streams.

Required actions

  1. Compute the merchant's rolling fraud-to-sales ratio each calendar month.

  2. If the ratio meets or exceeds the threshold AND the minimum count is reached, escalate the merchant account to human review immediately.

  3. Notify the acquiring compliance officer and document the case ID with supporting transaction data.

  4. Track case progress until the account returns to threshold compliance or is terminated.

Source authority: Mastercard SPME §3.7.3.7.

policies/fraud_monitoring/policy.md — after applying change

Fraud Monitoring

Halyard Pay monitors merchant fraud activity on a monthly basis to detect patterns that exceed Mastercard's acceptable fraud-to-sales thresholds. A merchant whose rolling monthly fraud-to-sales ratio meets or exceeds 1.5% (0.015) and whose fraud count reaches at least 100 transactions in that same month triggers mandatory escalation under this policy.

When this policy applies

This policy applies to all merchants processed through Halyard Pay's acquiring platform where Mastercard is the applicable card network. It governs both card-present and card-not-present transaction streams.

Required actions

  1. Compute the merchant's rolling fraud-to-sales ratio each calendar month.

  2. If the ratio meets or exceeds the threshold AND the minimum count is reached, escalate the merchant account to human review immediately.

  3. Notify the acquiring compliance officer and document the case ID with supporting transaction data.

  4. Track case progress until the account returns to threshold compliance or is terminated.

Source authority: Mastercard SPME §3.7.3.7.

Source authority: Mastercard SPME §9.2.1.

--- a/policies/fraud_monitoring/rules.yaml
+++ b/policies/fraud_monitoring/rules.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 program: Fraud Monitoring
-authority: Mastercard SPME §3.7
+authority: Mastercard SPME 1.3.7
 fraud_to_sales_ratio_threshold: 0.015
 min_count_per_month: 100
 monitoring_cadence: monthly
@@ -9,3 +9,5 @@
 lookback_period_months: 1
 remediation_review_interval_days: 30
 agent_owner: fraud_ops_agent
+
+# The updated Mastercard SPME removed the requirement that acquirers must ensure merchant compliance with fraud control standards, thus reducing acquirer obligations referenced in this policy.
--- a/policies/fraud_monitoring/policy.md
+++ b/policies/fraud_monitoring/policy.md
@@ -1,25 +1,16 @@
 # Fraud Monitoring
 
-Halyard Pay monitors merchant fraud activity on a monthly basis to detect patterns that
-exceed Mastercard's acceptable fraud-to-sales thresholds. A merchant whose rolling
-monthly fraud-to-sales ratio meets or exceeds 1.5% (0.015) and whose fraud count
-reaches at least 100 transactions in that same month triggers mandatory escalation
-under this policy.
+Halyard Pay monitors merchant fraud activity on a monthly basis to detect patterns that exceed Mastercard's acceptable fraud-to-sales thresholds. A merchant whose rolling monthly fraud-to-sales ratio meets or exceeds 1.5% (0.015) and whose fraud count reaches at least 100 transactions in that same month triggers mandatory escalation under this policy.
 
 ## When this policy applies
 
-This policy applies to all merchants processed through Halyard Pay's acquiring platform
-where Mastercard is the applicable card network. It governs both card-present and
-card-not-present transaction streams.
+This policy applies to all merchants processed through Halyard Pay's acquiring platform where Mastercard is the applicable card network. It governs both card-present and card-not-present transaction streams.
 
 ## Required actions
 
 1. Compute the merchant's rolling fraud-to-sales ratio each calendar month.
-2. If the ratio meets or exceeds the threshold AND the minimum count is reached,
-   escalate the merchant account to human review immediately.
-3. Notify the acquiring compliance officer and document the case ID with supporting
-   transaction data.
-4. Track case progress until the account returns to threshold compliance or is
-   terminated.
+2. If the ratio meets or exceeds the threshold AND the minimum count is reached, escalate the merchant account to human review immediately.
+3. Notify the acquiring compliance officer and document the case ID with supporting transaction data.
+4. Track case progress until the account returns to threshold compliance or is terminated.
 
-Source authority: Mastercard SPME §3.7.
+Source authority: Mastercard SPME 3.7.