Tag: Marcus Smith

Social KYC: Ignore It At Your Own Risk

Payment facilitators have many tools at their disposal to help them understand the risk of taking on a particular merchant’s business during underwriting. In many cases, though, the tools rely on information provided by the merchants themselves.

To validate that information merchants have provided, however, PFs have a vast resource for fishing out the true nature of the merchant’s business and the identities of the people involved.

Podcast: Getting the Most Out of Underwriting Tools

In this week’s podcast, we talk to Marcus Smith, senior vice president of Risk Management for iPayment, a provider of payment solutions and processing services, about the tools used in underwriting submerchants.

Smith points out that while underwriting tools themselves are relatively simple, interpreting the results effectively requires some training.

If Chargebacks And False Declines Are The Problem, PFs Are A Solution

Chargebacks and false declines present many problems to merchants and issuers alike but where there’s complications, there’s payment facilitator opportunity, says one risk management expert.

“Whereas merchants may not be familiar with all aspects of payment processing and risk management controls, payment facilitators provide affordable accessibility to systems, knowledge and focused expertise that may otherwise be unattainable,” says Marcus Smith, the senior vice president of risk management for processor iPayment Inc. “Due to scale and buying power, payment facilitators can also allow merchants to benefit from their data acquisition, proprietary and third party technology and other value added service that meet the needs of their aggregate clientele. Ultimately, payment facilitators can eliminate various administrative costs and distractions allowing merchants to place their money, time and attention on managing and growing their business.”