VISA High-Brand Risk Merchant Registration program.

From 17th of October 2020, VISA is introducing new Merchant registration requirements for a number of MCCs and business types. Merchants subject to new registration requirements, based on the information available to Commercegate from our upstream Acquirers, would be subject to a 500 USD annual fee for VISA registration (similar to MRP program by MasterCard).

Merchants in the scope of the program, having decided not to register/pay the annual fee, would not be able to process transactions from VISA and VISA Electron cards.

VISA list of High-Brand Risk Merchants subject to new registration requirements can be found at https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/about-visa/visa-rules-public.pdf (page 596), and quoted below:
Effective 17 October 2020 Visa classifies a Card-Absent Environment Merchant required to use any
of the following MCCs as a High-Brand Risk Merchant:

For all Card-Absent Transactions using the following MCCs:

• 5122 (Drugs, Drug Proprietaries, Druggist Sundries)
• 5912 (Drug Stores, Pharmacies)
• 5962 (Direct Marketing – Travel-Related Arrangement Services)
• 5966 (Direct Marketing – Outbound Telemarketing Merchants
• 5967 (Direct Marketing – Inbound Telemarketing Merchants)
• 5993 (Cigar Stores and Stands)
• 7273 (Dating and Escort Services)
• 7995 (Betting, including Lottery Tickets, Casino Gaming Chips, Off-Track Betting, and Wagers at Race Tracks)

For certain Card-Absent Transactions using the following MCCs:

• 4816 (Computer Network/Information Services), for the sale of access to cyberlockers or remote digital file-sharing services
• 5816 (Digital Goods – Games), for Transactions involving skilled game wagering (for example daily fantasy sports)
• 6051 (Non-Financial Institutions – Foreign Currency, Non-Fiat Currency (for example Cryptocurrency), Money Orders (Not Money Transfer), Travelers Cheques, and Debt Repayment), for the sale of cryptocurrencies

If you have any questions or need clarification please do not hesitate to contact your Account Manager.

We wish you all the best for your business endeavours.

Sincerely Yours,

CommerceGate Compliance Team