Search Visa's and Mastercard's public rulebooks and you won't find a single formal definition of "Merchant of Record." This piece traces where the role actually came from, why it's splitting the processor market into two very different camps, and why covering financial losses is not the same as covering compliance risk.
In 2024, the FDIC issued consent orders against Sutton
Bank and over 45 BaaS-related banks — rewriting the
compliance rulebook for every Chinese FinTech seeking
a US bank partner. This guide breaks down the real cost
of compliance ($2.30–$6.50 per merchant per month), what
AI-powered bank monitoring is scanning for in your
marketing materials, and why the companies that survive
regulatory enforcement cycles inherit the market share
of those that don't. Includes a 10-q