The operator’sdictionary.

Cardholder authentication during checkout (Visa Secure, Mastercard Identity Check). It shifts liability for fraud chargebacks to the issuer and is mandatory for most EU payments under PSD2.

The bank that holds your merchant account and settles card payments to you. The acquirer carries the risk if you collapse with chargebacks outstanding, which is why it underwrites you and can hold reserves.

The identifier that tells the card networks which acquirer a transaction belongs to. When people talk about "a BIN sponsor", they mean an acquirer lending its BIN to a payment facilitator or ISO.

The yearly filing that confirms a company's details with its registry. Missing it is the most common way companies fall out of good standing and get struck off.

The share of attempted card payments that the issuing bank authorises. Every point of approval rate is revenue; cascading and smart routing exist mainly to push this number up.

The issuer's real-time yes or no on a card payment. An authorisation reserves the funds; the money only moves when the transaction is captured and settled.

The individual who ultimately owns or controls a company, usually anyone with 25% or more, directly or through other entities. Every bank and EMI will identify and verify the UBO, whatever the structure.

Tools that trace wallet histories and score exposure to sanctioned, illicit or high-risk sources. Banks and OTC desks screen your deposits with them before accepting funds.

Retrying a declined payment on a second MID or acquirer, automatically and within rules. Done carelessly, it looks like transaction laundering to the networks; done properly, it recovers soft declines.

A registry document confirming a company exists and is up to date with filings and fees. Banks and PSPs ask for a recent one at onboarding and refresh.

A forced reversal of a card payment initiated by the cardholder's bank, usually after a dispute. Each one costs you the sale, a fee and a mark against your ratio.

Chargebacks divided by transactions (or sales) in a month. The networks run monitoring programmes against it, and crossing their thresholds brings fines and, eventually, termination.

The OECD framework under which banks and EMIs report accounts held by foreign tax residents to their tax authority, which exchanges the data with yours. Offshore accounts are reported, not hidden.

Home-country rules that tax you on a foreign company's profits, as if earned directly, when you control it and it pays little tax abroad. The reason "zero-tax offshore" often isn't.

A bank that processes payments on behalf of another bank, typically for a currency it can't clear itself. Most USD wires from offshore banks pass through US correspondents, which is where many get stuck.

Who holds the private keys. Self-custody means you do; custodial means an exchange, broker or custodian does, with its own counterparty risk.

Banks closing or refusing whole categories of clients (countries, verticals, structures) because the compliance cost outweighs the revenue. Why perfectly legal businesses get offboarded with no explanation.

The merchant name shown on the cardholder's statement. An unrecognisable descriptor is one of the cheapest chargeback causes to fix.

An agreement between two countries deciding which one taxes what, and reducing withholding taxes. Access usually requires real tax residence and substance, not just a company.

The checks a bank runs before and during the relationship: identity, ownership, source of funds, business model and expected activity. Enhanced due diligence (EDD) is the deeper version for higher-risk clients.

Real activity in the jurisdiction: people, premises, spending and decision-making. Required by many low-tax jurisdictions for certain income, and increasingly asked about by banks.

A licensed non-bank that issues e-money and provides accounts and IBANs. Faster to onboard and often more flexible than banks, but client funds are safeguarded rather than deposit-insured.

Mastercard's chargeback monitoring programme. Merchants above its count and ratio thresholds for consecutive months face escalating assessments.

Converting between crypto and bank money. The off-ramp, getting stablecoins or crypto into a business bank account cleanly, is where most operators run into trouble.

A UAE economic zone with its own authority and licensing, allowing 100% foreign ownership. Each free zone has its own activities list, visa quotas and costs.

A merchant whose vertical, model or history brings higher chargeback, fraud, legal or reputational risk: nutra, subscriptions, gaming, adult, crypto, forex, travel and similar. Not illegal, just priced and underwritten differently.

A company whose job is to own shares or assets in other companies, not to trade. Used to separate risk, centralise ownership and plan exits.

International Bank Account Number. A named IBAN is in your company's name; a virtual or pooled IBAN routes into a provider's account and may be flagged by counterparties.

A company that resells an acquirer's merchant accounts and often handles onboarding and support. Most high-risk MIDs are sold through ISOs rather than directly by banks.

The fee the acquirer pays the issuing bank on each card transaction, set by the networks. It is the largest part of the processing cost you pay, and you can't negotiate it directly.

An offshore company form (Seychelles, BVI and others) designed for business conducted outside the jurisdiction. Cheap to form; hard to bank without a clear business story.

The cardholder's bank. The issuer decides whether to approve each payment and files chargebacks on the cardholder's behalf.

Due diligence on the company itself: what it does, where, with whom, and whether its documents and website match. Most offshore account rejections are KYB failures, not KYC failures.

Identity verification of the individuals behind an account: passport, proof of address, sometimes a video call. The baseline every regulated provider must do.

Where a company's key decisions are actually made. Many countries treat a company as tax resident where it is managed and controlled, wherever it's incorporated.

The EU's licensing regime for crypto-asset service providers and stablecoin issuers. A MiCA-licensed CASP can serve clients across the EU.

Mastercard's database of terminated merchants (Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants). Being listed makes it very hard to get a new merchant account for five years.

A four-digit code describing what a merchant sells. It drives interchange, risk monitoring and whether issuers decline by default. Processing under the wrong MCC is miscoding, and the networks fine it.

Your merchant account's identifier at an acquirer. Operators say "a MID" to mean one processing account; serious high-risk setups run several.

The legal entity that sells to the customer and whose name and account take the payment. Using a third-party MoR lets you sell without your own merchant account, at a higher fee and with less control.

An account holding several currencies with local collection details (for example GBP sort code, EUR IBAN, USD routing number) so you get paid like a local in each market.

A professional who acts as a director for a fee, often to meet a local-director rule (as in Singapore). A real director with real liability, and disclosed to banks.

A bank or EMI ending the relationship. Usually with notice and a withdrawal window; sometimes with funds frozen pending review.

A Hong Kong company's position that its profits arise outside Hong Kong and are therefore not taxable there. Decided by the IRD on the facts, not automatic.

A broker that trades large crypto amounts privately at a quoted price, instead of through an exchange order book. Better for size, fewer slippage surprises, more KYB.

A company that onboards sub-merchants under its own master merchant account. Faster than getting your own MID, but you share the PayFac's risk appetite and terms.

A layer that connects several PSPs and acquirers and routes each payment to the best one by rules: cost, approval rate, currency, BIN country or load balancing.

A company that gives you a gateway and usually a merchant account through its acquiring partners. "PSP" covers everything from mainstream processors to specialist high-risk providers.

Someone with a prominent public role, or their close family and associates. Not a bar to banking, but it triggers enhanced due diligence everywhere.

The licensed local firm that forms and maintains an offshore company, holds its registers and files on its behalf. Lose your agent and you lose your company's good standing.

A percentage of each day's card volume held back by the acquirer for a set period, typically 5–10% for 90–180 days, as security against future chargebacks.

How EMIs and payment institutions protect client money: holding it in segregated accounts or insuring it, so it's ring-fenced if the provider fails. It is not the same as deposit insurance.

The Single Euro Payments Area. EUR transfers between participating countries are cheap and fast (instant with SEPA Instant), and you need a EUR IBAN in SEPA to use it.

The difference between the price you expected and the price you got, usually because your order moved the market. Large orders on thin order books slip; OTC quotes avoid it.

Choosing the acquirer for each transaction in real time based on data such as card BIN, country, amount and historic approval rates.

A decline that may succeed on retry: insufficient funds, issuer unavailable, do-not-honour from a cautious issuer. Hard declines (stolen card, closed account) must never be retried.

Where the specific money entering the account came from: a contract, a sale, a loan. Banks want documents that trace it.

How the beneficial owner built their overall wealth: salary, business sale, investments, inheritance. Asked for at onboarding for higher-risk clients and larger relationships.

A token designed to hold a fixed value, mostly 1 USD (USDT, USDC). The most common way businesses settle cross-border in crypto.

A registry removing a company for unpaid fees or missing filings. In Seychelles, IBCs are now struck off and dissolved 181 days after an unpaid annual fee.

The messaging network banks use for international wires. A SWIFT payment can pass through one or more correspondent banks, each able to delay or query it.

A system that taxes only income sourced in the country (Hong Kong, Seychelles, and with conditions, Singapore). Foreign-source income is outside the net, but the source rules are where the fights happen.

The UAE licence that defines what activities a company may carry on. Banks check that your actual business matches the licensed activities.

Processing payments for one business through another business's merchant account. The networks treat it as serious misconduct, and it is the fastest route onto the MATCH list.

The FATF requirement that crypto service providers exchange sender and recipient information on transfers above a threshold, like banks do on wires. Why your exchange asks who owns the destination wallet.

How a business spreads cash, currencies and accounts across institutions and entities so that no single freeze, failure or offboarding stops it paying people.

The federal 9% tax on UAE business profits above AED 375,000, in force since 2023. Qualifying free-zone persons can pay 0% on qualifying income if they meet the conditions.

The regulatory term for exchanges, brokers, custodians and similar crypto businesses. Most jurisdictions now license VASPs and apply AML rules to them.

Visa's combined fraud and dispute monitoring programme, which replaced its older separate programmes. It measures fraud and disputes against settled transactions and enforces through the acquirer.

Checking a wallet address against analytics and sanctions data before sending to it or accepting from it. Do it on your counterparties before the bank does it on you.

Tax deducted at source on payments such as dividends, interest or royalties paid across borders. Double tax treaties usually reduce it.