The Global Acquirer Risk Standards (GARS) is a comprehensive set of rules and best practices established by Visa. It dictates exactly how acquiring banks, Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), and Payment Facilitators must conduct underwriting, risk management, and continuous monitoring of their merchant portfolios.
The Blueprint for Merchant Underwriting
GARS explicitly requires acquirers to perform rigorous background checks, verify business legitimacy, screen against the MATCH list, and continuously monitor for illegal activity (VIRP compliance). Failure to adhere to GARS can result in a bank losing its ability to sponsor ISOs or process Visa payments entirely.
Tailoring Logic to GARS with Onlayer
Building a GARS-compliant onboarding flow manually is tedious and slow. Onlayer allows you to tailor your onboarding logic directly to your acquirer-specific rules and GARS requirements simultaneously. By using custom AI-driven decision rules, Onlayer strictly assesses merchant eligibility, auto-classifying merchants instantly while maintaining full compliance with Visa's global standards.
