When Do Banks Decide?
The recent OnlyFans payment scandal has highlighted an interesting question. How much control can a bank, card scheme or a payment provider have over your business?
When OnlyFans announced that they would no longer allow content that constitutes as porn on their website, there was an avalanche of user and performer outcry. This adult content was one of the reasons that the site managed to gain such a large following, and many online sex workers found it a secure place for them to conduct their business. It was then further announced that the reason there was to be a change to their content guidelines was because there was pressure from their payment processors. Since the outcry, and recriminations, OnlyFans has now said that they will scrap the controversial new changes.
This is nothing new, in fact many businesses that work in the adult entertainment sector struggle to find and maintain payment partnerships.
Why do banks and payment providers distance themselves from adult content?
This is due to a number of reasons, but one of the biggest risks in adult entertainment is that of illegal content. Pornhub one of the largest providers of free and paid pornography on the internet has faced many accustations of illegal content, from child abuse to nonconsensual sex acts. By providing a payment service, these companies are then involved with the distribution and the purchasing of illegal material. It therefore cannot come as a surprise that payment providers as well as the card schemes are now insisting on stricter regulations when it comes to content or issuing blanket bans. In April of this year Mastercard initiated stricter rules, and content providers now must adhere to the following:
- Documented age and identity verification for all people depicted and those uploading the content
- Content review process prior to publication
- Complaint resolution process that addresses illegal or non consensual content within seven business days
- Appeals process allowing for any person depicted to request their content be removed
These new controls are there as a form of protection and are a step towards having better regulation of content and protecting the performers.
How can responsible companies find a payment provider that will work with them?
But what happens to those who operate within the law but still struggle? A simple answer is to work with a payment orchestration platform. By doing so, you will be able to have access to a wide variety of payment service providers and alternative payment methods and the opportunity to find a solution that works for your business. By having a technical layer between your business and the payment providers you can easily switch providers or acquirers, and give your business the flexibility it needs to provide a consistent service to your clients.
However, this issue is not limited to adult entertainment but also affects other high-risk businesses such as online gaming, sports betting, crypto, CBD, and so on. Any business that may be considered risky, or that may have a faint whiff of controversy, can lead payment providers and acquirers to distance themselves as the risk of fraud, chargebacks, and money laundering are too great.
What can businesses do to improve their risk profile?
A risk management engine helps businesses assess risk appropriately, prevent fraud, and are critical for those that operate in other high-risk sectors like iGaming, travel, adult content, and cryptocurrency. With the IXOPAY payment orchestration platform, users can run customized checks and estimate the risk involved in a payment transaction. Risk rules can be put in place that will either accept a transaction, decline it, or push it to manual review. IXOPAY has over 40 of these rules, some of which are:
- Whether the customer’s IP address matches the country of origin of the credit card used for payment
- Whether the value of a transaction is unusually low or high based on the transaction history
- Whether the same credit card is in use by multiple users
- Whether multiple transactions with different credit cards have been initiated by the same end device (device fingerprinting)
- Whether the end customer is on the sanctions list
- These checks will protect you from fraudulent transactions and offer reassurance to your payment providers.
IXOPAY offers a secure future-proof solution. With a risk management engine, users can give each transaction a risk score that will either accept, deny, require 3DS or push to manual review. Users can also connect to third-party software for additional protection. With these additional checks and access to alternative payment providers, high-risk users can get the flexibility and independence your business needs to thrive. Get in touch if you would like to see how IXOPAY can protect your payments.
Protect Your Business With Payment Orchestration
Get in touchAbout IXOPAY
IXOPAY is a payments orchestration platform enabling independent, flexible and global payment processing. As a highly scalable and PCI-DSS certified “fintech enabler”, IXOPAY fulfills the needs of large merchants as well as those of “white label” clients: payment service providers (PSPs), acquirers and independent sales organizations (ISOs). The modern, easily extendable architecture offers smart transaction routing & cascading, state-of-the-art risk & fraud management, fully automated reconciliation and settlements processing, comprehensive reporting as well as plugin-based integration of acquirers, payment service providers and alternative payment methods (APMs).
IXOPAY is part of the IXOLIT Group, founded in Vienna, Austria in 2001. With local entities in Austria and the USA, IXOLIT supports national and international customers across various industry verticals. The owner-led and -financed company has grown from 2 to more than 65 employees and is focused on building innovative solutions for eCommerce.
Please find more information about IXOPAY here: https://www.ixopay.com