--- title: Industries - Payments source_page: https://www.sardine.ai/industries/payments canonical: https://www.sardine.ai/industries/payments format: text/markdown description: --- **Quick links:** [Human page](https://www.sardine.ai/industries/payments) · [Home](https://www.sardine.ai) · [Customers](https://www.sardine.ai/customers) · [Blog](https://www.sardine.ai/blog) · [Demo](https://www.sardine.ai/demo) --- # Industries - Payments ## Grow your merchant base without growing your risk Every good merchant you reject is lost volume. Every bad one you approve puts revenue at risk. Sardine combines real-time risk intelligence and AI agents to streamline due diligence and detect emerging threats. ### One platform for merchant risk Underwriting, monitoring, and payment risk share one record, so what you learn at onboarding improves every later decision. ### Network Intelligence beyond your portfolio Shared signals across merchants, devices, and entities fill gaps in your own data, so even new merchants with no history get a confident decision. ### Expose shell sites and linked merchants Link merchants, domains, devices, and cards to expose shell sites and related merchants tied to violations. ### Automate merchant research Agents research each business, check declared MCCs against what it sells, and flag what needs review, so KYB moves faster with every step recorded. ## Manage merchant risk from application to settlement ## Approve more of the merchants you want Merchant Underwriting Combine KYB, website presence, and acquiring data with device and behavior signals to onboard merchant types and verticals other providers turn away. ### Verify the business Agents run KYB checks across 450+ sources in 195 countries and record every step. ### Validate what the merchant sells Analyze websites, linked domains, and social presence to compare declared MCCs and NAICS codes against what the merchant actually sells, and catch front stores. ### Set thresholds by merchant type Configure rules and workflows by risk tier, industry, geography, or card-network requirements. ## Know when a good merchant starts looking different Merchant Monitoring Approval is only the start. Sardine catches sudden growth, behavioral shifts, and deterioration before they result in losses. ### Spot meaningful changes Detect spikes in volume, GMV, velocity, or transaction mix that break merchant baselines. ### Monitor for suspicious activity Run ongoing due diligence and flag rising disputes, MCC changes, and signs of money laundering. ### Escalate when risk changes Escalate merchants into enhanced due diligence when they cross risk thresholds. ## Protect every merchant from payment fraud Fraud Protection Merchants count on their payment provider to catch fraud, and smaller ones have no team of their own. Sardine scores every payment and links attacks across your whole portfolio, and agents investigate the alerts. ### Stop bad payments Score every payment in real time using identity, device, behavior, and transaction history. ### Catch coordinated attacks Agents investigate shared devices, IPs, emails, and cards linked to coordinated abuse across merchants. ### Fit protection to every merchant Set rules by merchant segment and let agents work the alerts, so smaller merchants are covered without a fraud team. ## Keep merchant risk from becoming regulatory and scheme exposure Compliance and Scheme Risk Risky merchants push your portfolio past card-network thresholds, which brings added controls like 3D Secure, fees, and lower approval rates. ### Meet AML requirements by region Handle AML rules that differ by country and region, with transaction monitoring and ongoing due diligence on every merchant. ### Stay out of scheme programs Track merchant fraud and dispute levels against Visa, Mastercard, and American Express thresholds, so you act before fines apply. ### Keep up with PSD2, PSD3, and 3D Secure Configure workflows for PSD2 and PSD3 and for when to invoke 3D Secure, without engineering. ## We’ve built modern risk systems in production at scale ## Move faster on merchant risk, without the manual work Agentic AI Agents handle the heavy lifting across merchant investigations, due diligence, and dispute preparation, helping your team move faster with every step documented. ### Research businesses and beneficial owners Agents research merchant backgrounds, identify beneficial owners, and investigate related entities to surface risks that require further review. ### Validate merchant information Cross-check business documents, websites, and public records with AI agents that identify discrepancies between what merchants declare and what their businesses actually do. ### Uncover connected merchants and fraud rings Agents analyze network relationships across merchants, devices, accounts, and transactions to expose hidden connections and coordinated fraud that individual reviews might miss. ### Prepare dispute evidence packages Reduce manual chargeback preparation with agents that gather transaction records, compile supporting evidence, and organize dispute packages by card network reason code. ## Backed by the industry’s leading data platform ### Add historical risk context Shared signals across devices, identities, and merchants surface repeat abuse and coordinated fraud you can’t see in your own portfolio. Network Intelligence ### Auditable no-code rules and workflows Set review paths by merchant type, escalation thresholds, and routing, with clear audit trails and no hardcoded logic. Rules and workflows ### Score merchants and payments with explainable models Sardine’s models score merchant applications and payments alongside your rules, with full visibility into what drives each decision. Machine learning ### High-confidence identity verification Device and behavioral intelligence establishes whether a real person is present, if the environment is trustworthy, and if identity claims are consistent across sessions. ## Frequently asked questions ### How does Sardine help payments companies onboard more merchants? Sardine combines business verification with web, device, behavioral, payment, and network intelligence to give underwriting teams more context behind every application. Configurable rules and workflows help fast-track lower-risk merchants and escalate higher-risk applications for deeper review. ### How is ongoing merchant monitoring different from KYB? KYB helps establish whether a business is legitimate at onboarding. Merchant monitoring continues after approval, looking for changes in transaction behavior, disputes, authorization rates, ownership, digital footprint, and other signals that can indicate emerging risk. ### Can payments companies offer Sardine's fraud capabilities to their merchants? Yes. Sardine's fraud decisioning can sit behind your own merchant-facing product, managed service, or payment experience, giving merchants fraud protection without requiring a separate risk stack. ### How does Sardine help us stay current with PSD2, PSD3, and card-network programs? Sardine lets you configure decisioning and workflows around PSD2 and PSD3 requirements as they take effect, AML/CTF obligations, and card-network monitoring programs such as VAMP. Every decision carries reason codes, supporting evidence, and an audit trail you can hand to a regulator or a card network. ### How does Sardine help when we have limited first-party data? Sardine combines your own data with business, device, behavioral, and network intelligence to provide additional context on merchants, users, devices, and transactions that may be difficult to assess from first-party data alone. ### Which payment rails does Sardine support? Sardine supports risk decisioning across cards and global bank payment rails including ACH, wires, SEPA, RTP, FedNow, and other account-to-account payments, with a platform designed to extend across modern payment methods. ### Can Sardine support both fraud and AML teams? Yes. Fraud prevention, merchant monitoring, transaction monitoring, investigations, rules, and case management can operate from shared risk data and workflows across Sardine.