Please note that Genome’s merchant services have been temporarily unavailable since September 2024.
Mastercard has made crucial updates to its compliance programs globally, which also applies to some of Genome’s clients. Particularly, if you are a merchant from Europe, except for Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, this blog post is for you.
The updates involve the Excessive Fraud Merchant (EFM) and Excessive Chargeback Merchant (ECM) compliance programs. Let’s cover what the changes are about.
Number of Transactions | Fraud Chargeback(4837, 4863 reason codes) Amount | Fraud Chargeback | 3DS Utilization |
1,000 or more | EUR/USD 50,000 or more | 50 or more | • Less than 10% (Non-regulated Countries*) |
Merchants’ compliance with the EFM is measured at the merchant ID (MID) level. The data and potential financial assessments are directed to the acquirer. The assessments revolve around the number of months above EFM thresholds. If you don’t comply for two months, you’ll have to pay a EUR 500 fine. Keep that in check, or the fines will skyrocket to EUR 100,000 for over 19 months of non-compliance.
Number of months Above EFM Thresholds | Violation Assessment |
1 | 0 |
2 | EUR 500 |
3 | EUR 1,000 |
4 to 6 | EUR 5,000 |
7 to 11 | EUR 25,000 |
12 to 18 | EUR 50,000 |
19+ | EUR 100,000 |
The ECM allows acquirers to predict merchants’ chargeback risks: the merchants that get lots of chargeback monthly are also monitored on the merchant ID level. When the compliance threshold of a merchant is breached, Mastercard informs acquirers automatically.
The merchants fall under two categories: the Excessive Chargeback Merchant (at least 100 to 299 chargebacks a month) and High Excessive Chargeback Merchant (over 300 chargebacks a month).
EFM and HECM Monthly Criteria | ||
Monthly Criteria | Number of Chargebacks | Basis Points |
ECM | 100 to 299 | 150 to 299 |
HECM | 300 or more | 300 or more |
Europe Region
Regulated Countries
Austria | Gibraltar | Netherlands |
Belgium | Greece | Norway |
Bulgaria | Hungary | Poland |
Croatia | Iceland | Portugal |
Cyprus | Ireland | Romania |
Czech Republic | Italy | Slovakia |
Denmark | Latvia | Slovenia |
Estonia | Lithuania | Spain |
Finland | Luxembourg | Sweden |
France | Malta | United Kingdom |
Non-Regulated Countries
Albania | Israel | Serbia |
Andorra | Kazakhstan | Tajikistan |
Armenia | Kosovo | Turkey |
Azerbaijan | Kyrgyzstan | Turkmenistan |
Belarus | Macedonia | Ukraine |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Moldova | Uzbekistan |
Channel Islands | Montenegro | Vatican City |
Georgia | Russian Federation | |
Isle of Man | San Marino |
The United States is a non-regulated country.
