For more than six decades, Visa has worked to protect the integrity of the payments ecosystem, investing in technology, standards, and partnerships that help ensure trust at every point in a transaction. As the ecosystem continues to evolve and new risks emerge, that commitment has only intensified.
One of the most important ways we bring this commitment to life is through ecosystem-wide programs that encourage responsible behavior across participants. The Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) is a clear example of that approach in action.
Several months into VAMP deployment, early data shows encouraging momentum and reinforces the value of programs that bring the industry together around a shared goal: reducing fraud and disputes while enabling healthy, sustainable growth.
Remediation is working — and happening faster than expected
Early results from VAMP deployment show that identified acquirers are able to improve performance quickly once engaged. Nearly half of acquirers identified in the program improved performance within a single quarter, demonstrating that remediation is both achievable and timely when signals and behaviors are aligned. Among identified acquirers, the VAMP ratio declined 45% quarter over quarter, underscoring how quickly behavior can shift when expectations are clear and accountability is aligned.
These outcomes reinforce VAMP’s design intent: not as a permanent penalty, but as a mechanism to surface outliers, focus attention on root causes, and drive timely corrective action across the ecosystem.
Stronger controls are enabling stronger growth
VAMP deployment is demonstrating that stronger controls and growth go hand in hand. Acquirers that remediated saw meaningful increases in both approval rates and payment volume, translating into approximately $1.5 billion in incremental payment volume. In contrast, non-remediated acquirers experienced essentially flat approval rates and payment volume growth that was at roughly half the rate of the broader ecosystem.
The takeaway is increasingly clear: reducing fraud and disputes is not at odds with growth…it helps enable it.
Creating tangible value across the ecosystem
Beyond individual remediation outcomes, early VAMP results point to meaningful benefits across issuers, acquirers, and consumers.
For issuers, the overall VAMP ratio declined by more than 10% quarter over quarter, reflecting sustained reductions in fraud and disputes. That improvement translated into more than $30 million in issuer operational savings in a single quarter, driven by deflected disputes and reduced downstream handling costs.
For acquirers, improved risk performance is translating into higher approval rates and a payment volume growth rate that was more than double that of the broader ecosystem, reinforcing that sound controls and strong business outcomes go hand in hand.
For consumers, lower fraud and dispute rates mean fewer negative experiences and a higher likelihood that legitimate transactions are approved, strengthening trust at the point of payment.
Importantly, these results are being driven by real behavioral shifts across the ecosystem, including greater adoption of fraud and predispute tools, intentional movement away from persistently high-risk traffic, and stronger merchant level oversight by acquirers.
Aligning incentives for long-term impact
VAMP is part of a broader set of Visa ecosystem programs designed to ensure that all participants are working toward a common goal — protecting the integrity of payments while enabling innovation and growth. By aligning incentives and encouraging earlier intervention, programs like VAMP help reduce friction, improve efficiency, and strengthen trust across the ecosystem.
Looking ahead
VAMP was designed to rebalance the ecosystem toward earlier intervention, stronger controls, and a better end-consumer experience. While it is still early, the initial data shows that this approach can deliver meaningful improvements without sacrificing growth — and that many clients are already adapting in productive ways.
As Visa continues to invest in technology, standards, and ecosystem programs, our focus remains the same: protecting trust in payments and helping the entire ecosystem move forward together.