Acquiring is governed commercially by the revised Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry (processor switching, complaint timelines) and scheme rules. Merchant surcharging is permitted up to a cap following the class-action settlement. Direct local acquiring is expanding (Nuvei went live as a direct acquirer in Canada in June 2025). Private-ABM acquirers were newly brought into the FINTRAC/PCMLTFA reporting-entity regime effective October 1, 2025.
Open gap — wpm-int-3US state-level divergence vector not actively searched this cycle due to budget constraints.This Sentinel-feed gap should be cross-checked against FIM's parallel CA output.
Standing sub-brief · as of 27 June 2026161 words · last cycle 2026-06-27
Merchant Acquiring & Risk
The acquiring perimeter is expanding on both regulatory and commercial fronts. Effective October 1, 2025, entities providing acquirer services for private ABMs must register as MSBs, implement a compliance program, verify client identities, maintain records and report prescribed transactions, addressing Cullen Commission (2022) cash-laundering risks. This brings a previously under-supervised acquiring sub-segment — private ATMs — into the PCMLTFA reporting-entity perimeter, with the revised Code of Conduct (October 30, 2024) governing processor switching and complaint timelines for acquirers. Commercially, Nuvei went live as a direct payment acquirer in Canada on June 30, 2025, allowing Canadian businesses to process domestic transactions locally without third-party processors, improving approval rates and interchange-cost predictability — a dated entry of clear commercial significance.
Outlook
This is a methodology-flagged under-indexed area: the private-ABM PCMLTFA expansion is evidenced but thinly sourced (Tier-2 law-firm only), and acquirer stress, chargeback dynamics and high-risk MCC exposure in Canada are under-covered. Prioritise deeper sourcing on the next refresh.