Advocacy

MRC Advocacy: The Voice of the Merchant

Making Merchants' Voices Heard

Member advocacy is of the utmost importance to the MRC. The work we are undertaking on behalf of our merchant members continues to benefit the payments industry across the board.

As the ever-evolving eCommerce industry grows in complexity and the challenges it needs to overcome increase, implementing new payments regulations, standards, and policies makes navigating the payments ecosystem even harder.

New technologies and fraud trends affect payments in unprecedented ways. As the Voice of the Merchant, the MRC makes the merchants’ voices heard. We continuously work with regulators and legislators to ensure they understand the impact their decisions may have on the merchants and the already complicated ecosystem.

The MRC is focused on several key areas:

  • Providing MRC members with the most up-to-date information on new payments regulations, rules, mandates, standards, and policies
  • Providing a strong, collective merchant voice when engaging financial regulators and policymakers globally
  • Building and maintaining strong relationships with the card networks
  • Redefining industry issues to enable merchants to resolve problems better (e.g., working with eCommerce super-brands to redefine Friendly Fraud to First-Party Misuse and effecting the change at the industry level)
  • Addressing data privacy, security, and consumer protection matters

MRC members save on registrations and sponsorships.

Become a member today!
Apply for Membership
JOIN THE ADVOCACY, POLICY AND COMPLIANCE COMMUNITY GROUP and help us bring the collective Merchant Voice to the various authorities.
Be part of the MRC mission to change the payments industry for the better and to bring merchants and consumers to the forefront of global discussions in advance of any policy implementations. Sign up today!

We Are Strongest When We Join Forces

The MRC focuses on advocacy work and education while illustrating the importance of having the right team to represent the voice of the merchant.  Our approach to problem-solving centers around...
Pieces of Pie Chart - Collaboration Icon Advocacy
Collaboration
Having and open and collaborative mindset in conversations with different industry stakeholders
Fact Based Conversation
Fact-Based Conversations
Having fact-based and data-driven conversations, discussing possible solutions, looking for potential pitfalls, and planning to pivot
Win Win Solutions
Win-Win Solutions
Achieving common ground among all stakeholders - increasing acceptance, reducing fraud, and creating the best possible consumer experience

Our Global Advocacy Initiatives

 Continuing to build bridges by having fact-based conversations.

RBI

Reserve Bank of India

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced a new regulation in 2021 affecting subscription merchants. How did the MRC get involved on behalf of the merchants, and what were the results?
Click for the Full Story and Latest Updates
PSD2/SCA

PSD2/SCA

PSD2/SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) requirements were mandated by the European Commission and the deadline for compliance enforcement was December 2020.  How did the MRC engage with EU regulators to advocate for readiness-based enforcement data change?
For the Full Story and Highlights Click Here
First-Party Fraud

First-Party Misuse

The MRC Merchant-Issuer Executive Committee identified several challenges impacting both merchants and issuers.  One such issue was the growing problem of so-called friendly fraud.
Click Here to Read More
Cybersecurity

Cybercrime

The MRC is working with law enforcement agencies to address cyber threats and spread information about the emerging types of cybercrime.
Click Here to Learn More
Card Network Updates

Card Network Updates

The MRC has established strong relations with each of the major card networks, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.  MRC works together especially with Visa and Mastercard to advocate on behalf of merchants, to ensure the merchant voice is heard as scheme rules are being considered, raising visibility on the impact of rule changes on merchants.
Click Here to Learn More
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