Innovative Payment Solutions Tailored for High-Risk Industries

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Businesses in high-risk industries have always had a difficult time finding the right payment processors. Even from before the era of the Internet, the very definition of a “high-risk industry” has included the fact that making secure payments is sometimes difficult for both sides of the transaction. There have just always been, and likely will always be, malefactors who try to “game the system” for their benefit.
And, as technology keeps advancing, payment processors and such malefactors have locked into a sort of an arms race, with the latter constantly trying to find new ways to hack and scam, and the former continuing to improve the security and reliability of payment processing.
This constant drive for finding innovative payment solutions tailored for high-risk industries is what makes some payment processors stand out from the rest. To that end, let’s examine what are some of the key innovations and solutions for complex industries that good payment processors employ nowadays to give businesses in high-risk industries the best and safest experience possible.
Key Payment Processing Innovations Businesses In High-Risk Industries Should Look For
The landscape of payment processors changes over time, with new ones rising to the top every year while others fall off due to insufficient innovations and security. Some payment processors have stood the test of time so far, however, and continue to offer their clients new and improved services.
1. Innovative Fraud Detection and Prevention
If there is one key factor that makes a payment processor good for high-risk industries, it’s fraud prevention. A payment processor businesses can trust is one that is constantly responding to advanced cyber threats and continues to improve and evolve its own fraud prevention technologies.
Today, this evolution includes the incorporation of machine learning models, AI-powered algorithms, tokenization, biometric authentication, and more. AI tools, in particular, have proven to be a great way to analyze transaction patterns and scan for irregular behaviors that can lead to both fraud and chargebacks.
Chargebacks and false positives, in addition to fraud, have always been a major issue for businesses in high-risk industries, and have always led to significant financial loss over time. As such, PayCompass and other good payment processors know that innovative fraud detection and prevention tools are a must.
2. Data Privacy and Security Tools
Good payment security isn’t just a matter of protecting the payment processes themselves, it also includes overall data privacy. Data breaches are unfortunately very common in both high-risk industries and in payment processing, and a good processor has to include very robust and strong encryption to help secure their customers’ data, both in storage and during transactions.
Encryption and tokenization are the key ways for a good payment processor to do that, as they make it more difficult for cyber criminals to pinpoint, steal, and decipher customers’ sensitive information. There are even plenty of regulations and industry standards in this regard, and using a payment processor that doesn’t comply with standards like the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), for example, is usually ill-advised.
3. Mobile Wallets and Contactless Payments
Servicing businesses in high-risk industries is about more than just security and privacy too, of course. As the needs and preferences of such businesses’ customers also change and evolve, an innovative payment processor needs to stay up to par with customers’ expectations.
Mobile wallets and contactless payments are a prime example of that. Even though they have been around for a while and have been getting increasingly more popular in high-risk industries, many payment processors still don’t support such tools. Things such as Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies allow businesses to offer easy and comfortable payment methods that can be much more secure than any other type of transaction.
4. Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Integration
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain continue to rise in popularity in high-risk industries, and payment processors today need to not only support such solutions but to do so in efficient and safe ways. By definition, blockchain allows for immutable and transparent transaction data, which reduces the risk of fraud, but that’s only as long as it’s implemented adequately.
Additionally, with new cryptocurrencies emerging onto the market, a good payment processor needs to be adaptable enough to support whichever cryptocurrency the customers of a given high-risk business want to use, be it Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, or any other.
5. Fingerprint Scanning and Other Biometric Authentications
Fingerprint scanning and facial recognition have become the standard for many modern devices and are just as important for safe payment processing.
They are unlikely to ever (or soon) fully replace passwords and PINs, as the latter two must still be an option for special circumstances, but by employing biometric authentications more and more, innovative payment processors can greatly reduce the risks of fraud and verify transactions, all while making the customer experience faster and more convenient.

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