Visa enhanced merchant data requirements 2027: How to comply
Discover Visa’s enhanced merchant data, understand its purpose for businesses, and explore practical steps to meet compliance requirements.
- Published
Visa's Enhanced Merchant Data requirements will require issuers in specified European markets to provide more detailed merchant information to cardholders from 23 January 2027. Following similar requirements introduced by Mastercard in Europe, the new Visa mandate aims to make transactions easier to recognise and understand.
What is the Visa enhanced merchant data mandate?
Visa's Enhanced Merchant Data requirements introduce new standards for how issuers provide merchant information to cardholders. Covered issuers must make enhanced merchant data available through their banking application and/or internet banking interface to help cardholders understand their transactions.
The requirement addresses a familiar problem in digital banking: a transaction can appear on a statement with a payment descriptor that gives the cardholder little useful context about the business behind the payment.
Providing a recognisable merchant name, alongside relevant contact and location information, gives cardholders more context when reviewing their transactions.
For issuers, this puts greater emphasis on the quality of the merchant data behind the transaction experience. The information needs to be available, accurate and presented in a way that customers can easily access and query.
Visa's rules specify the merchant data that issuers must make available and the channels through which cardholders should be able to access it.
The required information includes the merchant’s T/A or DBA name and, where applicable, the merchant outlet address, telephone number and website.
Which Issuers Must Comply With the Visa Mandate?
The Enhanced Merchant Data requirement applies to issuers in specified markets within the Europe region. As the requirement does not cover every European market, issuers should check Visa’s rules to confirm whether their market falls within its scope.
The requirement currently excludes Andorra, Austria, Bear Island, the Channel Islands, Cyprus, Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Iceland, the Isle of Man, Israel, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Türkiye and Vatican City.
For issuers within scope, enhanced merchant data must be made available through the issuer’s:
- Banking application
- Internet banking interface
Why enhanced merchant data matters
- Reduces chargebacks and “friendly fraud”: Clear merchant information reduces disputes caused by unrecognised transactions.
- Boosts cardholder confidence: Cardholders can quickly identify purchases through recognisable merchant names and websites.
- Supports fraud detection: Detailed merchant data improves analytics and helps identify abnormal transaction patterns.
- Standardises payment data: Consistent merchant information benefits issuers, merchants, and fintech platforms.
- Enables smarter banking services: Clean merchant data allows banks to better understand cardholder behaviour, optimise offers, and design more intuitive services tailored to spending patterns.
Visa Mandate Timeline: Deadlines Until 23 January 2027
| Date | Requirement | Description |
|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Subscription and recurring payment controls | Effective. Issuers covered by the relevant Visa requirements must provide the specified cardholder controls |
| January 2027 | Enhanced merchant data | Upcoming. Issuers must make enhanced merchant data available to cardholders through digital banking channels |
Visa Enhanced Merchant Data vs Mastercard AN4569
Mastercard introduced its enhanced merchant data requirements in Europe in 2023, covering merchant name, location, contact details and logo when available. Visa’s upcoming mandate follows a similar focus on improving cardholder recognition and transaction transparency.
| Feature | Visa | Mastercard |
|---|---|---|
| Program Name | Enhanced Merchant Data | AN4569 Revised Standards for Merchant Data |
| Effective Date | January 2027 | October 2023 (Europe) |
| Scope | European region* | European region |
| Data Required | Merchant name, website, phone, address | Merchant name, website, phone, address, logo |
| Commercial Program | CEDP (Level II/III) | Enhanced Scheme Data (Level II/III) |
*The requirement applies to issuers across Europe, with some exclusions, as outlined above.*
How to Comply Before January 2027 With a Transaction Enrichment API
Both Visa and Mastercard’s mandates place greater emphasis on data transparency and clearer transaction information in digital payments. By standardising enriched merchant information across transactions, the networks aim to strengthen trust, reduce fraud, and modernise how financial data is shared and displayed.
By 2027, issuers in the covered markets will need to make the required merchant information available to cardholders through digital banking channels.
Snowdrop’s merchant data enrichment API provides issuers with:
- Accurate and verified merchant name for clear transaction identification
- Brand logos or icons for instant recognition
- Geolocation data via the Google Maps Platform Places API
- Merchant contact details (phone, website, address)
- Multilayer categorisation with customisable categories for each client
- Context-aware AI capabilities through GenIE, supporting more intelligent transaction experiences
Preparing for the 23 January 2027 deadline gives issuers time to assess their existing transaction data, identify gaps and choose the right approach to enrichment.
With reliable merchant data in place, compliance can also support clearer transactions, lower customer effort and more useful digital banking experiences.
FAQs About Visa Enhanced Merchant Data
1. When does the Visa enhanced merchant data mandate take effect?
The Visa Enhanced Merchant Data requirement takes effect on 23 January 2027 for issuers in the covered European markets. This follows Mastercard’s AN4569 requirements, which have applied to covered issuers in Europe since October 2023. Issuers should use the time before the deadline to assess their transaction data and prepare for compliance.
2. What merchant data does Visa require issuers to display?
Visa requires issuers to make the merchant’s T/A or DBA name available to cardholders. For Visa Consumer Cards, the enhanced merchant data also includes the merchant outlet address for card-present transactions, plus the merchant’s telephone number and website where applicable. This information must be available through the issuer’s digital banking channels.
3. Does the Visa mandate apply outside Europe?
The Visa Enhanced Merchant Data requirement applies to issuers in specified markets within the Europe region. It does not cover every European market. Visa excludes certain territories, including Andorra, Austria, Cyprus, Estonia and Türkiye. See the list of excluded countries in the article above and Visa’s latest rules to confirm the applicable scope.
4. Does Visa require a merchant logo?
No. Visa’s Enhanced Merchant Data requirement does not list a merchant logo as one of the required data elements. The core requirements focus on merchant name, website, telephone number and address where applicable. This differs from Mastercard AN4569, which includes merchant logos when available. Issuers can still add logos as an additional enrichment feature.
5. Can one integration cover both the Visa and Mastercard mandates?
Yes. A single transaction enrichment integration can support both Visa Enhanced Merchant Data and Mastercard AN4569 requirements. Snowdrop’s MRS API enriches transaction data with merchant names, locations, contact details and logos, allowing issuers to support the required data for both schemes while also adding enrichment such as categorisation and other merchant insights.
