November 25, 2025
Visa enhanced merchant data requirements 2027: How to comply
Visa is following Mastercard’s AN4569 mandate by introducing new global requirements for enhanced merchant data. Following Mastercard’s launch of its enhanced payment data initiative in Europe in 2023, Visa has announced a European rollout that will require issuers to display enriched merchant data by January 2027.
Both initiatives aim to improve payment transparency, reduce cardholder disputes, and enhance the overall user experience by giving consumers clear, recognisable information about their purchases.
What is the Visa enhanced merchant data mandate?
The Visa enhanced merchant data mandate requires issuers to display detailed and recognisable merchant information within cardholders’ digital banking environments, including mobile apps, online banking portals, and digital wallets.
By 2027, every Visa transaction must include:
✅ Merchant Name (DBA or T/A) – The ‘doing business as’ or ‘trading as’ name that customers recognise, not an internal code.
✅ Merchant Website – A valid, public-facing URL.
✅ Merchant Phone Number – A direct customer contact number.
✅ Merchant Address – Required for card-present (in-store) transactions.
This information must be accurate, consistent, and clearly presented, replacing the generic or confusing descriptors that often lead to “unrecognised transaction” disputes and friendly fraud. Cardholders should be able to easily access this data when reviewing their transactions.
While the mandate focuses on basic data enrichment, issuers should treat this as a first step toward full payment transparency and better digital experiences. With the right partner, banks can go beyond the basics, adding merchant logos, geolocation, and richer contextual data, to make transaction information intuitive, recognisable, and engaging.
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.
- Enable 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 implementation timeline
| Date | Requirement | Description |
|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Recurring payment and subscription management controls | Issuers must enable cardholders to identify and manage recurring or credential-on-file payments. |
| January 2027 | Enhanced merchant data | Issuers must display merchant name, website, phone, and address (where applicable) in cardholder-facing digital channels. |
For business and commercial cards, Visa is also launching the Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP) in 2025. Merchants that provide full Level II and Level III data (such as item descriptions, taxes, and shipping info) can qualify for lower interchange rates.
Mastercard AN4569 mandate VS Visa merchant data mandate: A compliance overview
Mastercard set the standard with its enhanced merchant data mandate in 2023, which covers merchant name, address, phone, website, and logos. Visa’s upcoming mandate follows the same principles, focusing on improving cardholder recognition and reducing disputes.
| 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) |
Visa’s 2027 merchant mandate builds on Mastercard’s earlier success, extending data transparency and consumer clarity to a global scale.
How to choose the right partner to enrich your data and comply in time
Both Visa and Mastercard’s mandates signal a fundamental shift toward data transparency and consumer clarity in 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, detailed merchant transparency will no longer be optional – it will be the new global standard for digital payments.
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
- Intelligent, context-aware AI platform – explore more
Head of Digital Marketing
Fintech-focused digital marketer with a passion for travel, hiking, and history. Leading digital strategy and social media for a tech company. Always exploring the latest industry trends.