VIRP Compliance - Navigating Visa's Integrity Risk Program
· By PayLegit · Compliance
Understanding Visa's three-tier risk classification system, formerly known as GBPP, and what acquirers must do to maintain compliance in 2025.
Visa's Integrity Risk Program (VIRP) — the successor to the Global Brand Protection Program (GBPP) — represents one of the most structured approaches to merchant risk classification in the payments industry. VIRP organizes merchant risk into three tiers: High Risk (Tier 1), Elevated Risk (Tier 2), and Standard Risk (Tier 3), each with specific monitoring requirements, reporting obligations, and penalty structures.
High-risk categories under VIRP include online gambling, pharmaceutical sales, adult content, cryptocurrency exchanges, and certain financial services. Elevated risk categories cover tobacco, alcohol, firearms, and nutraceuticals. The key challenge for acquirers is that tier classification isn't always straightforward — a merchant selling health supplements, for example, may fall into different VIRP tiers depending on the specific claims made about their products.
Compliance challenges compound when merchants operate across multiple categories or modify their product offerings post-onboarding. A merchant approved as a standard clothing retailer that gradually introduces health supplements with unsubstantiated medical claims creates a VIRP classification challenge that periodic reviews often miss.
PayLegit's automated tier classification engine addresses this gap by continuously analyzing merchant content against VIRP category definitions, detecting category changes in real-time, and generating automated reclassification recommendations with supporting evidence. This continuous approach ensures that acquirers maintain accurate VIRP classifications throughout the merchant lifecycle — not just at the point of onboarding.