To truly manage risk at scale, you cannot treat security as a single checkpoint; it must be a continuous, evolving process. At Framlops, we specialize in the Payments Risk Lifecycle, providing an end-to-end framework that protects every dollar from the moment a customer clicks “pay” to the final settlement and beyond.
With over 20 years of experience managing risk for global giants, we’ve mapped the definitive lifecycle for high-performance fintechs and payment providers.
The 4 Stages of the Payments Risk Lifecycle
1. Onboarding & Pre-Transaction (The Gatekeeper)
Risk management starts before the first transaction ever happens.
- KYC/KYB Excellence: Robust identity verification for individuals and businesses to prevent synthetic identity fraud.
- Sanctions Screening: Real-time checking against global watchlists (OFAC, PEP, etc.) to ensure AML compliance from Day 1.
- Risk Scoring: Assigning dynamic risk profiles to users based on device fingerprinting and behavioral history.
2. Real-Time Transaction Monitoring (The Shield)
This is where the battle is won or lost—in the milliseconds it takes to authorize a payment.
- Velocity Checks: Identifying rapid-fire transactions that signal card testing or bot attacks.
- Anomaly Detection: Using AI to spot patterns that deviate from a user’s “normal” spending behavior.
- FRAML Integration: Simultaneously checking for both immediate fraud signatures and long-term money laundering patterns.
3. Post-Transaction & Dispute Management (The Recovery)
Even with perfect prevention, disputes and chargebacks are a reality of the payment ecosystem.
- Chargeback Mitigation: Automating the representment process to recover lost revenue from “friendly fraud.”
- Clawback Operations: Efficiently managing the return of funds in cases of confirmed criminal activity.
- Root Cause Analysis: Feeding data from disputed transactions back into the “Gatekeeper” stage to strengthen future defenses.
4. Continuous Compliance & Reporting (The Trust)
Risk management is a conversation with regulators as much as it is a technical challenge.
- Automated SAR Filing: Streamlining Suspicious Activity Reports to maintain good standing with financial authorities.
- Audit Readiness: Maintaining a transparent, immutable trail of every risk decision made by your systems.
- Policy Refinement: Updating your risk appetite based on seasonal trends, new regulations, and emerging threat vectors.
Why “End-to-End” is the Only Way Forward
Fragmented risk solutions leave gaps. If your onboarding team doesn’t talk to your chargeback team, you lose money. Our lifecycle approach ensures:
- Reduced Friction: Legitimate customers breeze through, while bad actors are stopped early.
- Cost Efficiency: One unified platform reduces the need for multiple expensive software subscriptions.
- Scalability: A framework built for 1,000 transactions that works exactly the same for 1,000,000.
