he two partners of Integrity Bankcard Consultants, Inc. in Wheaton, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, understand this dilemma. They provide a full range of risk-management services to companies and individuals in the financial services industry. They provide the operational backbone to let agents take care of the selling.

"Salesmen are not always familiar with the operational end of the business," IBC President David H. Press said. "We put together the aspects that agents might not have experience in. This is the part of the business that nobody likes."

IBC works with established agents and also will help start-up ISOs set up shop, assisting with such tasks as selecting a business site, filling out applications to sponsor banks and processors, developing operations policies, conducting background checks when hiring front-line staff or senior management, and reviewing contracts with equipment vendors.

Even if ISOs have experience in regulatory compliance and risk evaluation, the recent news from the corporate world demonstrates the need to focus on fraud and loss. From CMS going into receivership for misrepresenting information in its merchant contracts to Humboldt Bank being liberated from millions of dollars by an ATM maintenance man to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) closing a bank because of $13 million in chargebacks racked up by an ISO with high-risk telemarketing accounts, losses in credit and debit card fraud are in the billions. They affect banks, merchants, individual consumers - and ISOs.

Press and his partner, Greg Brown, know the financial services industry well, and each contributes a different perspective and area of expertise to working with clients. They've known each other for 14 years and worked together for Peach Tree Bancard Corp. in Downers Grove, Ill.; Brown served as general counsel, and Press managed the security and investigations unit, where he learned a lot about fraudulent merchant activity and initiated hundreds of prosecutions. Press also has been a licensed private investigator for more than eight years.

The two men stayed friends after leaving Peach Tree. Brown went to England and worked in the telecom industry there, and Press was just forming IBC in 2000 when Brown returned. In their new joint venture, they have focused solely on helping acquirers minimize loss because of fraud and chargebacks.

"All our clients are in the financial services industry," Press said. "If you spread yourself too thinly, you may cover a lot of ground but you won't cover it well."

Their backgrounds let them approach bankcard security like no other consulting firm. Press and Brown do not offer general consulting services to businesses in other industries. Through analyzing the processes of underwriting, security and chargebacks, the two offer a "soup to nuts" solution to strategy, management and day-to-day nuts and bolts. Their acquiring clients include ISOs, member banks, insurance companies or any entity responsible for losses because of chargebacks and fraud.

Press says their business is increasing even though they don't actively advertise.

"There are very few companies that have the experience that Greg and I do," he said. "There's not a lot of competition. Inquiries have at least doubled recently - 75 to 80 percent of those calls are from agents currently selling for other ISOs looking to go out on their own. The remainder of the calls are coming from banks or ISOs with chargeback issues or wondering if they're following procedures and complying with policies. Because of the CMS situation with the FTC, a lot of ISOs want to make certain they're in compliance."

When an ISO or bank calls IBC, Press and Brown will recommend suggestions to follow and implement the actions necessary, or they will provide any combination of those services the client requests. That can include everything from third-party audits, conducting on-site reviews of processes, complete merchant risk assessments and portfolio reviews, background checks, FTC audit prevention analysis and helping an ISO register as a third-party servicer with Visa or comply with Visa standards.

Press said that when they get a call for a consultation, they go to the location and, if necessary, follow the client's processes all the way through every department to look for gaps in the existing system. They'll look at the client's merchant lists, risk policies, customer-service calls and retrieval methods to determine where problems might lie. Are they equipment related? Are they information related?

Brown said that, more often than not, they find "the mistakes are not truly deliberate. There are a lot of things businesses are required to do that maybe they haven't gotten around to doing. When banks visit operations to do audits, for example, they may miss things because they're so close to the business."

Press added, "We find that clients think they're doing all the right things. We know their staff time is limited. We are able to get them into compliance quickly or assure them they're doing everything they should be."

After it conducts the initial risk assessment, IBC provides the client with a detailed report of its review, offers recommended solutions and an action timeline. Press and Brown will assist with putting the changes in place or will give the client advice about what to do.

"We design and implement programs for each client. Each has its own strengths, weaknesses and challenges in their risk factors, such as the number of personnel and the level of staff expertise," Press said.

Once that initial assessment is completed and a plan of action is determined, IBC may bring in independent contractors to help with various factors of the business, based on their specific area of expertise and geographical location.

"These are people we've known for years," Press said. "For example, we work with a couple of contractors who are good with computer networking, who can check system integrity and set up measures to prevent hacking of merchant applications or install firewalls for e-commerce sites. We have others who are very familiar with big processors, and one who specializes in financial planning who works with CFOs."

Brown's role as corporate attorney with Peach Tree got him indirectly involved in financial services, he said, and his legal background has enabled him to become more involved with underwriting and risk.

"We have become very creative and more aggressive in our approaches to merchants," he said. "For example, with regard to merchant processing, the wording and terms of contracts is so important. You don't want to have to continue to process for a merchant you don't really want to be dealing with.

"There was an instance where a merchant went bankrupt, but the bank couldn't terminate the agreement because of the contract. Because of CMS and the FTC, it's time everyone really starts looking at their merchant processing agreements, and it's a good time to review everything they're doing."

Brown added, "I understand the business organizational structure very well. I'm surprised by how much people don't know about the status of companies they're working with - who is behind the partnerships and corporations."

Because IBC gets so many calls about this, its Web site includes a link to search state-by-state for the names of principles involved, as well as former businesses owned, shareholders, company status and more.

"ISOs can go to this link and see if the companies they're working with are registered as they should be. They can see how many in their portfolios aren't who they say they are," Brown said.

Even though IBC works solely with acquirers and ISOs, it doesn't have a sales force of its own. It has successfully established a reputation for itself based on word-of-mouth, client referrals and advertising in The Green Sheet Resource Guide.

"We find we have a lot of association with other companies through our clients," Press said. "Maybe they'll refer us to someone else after we work with them. Maybe we can use their products or services in our recommendations to other clients. It's networking.

"We don't have a sales team because we know what we're capable of better than anyone else and we don't make promises we can't deliver on."