A merchant portfolio is the complete group of merchants that an acquirer, payment facilitator or independent sales organisation has signed up and services. Providers analyse their portfolio by industry, size, region, risk classification and processing volume to understand where their revenue comes from and where their risk is concentrated. Measures tracked across the portfolio include total payment volume, net revenue, attrition, fraud levels and chargeback ratios, since card networks hold acquirers responsible for merchants whose disputes or fraud exceed set thresholds. Portfolios are also business assets: independent sales organisations often earn ongoing residual income from the merchants they have signed and may sell all or part of a portfolio to another provider, with the price usually based on a multiple of those residuals. A balanced portfolio spreads exposure across many low-risk merchants, while one concentrated in high-risk merchants needs more reserves and monitoring.