If you have tried to open a European merchant account or take on a payment gateway for your online business and been rejected, then a high risk merchant account could be your answer. Most banks and payments providers today tend to reject new online businesses in high risk industries. These merchant account providers don't want to take on new clients just to find that money comes into the company's account and straight out again through chargebacks or refunds. This could put them in danger of penalties from their regulators and could even lead to the loss of their banking license.