You may have noticed that there are now additional authentication steps required when taking and requesting payment from your customers; This is because of the introduction of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).
What is SCA?
Strong Customer Authentication is a new requirement for authenticating online payments that was introduced in connection to the EU’s revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). It aims to reduce fraudulent payments online.
These requirements officially went into effect on 14 September 2019 and the European Banking Authority mandated that these requirements should be fully enforced by 1 January 2021. Irish and UK institutions are now enacting these requirements.
SCA requires an additional authentication step from individuals when making payments online. Customers will not always be asked to complete this step, but it is more likely with first time customers or high value amounts.
What does this look like?
01 Knowledge: something you know – such as Password or PIN
02 Possession: something you own – Mobile Phone, Tablet or Hardware Token.
03 Inherence: something you are – Fingerprint or Facial Recognition.
How will this affect your business?
With SCA, you are more likely to experience failed payments. As SCA is being implemented gradually, customers may not yet be aware of this change and will need to set this up with their banks.
If you are experiencing repeated failed authentications while taking payments, we recommend sending a payment request. If Authentication continues to fail, customers have likely not set up their SCA and should be directed to contact their bank by phone or online to enable online payments.
What do I need to do?
Nothing! SCA needs to be set up by customers in order to use their credit or debit card online. As with any new system, it will take some time for customers to onboard.
However, if your customers are experiencing this issue, we have included links below, specific to their issuing bank, that will help your customers to enable their online payments
Bank of Ireland: https://www.bankofireland.com/sca/
Permanent TSB: https://www.permanenttsb.ie/psd2/sca/
AIB: https://aib.ie/secure-internet-shopping
Ulster Bank: https://www.ulsterbank.ie/security-centre/sca.html
