Adopting EMV 3D Secure protocol benefits entire e-commerce ecosystem

Adopting EMV 3D Secure protocol benefits entire e-commerce ecosystem

A collaborative effort between merchants, banks and card networks is required if the greater e-commerce landscape is to benefit from faster approval rates, low-risk trading environments and a better user experience offered by the new EMV 3-D Secure protocol, says authentication specialist, Entersekt.

The original release of 3-D Secure by the credit card networks took place in 1999 with the intention of combating online card fraud. The protocol was referred to as 3-D Secure 1 and mandated an additional security layer prior to the authorisation of an online transaction. However, it was not uniformly well received.

Konrad Karczmarczyk, Business Development Manager, Entersekt, said: “Merchants have been resistant to adopting EMV 3-D Secure (sometimes referred to as 3-D Secure 2) due to the friction that the first version of the protocol added to their e-commerce experience. While the first version was rolled out with the best of intentions, outdated authentication mechanisms and prompts led to user frustration and high cart abandonment rates as well as false declines. As e-commerce booms in South Africa, it has become more important than ever to depend on improved security – but in a way that doesn’t diminish the user experience.”

Karczmarczyk explained that with the new EMV 3-D Secure version, the card issuing bank completes the consumer verification steps in a matter of seconds and informs the merchant whether the payment can be authorised or not.

The exchange of data between merchants using EMV 3-D Secure and a card issuing bank to authenticate a cardholder, together with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), is designed to significantly reduce the risk of fraud and improve check-out experiences.

“It’s really important for everyone to understand that the sharing of information and data by the merchant serves to drive down false declines, and with the banks better able to control the user experience, they now have more tools to reduce cart abandonment. By sharing more data you will ensure faster processing and more accurate assessments and thereby enable a better customer experience and an increase in sales. It’s in everyone’s interest to share the data and reap the rewards,” Karczmarczyk said.

While EMV 3-D Secure is now mandatory for European merchants selling to EU citizens, the path to adoption in South Africa has not been a wholly seamless affair.

“There seems to be a fair amount of leniency in terms of deadlines from card networks on the deployment of the EMV 3-D Secure protocol. September 2020 was the scheduled date for South Africa implementation, but this has been pushed out to the latter part of 2021, which may see card networks enforce penalties for not implementing the protocol beyond the new deadline,” he warned.

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