Updated guidance on Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
UK 
Finance have announced that from 1 June 2021 you must be ready to support Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) if your business accepts online card payments.
If your online checkout for card payments does not meet the new legal requirements for SCA, customers may not be able to buy from you.
Strong Customer Authentication is the way your bank or payment services provider verifies your identity or validates a specific payment instruction is changing. These changes are designed to reduce the risk of a fraudster pretending to be you to steal your money. Your customers' checkout experience will be different, they will be required to complete an extra security step to complete the purchase.
What do I need to do now to minimise business disruption?
- Contact the organisation responsible for processing your online card payments for help getting ready
- Familiarise yourself with SCA and understand the impact on your customers' checkout experience
- Update and test your checkout processes well in advance of 1 June 2021 to minimise your customers' online card payments from being declined
The benefits of SCA:
✓ Reduced fraudulent transactions - reducing your losses✓ Improved customer satisfaction - confidence and loyalty
✓ Shift in liability - from you to your customer's card provider
What could happen if I'm not ready?
X Loss of online sales - customers abandoning or being declined at checkoutX Loss of customers - to more secure competitors
X Reduced customer satisfaction - due to increased friction and payments being declined
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