It’s ironic that COVID-19 is being used as a reason to delay SCA given that it is has also increased ecommerce transactions and caused many people who were not previous online shoppers to start using ecommerce. Many of the users pushed to use e-commerce by current circumstance will not be as digitally savvy as established online shoppers and that in itself elevates risk” warns Sarah Rutherford, Identity Solutions Expert at FICO. “Card issuers are currently wrestling with how they give these newbie users good shopping experiences with the need to prevent fraud. As we move to the new deadline they will then be faced with further upheaval as they try to retrain them and the rest of the population on how security happens.
The impact on payment security of the deadline depends on how merchants react, the deadline has been moved but that doesn’t mean that merchants can’t individually deploy it sooner and a very small number already have. It all hangs on when merchants decide to deploy 3D Secure in their ecommerce environments. The longer they leave it the longer transactions have the higher fraud risk that Strong Customer Authentication looks to tackle. The problem is that there is limited incentive for merchants to go early, as soon as a Merchant introduces 3D Secure then they are potentially introducing friction into the customer journey and they are worried that will cause them to lose sales. The deadline could mean that most merchants make a last-minute dash to comply and that could impact them if they need help and support from their 3D Secure provider – all at the same time.
FICO is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions, developing technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. The company has a wealth of subject matter experts who can provide opinion and thought leadership; it also commissions research and insight into both business and consumer opinion on a wide range of issues, from identity management to how customer interactions can be managed as the global economy emerges from the coronavirus lock down”.
