Providing robust payment security is a priority as we protect our customers against fraud. Our commitment to ‘Strong Customer Authentication’ is at the forefront of measures we have in place to ensure industry standards are met and exceeded, safeguarding customer payment details.
The Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) initiative is part of the Payment Services Directive being implemented across Europe following the steady increase in payment fraud for nearly a decade. It’s designed to reduce fraud by making electronic payments more secure. The initiative increases payment security by using two factor authentication - simply, it means the customer needs to provide two of the following when making an online payment:
- Something they know – such as a password or pin
- Something they have – such as a one-time code supplied to a mobile phone
- Something they are – such as a fingerprint
Premium Credit has seen the introduction of SCA as an opportunity to align payment journeys for customers whilst at the same time meeting the latest regulatory requirements.
The banking industry is starting to introduce SCA now and will ramp up usage until all transactions are subject to SCA in March next year. We have implemented a fully compliant solution that meets industry standards well ahead of the Spring deadline set by the FCA. Our approach ensures compliance now and removes the risk of payments being declined during the banks ramp up period.
To prepare for this directive, we partnered with a leading payment gateway partner who processes over 600 billion electronic payments transactions a year, and who is fully compliant with the latest Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) regulations ensuring our brokers’ customer data and money remains safe and secure. From 11 June 2021 all our customer payment transactions will use SCA.
Duncan Gray, Premium Credit’s Chief Technology Officer comments: “It’s of paramount importance to keep customer data entrusted to us safe and secure, and our investment in technology is a reflection of the lengths we continue to go to achieve this. We are pleased to have incorporated ‘Strong Customer Authentication’ ahead of the regulator’s deadline ensuring the customer journey remains a smooth, protected and compliant process."
