At Shopblocks, we've been preparing for Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) for some time. A recent 18 month extension to the deadline doesn't change things for us and all of our customers are compliant by default. But if you're confused about SCA and what it means for you, read on.
What is SCA?
In a nutshell, SCA is part of the Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) which was published in 2018. Its objective is to make online payments more secure and reduce fraud.
It means online sellers will have to seek an exrtra level of validation to verify the authenticity of a payment before making the sale.
The news rules mean that payments must go through two independent sources of validation. This is often referred to as "two-factor authentication."
These extra validation checks must include one each from two of the three categories below:
- Something the customer knows such as a PIN
- Something they have like a card or a phone
- Something that is a part of them such as their fingerprint or facial recognition
When's the deadline for being compliant?
The official deadline was given as the 14th September 2019. However, in August 2019 the FCA announced an 18 month "phased implementation" in the UK to allow online retailers to get ready.
This is because research suggests a lack of preparedness and the potential for large volumes of transactions to fail as a result.
However, the FCA's wording does not suggest this is the deadline moving, but more that implementation is being phased.
We interpet this as:
- Ecommerce websites are expected to get ready as quickly as possible for SCA
- Anyone not compliant on 14th September is unlikely to be penalised
- All retailers are expected to be completely compliant at the end of the 18 month phased implementation period
What do Shopblocks Customers need to do?
Shopblocks customers don't need to do anything about it. It's all taken care of by us, so you can simply carry on running your business!
