Finland is to become the first country to move to mass market implementation of the Verified by Visa service, as Luottokunta and OKO Bank prepare for nationwide roll out of the card organisation's 3-D Secure technology.
From Q2 2002, OKO Bank's nearly 700,000 online banking customers will be able to register for the Verified by Visa service.
Luottokunta's digital point of sale (POS) service for e-commerce merchants will support Visa 3-D Secure technology enabling its existing 420 online merchants to accept authenticated secure payments with Verified by Visa. It plans to increase this number and enable the majority of Finland's e-tailers to accept authenticated payments.
Kurt Andersen, general manager, Northern Europe, Visa EU says: "This is quite an achievement for Finland to be the first country in Europe to have its leading banks choose Visa's 3-D Secure technology as the best way to provide consumers and merchants with the confidence they need to shop online safely and conveniently."
Under the Verified by Visa service, cardholders confirm their identities using, for example, a password in the same way that today they provide their signature when shopping in the high street. The issuing bank authenticates the cardholder during the sale and notifies the merchant that the buyer is legitimate.