Streamline Merchant Services, the card processing arm of Royal Bank of Scotland, has gone live with Visa's online authentication service, Verified by Visa.
The card acquirer believes that merchants that trade across the Internet will have a strong incentive to enrol for Verified by Visa: the service expects to reduce e-commerce disputes by up to 80%, saving UK retailers £55 million a year. The online authentication system identifies cardholders trading online through the use of a personal password.
Retailers offering Verified by Visa are no longer liable for cardholder not present chargebacks made by European cardholders. As a result, says the bank, all participating retailers will benefit from guaranteed payment for online transactions regardless of whether the cardholder has signed up for the service or not.
Tony Surridge, director, retailer card services, the Royal Bank of Scotland describes the Verified by Visa initiative as a key global solution for online payment authentication. "Online fraud is a real customer concern and our introduction of Verified by Visa demonstrates our commitment to protecting the future of online retail," he says.
Streamline has in excess of 100,000 merchants processing between them more than 1.75 billion transactions per annum.