Nyce today announced that it has signed a contract with Verient to conduct a pilot of Nyce's SafeDebit, an e-commerce payment solution that will enable online shoppers to make purchases on the Internet without sharing their PIN or account information at the merchant's Web site.
NYCE plans to pilot SafeDebit beginning in early 2009. NYCE Payments Network, LLC, is a leading U.S. electronic payments network and a Metavante (NYSE:MV) company. Metavante is a leading provider of banking and payments technology.
The SafeDebit solution provides consumers with a more secure way to access their deposit accounts for Internet purchases. The solution keeps sensitive information in the hands of the consumer's bank or credit union, entrusting security to the trusted payments system. At the same time, it uses familiar e-banking interfaces and the established electronic payments infrastructure to deliver online, real-time transactions to merchants, helping to facilitate increased sales opportunities.
In connection with the pilot, consumers who want to use the SafeDebit option when making purchases online will choose "NYCE SafeDebit" on the merchant's Web site during the checkout process. The system then seamlessly redirects them to their financial institution's online banking site, where they log on as usual through that site's existing security protocols. The SafeDebit system then generates virtual debit card information for one-time use and automatically populates the merchant's checkout screen with this information, with no additional keystrokes required from the consumer. The consumer's actual debit card number is never disclosed to the merchant, and a PIN is not required for these transactions.
"With SafeDebit, NYCE is bringing a new technology solution to the e-commerce market to help both merchants and financial institutions generate new revenue opportunities," said Steve Rathgaber, NYCE president and chief operating officer. "Consumers find shopping online convenient, but many choose to avoid it because of security concerns. Alternative payment products are addressing those concerns at the same time they bypass the financial institution. SafeDebit puts the demand deposit account squarely at the center of the transaction, helping to stem the defection to alternative payment methods using the most natural system -- the NYCE payments network, whose singular objective is moving real-time payments in a secure fashion."
Because SafeDebit integrates with a financial institution's online banking product to authenticate the consumer, SafeDebit also has the potential to draw more consumers to an institution's online banking product by activating non-users who want a more secure way to make Internet purchases.