To combat increases in card fraud, Open GI has incorporated the Address Verification Service (AVS) to check that the billing address and post code of a customer matches the address stored by UK card issuer's records. Supported by Visa and Mastercard, AVS is an important safeguard to help reduce fraudulent transactions online and taken over the telephone. Security is further enhanced by using 3-D Secure, an XML-based protocol specifically designed for online credit and debit card transactions.

Fully meeting the latest requirements of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) regulation, CreditLine Plus offers brokers a fully integrated service for making secure, fast and simple electronic payments by credit and debit cards. Fully integrated with the Core Back-Office, brokers have access to detailed Management Intelligence reporting to analyse and review all card payments made on a policy and track payments by card type.

Acting as a Payment Service Provider (PSP), Open GI, through its partnership with Universal Payment Gateway plc (UPG), fully manages payments to acquiring banks, card schemes and payment networks, allowing brokers to accept card payments while removing any associated security concerns.

Simon Hughes, Sales and Marketing Director, Open GI, commented: "It is vital for brokers to ensure they have a card payment system that adheres to PCI DSS compliance. The consequences of not being compliant could be very costly in terms of an audit and potential fines. CreditLine Plus meets all the compliance requirements and much more in terms of cost benefits, particularly if a broker changes their merchant provider to Lloyds, to bring further cost efficiencies. These latest set of enhancements will be instrumental in helping the industry to reduce fraudulent activity."