PRETA is pleased to confirm that its pan-European e-authorisation solution MyBank is compliant with the Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements of the revised Payments Services Directive (PSD2).
MyBank enables online banking-based payments via SEPA Credit Transfer with immediate confirmation of the transaction. The Strong Customer Authentication has been a key feature from the beginning: the e-authorisation process relies on the highly secure architecture and ease of use of online banking, which is based on state-of-theart web standards and protocols in line with current European technical regulations.
While specific exemptions identified in the regulatory technical standard (RTS) and common secure communication (CSC) will be allowed under PSD2, Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) will become mandatory for the majority of online transactions as of September 2019. Customer identification will have to be based on a combination of at least two, mutually independent factors belonging to different categories: something a customer knows (e.g. a password), is (e.g. a fingerprint) or has (e.g. a smartphone).
“A climate of general uncertainty has spread due to the consequences that the SCA could have on the conversion rate, when as of 14 September 2019 this will become mandatory in the area of digital payments. Many players are investing to activate on time the security systems required to be aligned with the new directive and the online payment solution based on money transfer through banks had the advantage, as for MyBank, of leveraging the security systems implemented by banks to fight against fraud and increase the trust of the entire digital ecosystem with great advantages for the relationship between merchant and customer”, commented Roberto Liscia, Netcomm President and Executive Board Member Ecommerce Europe.
The network of over 250 banks offering MyBank has already integrated identification methods in their online banking systems to effectively meet the MyBank specifications and to be compliant with PSD2 requirements regarding strong customer authentication.
“To accommodate our customers’ needs, we extended our MyBank offering in 2019 not only to merchants but also to customers that would like to pay online with a secure and easy to use tool,” said Alberto Bordiga, Head of Payments Systems at Banca Sella. “In view of the strong customer authentication requirements for online transactions required by PSD2 we are introducing a new strong customer authentication to the payment experience with MyBank that replaces the old token key and makes use of the biometric features available on smartphones like touch ID (fingerprint) or face ID (facial recognition). It is an alternative solution to the strong authentication already in place that our customers can use to confirm transactions through a one-time password that they will receive on their mobile via SMS. The goal we want to achieve”, concludes Bordiga, “is to provide our customers with the best experience in carrying out MyBank payment transactions, directly from their smartphones, as they are an integral part of everyone’s life.”
“SCA has proven to be a valid authentication method for MyBank Payments as it is an effective tool for expressing and managing consent to the processing of personal data, it exempts merchants from keeping any sensitive, transaction-related data and supports the increase of the value of the average purchase ticket. In light of this, MyBank has been the key for us to offer a PSD2-compliant online payment solution, which responds to Italy’s digitisation needs,” said Ivo Martinolli, Head of Development and Banking Organization at Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen dell'Alto Adige SpA.
“SCA meets the secure identification needs of natural and legal persons and has always been a cornerstone of MyBank services. MyBank’s electronic authorisation processes are based on the secure environment and the ease of use provided by online banking and our solution’s continuing growth confirms that we can look at SCA with optimism: to us, it truly represents added value, particularly when it comes to high-value transactions,” commented Giorgio Ferrero, CEO of PRETA, the company that owns and manages MyBank.