January 31, 2020 sees the UK ‘leave’ the European Union and begin the process of determining its future trading relationship with EU member countries and indeed the rest of the world. And it’s worth remembering that EU regulations tend to have impact on countries both within and without the European Union.
However, the December 2020 deadline for UK banks and retailers to implement the EU’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) rules within its Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) is already part of UK legislation. What’s more, after March 2021, European businesses of all sizes – including those in a post-Brexit Britain - could face prosecution for not implementing these EU regulations.
In order not to fall foul of the rules, organisations need to act now - they can’t leave it to others to manage the situation and their compliance. Companies have to implement the processes themselves.
EU’s SCA rules will have international impact
What’s more the adoption of PSD2 in a non-EU country such as Turkey adds to the growing evidence that where the EU leads, others will follow. The Chip and Pin technology commonplace in Europe is now rolling out across the US, and the EU’s GDPR regulations are having a far-reaching impact with Facebook indicating its intentions to apply the rules worldwide.
In addition, the new California Consumer Privacy Act echoes the EU’s GDPR rules, and will make an impact on American businesses way beyond the boundaries of the state. It could also have a knock-on effect to US retailers when it comes to EMV liabilities. Certainly, once it is live in Europe, it seems certain that SCA will quickly make an impact outside of the Union’s borders. Wherever they are based, businesses that comply with SCA rules will be able to trade freely in domestic and international markets.
Smooth the process to avoid lost baskets
Of course, retailers worldwide are concerned about adding friction to their online transactions. Some 27 per cent of those shoppers who abandoned an online purchase in 2019 did so because the e-commerce process was too complicated. Adding an extra-layer to the process to improve security and combat fraud is therefore only cautiously welcomed by retailers. It can be viewed as a business risk to add more steps into the purchase chain.
Therefore, those retailers who make that extra layer easy and friction-free for consumers will not only mitigate that risk, they will have an edge over their competitors.
Why Onescan?
Our Onescan payment process fully meets all the PSD2 and SCA rules. It uses the camera in a Smartphone to trigger an authentication. Consumers do not have to download anything in advance, set up an account or register with Onescan – they just need their phone and their payment card. Onescan is fast, simple to use and completely secure.
Download our FREE Guide on PSD2 and find out more.