PSD2: Strong Customer Authentication Mandatory as From 2021
More stringent framework conditions have been in force since the beginning of the year for online payment offerings in the context of the implementation of the new EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2). In future, credit card payments may still be effected only using “strong customer authentication” or “2-factor authentication”, for example by entering an additional PIN or password or by fingerprint recognition on your smartphone. This stipulated “double check” is to increase safety on online and card payments and its implementation is mandatory.
Updating credit card data step by step:
SMATRICS customers thus have to store their credit card data in our system once again in order to continue loading and using our services.
1. Please log into the SMATRICS app or at https://smatrics.com/en/customer/login using your customer data.
2. Click on the “Change credit card data” menu item and renew your credit card data.
3. Once the new data has been successfully stored, PSD2 will be enabled and you can start loadings via your online user account as usual.
If you do not store your new credit card data in our system by sunday, 14th March, we will have to disable your online user account for further use, with it still being possible, however, to reactivate your user account using PSD2-compliant authentication.
The Most Relevant Aspects at a Glance
PSD2 is an EU Directive governing and modernizing payment services and payment service companies. Its declared aim is to increase the safety of payment transactions, to strengthen consumer protection and to promote innovations.
What is a strong customer authentication?
The strong customer authentication is also referred to as two-factor authentication. When performing online transactions in future, customers have to confirm that they are actually entitled to use the means of payment for making purchases. Different personal indicators are queried to that end. Two of the three following elements must be covered:
- knowledge - something only I know, e.g. password, PIN or secret question
- possession - something only I possess, e.g. cellphone, wearables, token
- inherence - something personal only I am, e.g. fingerprint, voice recognition, iris recognition, face recognition
The second EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2) will thus ensure increased payment safety on online transactions and greater legal certainty and decrease the fraud and chargeback rates.