PSD2 – Keeping you updated

Worldpay aim to keep all our customers up to date on regulatory and legislative changes. Below details the latest on PSD2 and ‘Strong Customer Authentication’, you can access more information at worldpay.com/en-gb/merchants/psd2.

The payments industry has been working with the European regulator, the European Banking Authority (EBA), to prepare for the introduction of ‘Strong Customer Authentication’ as required by Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2).

New timelines for Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)

SCA is a key part of PSD2, and was due to be applied on all electronic transactions in the European Economic Area (EEA) this year. Worldpay has had regular discussions with the European Banking Authority (EBA), European Commission and our national regulators about overall industry readiness for SCA.

It became apparent that, while Worldpay will be fully compliant with SCA by September 2019, many issuers, Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and merchants will not be ready in time.

On 21st June the EBA published a new Opinion¹, which acknowledged that more time is needed.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced the first full SCA rollout plan on 13 August². As expected, they have affirmed an 18 month extension – meaning that full enforcement of SCA in the UK will not take place until 14 March 2021.

New EBA assessment of valid SCA authentication methods

Many issuers had been planning to achieve SCA by using card details and an SMS One Time Password (OTP) to provide 2 factors of authentication. However, in the recent Opinion the EBA also announced that this was not enough.

Issuers will now have to adopt alternative approaches to authentication, which may have further impacts on implementation timeframes.¹

What this means for you

Regardless of these changes and ongoing uncertainty, Worldpay is not stopping or slowing down any of our SCA preparations. We are continuing to make significant investments in new products to ensure that, when the enforcement date arrives, you are able to fully comply with SCA in a manner that minimizes friction and maximizes payment acceptance.

We will update you with further details on the managed rollout process as soon as we receive them. Please visit worldpay.com/en-gb/merchants/psd2 for more information.

¹https://eba.europa.eu/documents/10180/2622242/EBA+Opinion+on+SCA+elements+under+PSD2+.pdf