Important information for ALL online retailers

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is a new set of rules that will change how consumers and business customers confirm their identity when making purchases online to help further protect them from fraud.

From 14 September 2019, changes were introduced to online payments in order to provide further protection to customers. However, in the UK the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) provided a longer lead-time for enforcement, due to the complexity of implementing SCA. At the request of the FCA, a Programme Management Office (PMO) - housed at UK Finance with participation from the BRC and other industry representatives - was established to coordinate the UK industry managed roll-out plan agreed in the summer of 2019. The European Banking Authority (EBA) similarly allowed for regulatory flexibility on enforcement until 31 December 2020 in the rest of the EU.

All merchants, acquirers, gateways, and issuing banks or payment service providers must be ready to support SCA from this date, to avoid consumers experiencing declined e-commerce transactions and possible impacts on your businesses.

The PMO has published an initial communication on this issue which offers information on what action should be taken by relevant parts of the industry.

We strongly encourage businesses with an online presence to read the content of this communication and to get in touch with your payment provider (otherwise known as an acquirer or gateway).