Key trends in payment authentication

Consumer demands have significantly increased, both in online and in real. Easy, interconnected payment solutions are now expected. This leaves the merchants constantly to look for ways to provide a seamless checkout experience. The difficulty that merchants face is the cart abandonment. This is with over two thirds of purchases cancelled before checkout, especially due to frustration.

Due to the pandemic, there is change in the consumer needs. The volume of e-commerce transactions increased by 33.6%. Merchants need to balance security with convenience. This is to ensure that transactions are safe. One authentication method that is growing is the biometrics. A user’s face, iris, fingerprint or even voice can be used to authenticate. This has overtaken PIN authentication for securing the access to mobile devices. Examples for this is such as the Google Pay and Apple Pay.

Another use case that combines the ease of contactless with the security of biometrics is payment cards with fingerprint sensors. The security of these cards far exceeds than traditional contactless cards. EMV®* 3-D Secure (EMV 3DS) is another technology that is gaining traction globally. It takes the form of a messaging protocol. This is used to identify and verify cardholders.  Globally, EMV 3DS transactions have grown by 79%. EMVCo has also recently published the EMV 3DS Payment Token Message Extension. This assists card issuers and merchants in improving the authentication experience.

This growth of both EMV 3DS and biometric authentication can be attributed to more than just the requirement for secure and seamless shopping experiences throughout the pandemic. It is also worth noting that no authentication technology itself is a super power. There are multiple considerations to be made to ensure that an effective online transaction risk assessment process is in place. A consultant with a broader view of the payment ecosystem can ensure the bigger picture is taken into account from the start of projects.