NYCE Payments Network LLC, a unit of Metavante Technologies Inc., said it plans to test its SafeDebit e-commerce payment system early next year with consumers and merchants.
The system lets consumers make debit card transactions online without sharing their card numbers or PINs. Consumers participating in the test will be able to choose SafeDebit as their payment option on participating merchants' sites.
The consumers will be routed to their financial institution's Web site, where they will log in and generate a single-use virtual debit card number to be presented for payment at the merchant's checkout page.
"Consumers find shopping online convenient, but many choose to avoid it because of security concerns," Steve Rathgaber, NYCE's president and chief operating officer, said in a press release Tuesday.
The San Jose technology firm Verient Inc. has agreed to conduct the test for NYCE.
Many alternative payment products that address the security issue "bypass the financial institution," Mr. Rathgaber said. "SafeDebit puts the demand deposit account squarely at the center of the transaction, helping to stem the defection to alternative payment methods."
