Electronic funds transfer networks such as First Data Corp.’s Star are hearing increased chatter from financial institutions about securing and authenticating purchases at point-of-sale retail locations and online.
As a result, banks might emphasize PIN-debit more to reduce fraud levels and improve their bottom line when new interchange rates go into effect on Oct. 1, Julie Saville, Star’s vice president of product management, suggests.
Star and other EFT networks eventually would benefit from the shift, as those companies have always touted PIN-debit’s effect on reducing fraud.
“In general, we’ve always been consistent in talking about the benefits of PIN-debit,” Saville tells PaymentsSource. Star plans to focus more heavily on security in developing future payment technologies, she indicated.
Parts of those plans revolve around CertiFlash, Star’s answer to EMV chip-and-PIN technology.
CertiFlash is a debit card fraud-protection product that uses a contactless chip to produce a unique, one-time card number to authorize point-of-sale transactions.
The one-time numbers replace authentic card-account information to complete a portion of the transaction process. Star reverts the one-time number back into the actual card number at its switch before sending the transaction to the issuer for authorization.
Fremont Bank is set to issue CertiFlash debit cards in the next several months (
Star is working to leverage CertiFlash as a payment option for e-commerce, Saville says.
“We absolutely are developing a road map to support authenticated purchases on the Internet,” she adds.
Meanwhile, Star continues to support other authentication options such as Acculynk Inc.’s PaySecure Internet PIN-debit product.
“Our goal would be to allow each of our issuers a choice of what authentication vendor they want to use,” Saville says.
What do you think about this? Send us your feedback.
