Financial Software and Systems Technologies is advancing its payments footprint in Europe through a partnership with Strong Customer Authentication platform provider Okay.
The partnership between FSS and Okay will focus on providing authentication security to consumer payments, specifically transaction validation and authentication through mobile devices.
The compliance deadline for the SCA aspect of the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) in Europe came and went last September, but
PSD2 establishes a new set of regulations pertaining to the European Economic Area, established to improve existing rules for electronic payments and to more easily integrate payments services across the European Union.
SCA, or two-factor authentication, requires merchants to validate the person making a purchase with some form of biometrics, as well as a PIN or authenticated mobile device. Merchants are expected to authenticate all electronic transactions in this manner, with many likely leaning on
Based in Chennai, India, FSS focuses on delivering payments technology in prepaid, debit and credit card management as well as omni-channel acquiring, AI-based payments, SCA and smart reconciliation solutions.
In working with Oslo, Norway-based Okay, FSS says it will be able to ensure SCA standards that meet demands of regulators and thwart sophisticated fraudsters.
"The adoption of Strong Customer Authentication remains a critical success factor in Europe's growing digital payments landscape," Simeon Miles, head of U.K., Ireland and Nordics for FSS, said in a Wednesday press release.
Because adoption of SCA remains in a state of flux throughout Europe, FSS is focused on assuring "our customers are ahead of the curve with the solution we provide," Miles added. "Our partnership with Okay, with their expertise in the SCA mobile space, fully rounds out our offering and makes for a compelling proposition here in Europe."
In addition to protecting consumers' online and mobile purchases, the companies say any work completed through the partnership will also help issuers improve revenues with stronger security that should improve the "basket size of transactions."
"It's within our DNA to continuously power our offering and we do this by bringing the best tech vendors on board as partners," Okay CEO Fabien Ignaccolo said in the release. "FSS is an obvious choice, as they are aligned with our values and are a globally established player that can provide their expertise to help us execute rapidly for our customers."
The partnership will go beyond securing transactions, Ignaccolo added, and will lead to "the refinement of the A to Z of the customer payment experience."
