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NYCE Payments Network LLC expects to launch a "modest, yet meaningful" pilot of its Internet-debit product named SafeDebit before the end of the year, CardLine sister publication ATM&Debit News has learned. NYCE plans to test SafeDebit with financial-institution employees before a commercial rollout in the first quarter of 2010, NYCE President Steve Rathgaber says. The Secaucus, N.J.-based electronic funds transfer network wants to involve merchants of all sizes in the rollout, he adds. SafeDebit creates virtual debit card information for one-time use and automatically fills in the required payment fields on the merchant's checkout screen. No PIN is required, but the consumer still must use a user name and password similar to online banking login credentials. NYCE believes SafeDebit is an answer to consumers' concerns about the safety of purchasing goods and services on the Internet. Consumers remain "very concerned" about the security of online transactions, and for some consumers their concern prevents them from purchasing online at all, according to a recent survey NYCE commissioned (CardLine, 7/10). "The whole premise of SafeDebit is to provide a more secure [payment] mechanism through the use of pseudo numbers and one-time passwords to eliminate the need to use a PIN or anything that is subject to easy theft," Rathgaber says.
