EMV® 3DS: what do domestic schemes need to know?

Domestic schemes in many countries have grown from strength to strength, digitalizing and innovating to keep up with their international counterparts. One area where it is especially important to keep pace is cardholder authentication. It is imperative that domestic schemes provide state of the art security without inhibiting the user experience.

To fight against fraud and improve user experiences with frictionless authentication, many schemes are considering adopting EMV® 3DS to address the challenges of card-not-present transactions. So, why are so many domestic schemes making the move, and what do they need to consider to achieve a seamless migration?

What is driving migration?

EMV 3DS aims to increase approval rates, reduce fraud and improve the consumer authentication experience. However, as authentication requirements, cultural differences, market drivers and political factors vary by country, each domestic scheme will have different motives for migration to meet the unique needs of their payment ecosystem.

One example of a factor driving EMV 3DS migration is regulation such as Europe’s PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). However, this does not mean that EMV 3DS migration should not be prioritized outside of Europe. While regulation such as PSD2 is not universal yet, other regions could follow Europe’s lead or adopt similar multifactor authentication requirements. Migrating to EMV 3DS now can allow non-European domestic schemes to enjoy the benefits of this global practice and set themselves up for seamless migration if regulation is introduced.

The importance of aligning with international requirements

While domestic schemes are able to provide a solution that is far more tailored to local requirements than their international counterparts, this has the potential to create friction. To allow cross-border payments or produce co-branded cards with international schemes, unique payment architectures, processes, and regulations must all be compatible with international requirements.

When migrating to EMV 3DS, expert knowledge is required to analyze the gap between a domestic scheme’s incumbent systems and the requirements of EMV 3DS. From here, a scheme must develop a practical migration plan for the transition that ensures compliance with relevant regulation. This allows them to support frictionless authentication and reduce fraud for their stakeholders.

The challenge of certification

Even with a clear migration plan, managing the certification process can be cumbersome. Ensuring that the personnel supporting member banks and merchants have the appropriate soft skills and expertise is crucial to minimizing time to market.

To navigate this, managed services and consulting support can help guide domestic schemes and their stakeholders through the certification and onboarding process. Meanwhile, leveraging cloud-based tools that can automate testing help to ensure a seamless certification journey and reduce lead-time for member onboarding.

Moving forward with a clear migration strategy

EMV 3DS gives domestic schemes an opportunity to create the seamless, secure payment authentication experience to rival their international counterparts. A clearly defined strategy along with a properly designed test solution can help schemes shorten migration time and ensure seamless implementation.