Canadian banks and online merchants are to institute a national pilot of Visa's Authenticated Payment Programme for securing Internet consumer payment transactions.
Participants in the pilot include CIBC, La Confédération des caisses populaires et d'économie Desjardins du Québec, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, TD Bank Financial Group, Vancouver City Savings Credit Union and a number of Canadian e-merchants including Dell Canada, DVD Box Office, Grocery Gateway, RadioShack Canada, and Sony of Canada.
The Visa Authenticated Payment Programme is intended to reduce disputes related to online consumer payment transactions. It allows the cardholder’s financial institution to authenticate cardholders online. Merchants and financial institutions in the US and in other markets around the world are piloting the programme.
In Canada, each financial institution is determining the scope of the pilot and will target select merchants and customers as the service is rolled out during the course of the next year.
"Canadian merchants and consumers want additional security and protection for online shopping transactions," says Derek Fry, president, Visa Canada. "Once fully implemented, consumers can feel more confident with enhanced security while merchants will know they are doing business with cardholders who have been verified."
The programme builds on the 2000 Visa Canada launch of Zero Cardholder Liability, a policy eliminating cardholder liability for fraudulent use of their credit card both in the physical and virtual world.