Visa has agreed to buy e-commerce authentication firm Cardinal Commerce to beef up security in card-not-present channels whether through a browser, mobile app, or connected device.
As Visa moves to integrate tokenisation into Visa Checkout over the next 18 months, the card scheme says the addition of Cardinal will allow more seamless integration of 3-D Secure and delivery of new fraud mitigation capabilities to merchants.
Mark Nelsen, senior vice president of risk and authentication products at Visa, says: “This strategic acquisition combines Visa’s industry expertise and Cardinal’s critical role in payment authentication to bring added security to online transactions, reduce fraud, and support digital commerce which is the fastest growing commerce segment today.”
Visa already provides Cardinal’s services to merchants and acquirers through its CyberSource platform.
Under the agreement, Cardinal will continue to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Visa. Co-founders Tim Sherwin and Chandra Balasubramanian will remain as leaders of the Cardinal team, based in Mentor, Ohio.
Financial terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in Q2 2017, are not disclosed.