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Amadeus completes first 3D Secure 2 agency transactions

Amadeus completed the world’s first 3D Secure 2 transactions for ecommerce payments on the Amadeus Travel Platform last week in a move hailed by Iata.

The 3D Secure 2 (3DS 2) protocol meets the requirements for Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) due to come into force across Europe from the end of this year.

An Amadeus spokesman told Travel Weekly the successful transactions “demonstrate the advanced payment functionality that will help the travel industry meet the new SCA requirements”.

The requirements form the final part of the EU’s Payments Services Directive 2 (PSD2) of 2015, designed to prevent card fraud.

Card-issuing banks are expected to enforce the SCA requirements from the December 31, making most online payments subject to two-factor authentication – such as a pin number sent to a phone to authenticate a cardholder’s details.

There is widespread fear that companies unprepared for two-factor authentication will see transactions declined.

A study by Amadeus found only one third of travel firms expect to be ready to apply SCA checks across all sales channels by December 31.

Amadeus notes the new authentication requirements have significant implications for travel “where bookings often involve multiple merchants in a single transaction and many players in the distribution chain must play a role in SCA checks”.

The company has been working to upgrade the Amadeus Travel Platform to be ready for 3D Secure 2 and able to pass an increased amount of payment data between travel agencies and suppliers and to a traveller’s card-issuing bank.

Airline association Iata welcomed successful completion of the transactions.

Christophe Kato, Iata assistant director, said: “Iata congratulates Amadeus for a historic accomplishment, the first end-to-end 3DS BSP travel agency-initiated card transactions, allowing full customer authentication for online ticket purchases.”

Jean-Christophe Lacour, Amadeus head of merchant services payments, said: “It’s important now that suppliers and their agents make the transition to the 3D Secure 2 protocol for their own systems.

“There is still much work to do across the industry and we stand ready to help.”

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