Online
debit transaction takes off
Hari P K
13 October 2001
Mumbai: Visa
International and United Overseas Bank (UOB) have said they have
conducted the world's first online debit payment using Visa's 3-D
Secure technology to
authenticate all parties in the transaction - cardholders, banks
and merchants.
The online transaction was carried out on 1 October by a Visa
Electron debit cardholder to purchase tea from a UOB merchant,
Dilmah Tea. In the 3-D Secure environment, UOB validated the
identity of the cardholder in real time using an encrypted
password, thereby enhancing the security standard for payment.
Both the cardholder and the merchant expressed the case and speed
of the purchase. With both the card-issuing bank and Visa backing
the transaction, the cardholder was confident about a safe
shopping experience.
According to e-Visa's
Mark Burbidge, the transaction demonstrates the applicability of
3-
D Secure to all Visa card
products - both credit and debit. With more than 50 million Visa
Electron cards issued in the Asia Pacific region since it was
introduced to the region in 1999, Visa Electron cards have enjoyed
explosive growth of 181 per cent year-on-year increase ended June
2001.
Says Santanu Mukherjee, Visa International's country manager for
South Asia: “Visa Electron is our fastest-growing product in the
Asia Pacific region. We foresee our current portfolio growing by
300 per cent to 150 million Visa Electron cards within the next
three years. More consumers are increasingly looking for
convenience, speed and security of electronic payment and direct
access to their bank accounts from anywhere in the world - real or
virtual. Visa Electron provides our customers all this.”
On the success of the
first such transaction of its kind, Sim Puay Suang, executive
vice-president, Personal Financial Services, UOB, is enthusiastic
about the potential it holds for UOB’s customers. “Security is
paramount in an online environment and we are certainly very
excited about being the first to provide our cardholders that
assurance, that added value. Not only will they be able to make
secure online transaction with their UOB Visa credit cards, but
with their Visa Eletron debit cards as well, whether they’re
hooked up online in Singapore or anywhere else in the world,”
she says.
Visa International has
already announced its plan to conduct a pilot programme in India
using Visa’s 3-D
Secure Internet payment security protocol. ICICI Bank is the first
bank in India to launch the
pilot programme and employ Visa’s security protocol to create a
better and safer online shopping environment.
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