Bahrain-based NEC Payments needed an ACS offering 3D-S 2.0, the latest in payment security protocols. Netcetera rose to the challenge, building them a solution from the ground up.

NEC Payments is a rapidly growing digital banking and payment technology company with big plans. Already offering innovative cloud-native banking-as-a-service to Middle East Fintech and technology distribution partners via its licensed and regulated status and principal membership of the international payment schemes; the company is expanding geographically to offer banks, payment companies, digital platforms and other Fintech businesses across Europe and North America access to their modular and embedded digital financial services solutions. In order to guarantee their customers the highest transaction security possible, they wanted to implement the latest 3D Secure protocol 2.2. Enter Netcetera.

NEC Payments connected with Netcetera via contacts at Mastercard Europe and requested their help in the latest 3DS implementation, as mandated by many schemes. To ensure purchases are both secure and smooth, Netcetera worked with NEC Payments to build a tailored ACS solution which supported 3D Secure protocol 2.2 in line with SCA. This was a leap forward from the previous version and meant providing even higher purchase security while offering a user-friendly interface.

3-D Secure is widely implemented by many major card issuers as a means to ensure SCA (Strong Customer Authentication). However, the previously used version of 3DS 1.0 led to cumbersome security procedures for mobile customers and lower conversion rates as a result. 3DS 2.2, supported by Netcetera’s Access Control Server (ACS), uses several factors including transaction limits and whitelisting to bypass unnecessary steps and encourage simplified online purchases.

NEC Payments is delighted with the protocol implementation, which opens up many new possibilities for them. Due to their multi-tenant relationships, they are now able to provide personalised experiences to multiple issuers and customers/co-branders in addition to their own business as principal members of the schemes. They will also implement another Netcetera product, RiskShield, and plan to expand their use of silent authentication for virtual cards in the future.

Andrew Sims, CEO at NEC Payments commented “We are delighted that we have found a partner in Netcetera that can support our requirements and deliver the latest security protocols in personalised settings and are looking forward to a long and fruitful collaboration to drive our business forward.” Ramy Fouda, Director of Sales at Netcetera Dubai said “We were pleased to be able to deliver great results with state-of-the-art technology for NEC Payments. We pride ourselves on always offering the latest payment security solutions.”