The Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) has
arrived at a UK standard for an authentication device for
cardholder-not-present credit and debit card transactions,
conducted online or over the phone.
Apacs said the standard would allow banks to start working in
earnest on developing interoperable card readers for consumer use.
The readers work by generating a unique authentication code for a
transaction when a card is used.
The technical specifications for the standard, which took nearly
four years to agree, will use chip-and-Pin cards and will require
changes to banks' back-end systems.
The first readers are not expected to be ready for at least a
year, though some banks, including Barclays, are already in the
development phase.
Apacs said developing the standard had taken so long because of
the complexity in keeping up with changing global standards and the
need to consult with all interested parties.
Tracking developments in patterns and types of fraudulent
activity had also posed a challenge, an Apacs representative
said.
"It is now up to the banks to pick up the baton and develop
these universal readers for the commercial market," she added.