Visa International and the South African Certification Agency (SACA) launch their new Server Wallet Solution today. The Visa/SACA Server Wallet Solution offers South African banks a cardholder authentication service which is consistent with Visa's international security standards for e-Commerce.
The Visa/SACA Server Wallet Solution releases South African banks from the need to develop their own electronic wallet services for their payment cards, and provides the banks with an authentication solution which will be able to accommodate future requirements. The new service allows banks to outsource part of their e-Commerce authentication requirement, avoiding the need for large capital investment on their part.
For consumers, the server wallet will be attractive because it offers password protection to authorise the use of their cardholder information over the internet.
Features on the server wallet will be continually enhanced and automated to streamline ordering and delivery information for consumers at the merchant site. These features are consistent with the "three domain" Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) model being promoted by Visa, which ensures transactional security for cardholders, merchants and banks.
Commenting on the launch of the Visa/SACA Server Wallet Solution, Hilary Mitchell, Vice-President for e-Commerce at Visa International, said: "One of the biggest barriers to the development of e-Commerce both in South Africa and world-wide is consumer reticence to provide card data over the internet. The new server wallet overcomes this reluctance because it offers a secure means of cardholder identification in e-Commerce transactions. For banks, there is the added attraction of being able to lower the number of disputed transactions with this service."
Gerda Venter, Acting Managing Director at SACA, said, "The service we are launching today means that South African banks will keep up to speed with evolving world-wide authentication standards for e-Commerce. We are currently working on further e-Commerce initiatives with Visa International, which will include the regional roll-out of the server wallet, as well as other programmes relating to m-Commerce and chip cards."
Visa is pleased to announce that Boland PKS will be the first bank in SA to pilot and evaluate the new service. "This service is a big step forward to establish the new 3-domain model of SET in South Africa. We are looking forward to be part of that and thereby completing the SET offering to our cardholders and merchants", said Eugene de Villiers, Chief Executive: e-Business at Boland PKS.
Visa expects to make a further announcement shortly regarding other member banks who will be participating in the service.
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Visa International
As the "World's Best Way to Pay," Visa is the world's leading payment brand and the largest payment system worldwide with more volume than all other major payment cards combined. Visa plays a pivotal role in advancing new payment products and technologies to benefit its 21,000 member financial institutions and their cardholders. Visa has more than 80 smart card programs in 35 countries and on the Internet, with 23 million Visa chip cards, including 8 million Visa Cash cards. Visa is pioneering SET Secure Electronic Transaction(tm) programs to enable and advance Internet commerce. There are over 1 billion Visa, Visa Electron, Visa Cash, Interlink and PLUS cards in the market. Visa-branded cards generate US$1.6 trillion in annual volume and are accepted at over 19 million worldwide locations, including at more than 627,000 ATMs in the Visa Global ATM Network. Visa's Internet address is www.visa.com.
SACA
The South African Certification Agency (Pty) Ltd, SACA, is an affiliate of VeriSign the world leader in digital authentication services, meeting the demand for secure e-commerce solutions in Southern Africa. As a member of South Africa's leading Information Technology group of companies, Comparex Holdings, SACA is successfully entrenched as the trusted third party, providing products and services enabling individuals and enterprises across Africa to conduct secure, trusted eCommerce and transactions locally and worldwide. SACA is proud to have Visa, one of the world's leading credit card associations, on board with them at the ACT Summit.
3D SET
The SET Specification is an open technical standard for the commerce industry developed by Visa and MasterCard as a way to facilitate secure payment card transactions over the Internet. Digital Certificates create a trust chain throughout the transaction, verifying cardholder and merchant validity, a process unparalleled by other Internet security solutions. Software vendors whose products pass SET Compliance Testing are eligible to display the SET Mark on their products, as are merchants, financial institutions, and promotional sites that utilize or advertise licensed software. The specification is available at http://www.setco.org
Three Domain Model
The Three Domain Model provides a common secure method of performing transactions over open networks. The model consists of three domains:
- an Acquirer domain, where it is the responsibility of the Acquirer - subject to certain specified minimum requirements - to define the mechanism whereby he satisfies himself that the Merchant is genuine;
- an Issuer domain, where the Issuer has the responsibility - subject to certain specified minimum requirements - of authenticating that the participating Cardholder is valid and using a valid card; and
- an Interoperability domain, where transaction data is exchanged using a common protocol. <