European payments are changing
PSD2 regulation requires Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) for many online payments. Stripe can help you meet these new requirements while optimizing conversion.
New requirements bring new complexity
On September 14, 2019, PSD2 regulation introduced Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements for many online payments made by European customers, to help reduce fraud. To ensure payments aren’t declined, businesses need to build an extra layer of authentication into online card payments, unless transaction-specific exemptions apply.
The impact of SCA on your business can vary depending on the type of purchase, whether you charge a customer during or after checkout, and even which bank your customer uses. Stripe has designed SCA-ready payment APIs and products to help you manage this complexity and minimize the impact of SCA on your checkout conversion.
Read our guide on SCA and PSD2SCA changes your checkout flow
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Initiate a payment
Your customer fills in their card details and completes the checkout form to initiate the payment.
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Trigger dynamic authentication(new)
Stripe’s platform detects whether authentication is needed. If required, we use 3D Secure 2 to authenticate the customer using a one-time passcode or biometric ID, depending on what their bank supports.
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Complete a payment
Once a customer’s identity has been confirmed through 3D Secure, the card can be charged.
Many businesses can easily incorporate this dynamic authentication step into existing checkout flows. Businesses that store cards to charge them later, when customers aren’t in the checkout flow, may need to get some customers back online to authenticate purchases.
Read more about designing SCA-ready payment flowsGet ready for SCA with Stripe
Stripe’s SCA-ready solutions help you build payment flows that adapt to SCA requirements and any relevant exemptions, protecting your conversion rate. Stripe Radar uses powerful machine learning to reduce fraud rates across the Stripe network, helping your business access exemptions for low-risk transactions. And when customers do need to authenticate, Stripe helps you reduce friction with in-checkout authentication flows and support for biometric verification.
Flexible API integrations
Use our new dynamic Payment Intents API together with Stripe Elements, Stripe.js, or our mobile SDKs to design your own SCA-ready payment form. Our flexible developer platform lets you build the SCA-ready checkout flow that’s right for your business.
Prebuilt checkout flows
Get started quickly and easily with the new Stripe Checkout—a smart payment page that lets you create an end-to-end, conversion-optimized checkout flow, with just a few lines of code. Checkout dynamically detects when SCA is needed and offers in-checkout verification using 3D Secure 2.
Built-in subscription logic
For businesses accepting recurring payments, Stripe Billing identifies which subscription charges require authentication and can even trigger an email to a subscriber when additional authentication is needed.