Social distancing – it’s phrase that few of us would have used little more than one month ago, but one which has now entered the social lexicon in different countries and different languages all around the world. But as well as changing language and behaviour, the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis has also changed business and the way we trade.
Those shops that remain open, and those shoppers that venture out, are more inclined to use contactless payment methods for example – indeed some shops are insisting no cash transactions even for small amounts. And even those who are fearful of fraud and have therefore been reluctant to embrace contactless payments, now find themselves drawn to tapping out. What’s more to further boost and encourage the take up of contactless payments, regulators have also allowed the limit for those transactions to rise – from £30 to £45 in the UK.
Of course, nothing suits these days of self-isolation more than online shopping, and here spending limits currently don’t apply. However, the European Banking Authority (EBA) is determined to enforce its regulations on ‘Strong Customer Authentication’ (SCA) – which will impose a €30 limit on online spending without an acceptable form of secondary authentication. That ‘limit’ on spend could become an issue as this pandemic continues to affect business normality. In the UK, for example, its Financial Conduct Authority has now pushed the deadline to comply with the EBA’s regulations back by six months to September 2021.
Meeting the new normal of socially distanced shopping
Banks, retailers and the other players in the e-commerce transaction supply chain might welcome the breathing space to comply with those rules but – as we have written before – they can’t simply leave it up to someone else in the chain to solve the problem. Rather they should take advantage of the current slowdown in trading and use the extra time to look at solutions that will meet the online rules and bring added benefits in what is being described as ‘the new normal’ of socially distanced shopping.
There is a viable solution
Our Onescan solution meets even the strictest interpretation of the SCA rules for online transactions, while in a physical shop it can be even more contactless than a card payment and it is certainly more secure, than bumping a card against a machine.
Onescan works by using the smartphone’s camera to scan one of our specially created tokenized QR codes. The codes can be displayed on the screen of a computer, a tablet, a phone or a card payment terminal. Scanning the code with the camera triggers a secure transaction and allows the consumer to authorise the purchase. Onescan builds PIN numbers or biometric authorisation into the process for added security and that means consumers can safely pay for goods or services either from their homes or from a safe distance.
It is often said that a crisis brings out the best in people. Maybe it also brings out the best in technology too. But Onescan is not a solution for the social distancing ‘era’ – even if it feels like the rules of lockdown life might last for longer than any of us would like. Onescan is a solution that adds security and simplicity to transactions online, in person, or even direct from the printed page. It meets the distance compliance rules of today – as well as security regulations of tomorrow.
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If you’d like to find out how to set up payments at distance, please Contact us.