Visa to launch innovative anti-fraud payment system

A Visa card with an alpha-numeric display, a 12-button keypad and an embedded battery is Visa's latest solution to significantly counter online card fraud. The cardholder is required to enter their PIN for each online transaction, preventing unauthorised use. Visa CodeSure will work for any Visa debit, credit, prepaid or commercial card.

Since its development in 2009, extensive trials of the new card have taken place with eight European banks and their cardholders in a number of countries including the UK, Italy, Israel, Turkey, Switzerland and Germany. Participants felt they would use their cards for "card-not-present" transactions more often (70% positive) and were reassured about security with the new card (86% positive).

An appetite for innovation

When shopping online or logging in to an online banking service, the cardholder activates the process by pressing the "Verified by Visa" option button on the card's keypad. When prompted, the consumer inputs their PIN into the keypad embedded in the card. A unique code appears on the card's display, which is then used by the cardholder to authenticate the transaction.

Sandra Alzetta, head of innovation at Visa Europe commented: "The banks and their cardholder trials have shown an appetite for innovation and the broadening of a payment card's use. This exclusive Visa solution is an extremely convenient way to bring a similar level of security to payments online as we now enjoy on the high street with chip and PIN. The solution goes beyond just online and remote shopping but also allows organisations to use the card in place of other online log-in systems to access, for example, corporate virtual private networks (VPN)."