Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) Goes into Effect this Weekend

Robert Kiser

On Saturday, September 14^th, Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) will go into effect in the European Economic Area (EEA). This legislation, designed to reduce fraud and provide added security to all online payments, will require additional levels of authentication at the time of the transaction. Failing to comply with SCA requirements may result in donations being rejected by financial institutions across the EEA.

While organizations outside of the EEA should be exempt from this mandate, there is a chance that transactions made by cards issued by financial institutions in the EEA could be affected by SCA. If your organization processes transactions from EEA-issued credit cards, Blackbaud recommends taking measures to ensure your donation forms are SCA compliant.

Blackbaud has been hard at work ensuring our solutions that process online donations are able to comply with SCA requirements and deliver a great payment experience for your supporters. Instructions on how to achieve compliance with each Blackbaud application are available at this link. You can also monitor your online transactions to determine if you notice an increase in declines, then make changes if needed.