American Express SafeKey®

Prevent fraud while reducing friction for online transactions

Overview

The growth of digital commerce has placed greater emphasis on Merchants and Issuers to enhance their fraud prevention techniques while ensuring their customers can transact quickly and easily on whatever device they choose.  

American Express SafeKey 2.0 is a security solution that leverages the global industry standard, EMV® 3-D Secure, to detect and reduce online fraud—providing an extra layer of security when consumers shop through web browsers or in-app. 

SafeKey 2.0 enables Merchants and Issuers to exchange detailed information, which helps reduce fraud and minimize the need for a one-time passcode—improving the user experience and reducing shopping cart abandonment.  

Building consumer confidence can help expand your market reach. Enhanced fraud protection through SafeKey may encourage online customers to spend more and help grow your business. Enroll in SafeKey today! 

 

EMV® is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries and an unregistered trademark elsewhere. The EMV trademark is owned by EMVCo.

Benefits

Merchants

Reduce Fraud Liability 

  • Transfers liability for fraud chargebacks on SafeKey authenticated and attempted transactions to the Issuer 

  • Works alongside other tools to manage fraud 

Increase Profitability 

  • Helps customers feel more secure about online purchases potentially increasing their confidence to spend 

Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment 

  • Allows Issuers to use additional data elements already part of the checkout process to authenticate a Cardmember without a ‘challenge’* reducing friction, leading to a higher conversion of sales 

*A ‘challenge’ is when an Issuer can request the Cardmember to prove his/her identity, e.g. by use of a One-Time Passcode (OTP).

Issuers

Reduce Fraud 

  • Lowers fraud with an extra layer of security 

  • Leverages richer data to make smarter, more sophisticated risk decisions 

Increase Sales 

  • Helps increase Cardmember confidence by reducing friction leading to reduced  
    cart abandonment 

Authenticate Securely 

  • Richer data allows targeting of higher risk transactions where stronger customer authentication would be beneficial  

  • Supports a variety of Cardmember authentication methods, including one-time passcodes, biometrics, and out-of-band

Cardmembers

  • Helps protect against the fraudulent use of Cardmember details  

  • Simplifies enrollment as Issuers will do this automatically for Cardmembers 

  • Expands protection of SafeKey from web browsers to include in-app purchases

SafeKey Comparison

Features SafeKey 3.1 SafeKey 4.1
SafeKey 3.1
(EMV 3.1.0)		 SafeKey 3.2
(EMV 3.2.0)		 SafeKey 3.3
(EMV 3.3.0)		 SafeKey 3.4
(EMV 3.4.0)		 SafeKey 4.1
(EMV 4.2.0)		 SafeKey 4.2
(EMV 4.2.1)
Based on industry-standard 3-D Secure
safekey table checkmark
Test
safekey table checkmark
safekey table checkmark
Test
safekey table checkmark
Extra layer of security at checkout
safekey table checkmark
Payment authentication
safekey table checkmark
Browser-based authentication
Flexibility for Issuers to use a variety of authentication methods (i.e. one-time passcodes, risk-based decisioning, etc.)
Support for PSD2 compliance
Support for more data elements promoting frictionless authentications
App-based (in-app) enablement Test
Nonpayment authentication
Token-based transactions
Out-of-band authentication
Merchant initiated authentications
Decoupled authentication
PSD2 additional indicators
Test Test
safekey table checkmark
safekey table checkmark
Testing Safekey
safekey table checkmark
safekey table checkmark
safekey table checkmark

Note: SafeKey 1.0 will be decommissioned globally on 14 October 2022 (except for India). New SafeKey 1.0 certifications are no longer supported. Some SafeKey 2.0 features may require additional certification.

Don't Live life without it