Discover moves to enhance convenience, security

Discover Financial Services revealed Dec. 6, 2017, that it will no longer require signatures at the POS as of April 2018. This is for credit and debit transactions on the Discover Global Network in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. However, to participate, merchants may need to update their POS systems.

The change is part of Discover's efforts to continually improve the payment experience by speeding up the time spent at checkout all while maintaining a high level of security for both customers and merchants, the company stated, adding that it previously implemented tokenization, multifactor authentication and biometrics, which are more secure than requiring a signature and provide a more seamless payment transaction.

"With the rise in new payment security capabilities, like chip technology and tokenization, the time is right to remove this step from the checkout experience," said Jasma Ghai, Vice President of Global Products Innovation at Discover.

Apple Pay Cash, FIME D-PAS

Discover also reported that Apple Inc.'s new Apple Pay Cash card can now leverage the Discover Network. The Apple Pay Cash card is a virtual debit card that lives within the Apple Wallet app. "The card is part of the new Apple Pay functionality allowing U.S. customers to send and receive money among friends and family quickly, easily and securely," Discover noted. "When Apple customers receive money on a supported device, the money is added to their new Apple Pay Cash card. They can use the money instantly to pay someone or to make purchases using Apple Pay in stores, apps and on the web."

Apple Pay Cash works on the iPhone SE, iPhone 6 and later, iPad Pro, iPad (fifth generation), iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 and later, and Apple Watch.

In addition, the U.S. payments consultancy FIME achieved D-Payment Application Specification (D-PAS) consulting services accreditation, and can provide advisory, guidance and support services from the start of an implementation project through the deployment phase for acquirers and issuers that are unfamiliar with D-PAS technology. FIME can now provide a one-stop shop for acquirers implementing EMV (Euorpay, Mastercard and Visa) chip-enabled acceptance systems using D-PAS on Discover Network, Diners Club International and now Pulse, FIME noted.

FIME added that its high-capacity, no-lead time D-PAS end-to-end certification service complements its pre-certification consulting to provide acquirers with a fast, seamless route to achieve certification, and with new Pulse accreditations from Discover Global Network, FIME can now provide test tools and services for Pulse end-to-end D-PAS certifications of contact point-of-sale debit and ATM terminals.

"Discover continues to cultivate innovative solutions for better payment security by streamlining D-PAS deployment," said Ellie Smith, Head of Chip Center of Excellence at Discover. "With FIME's expanded services, they are now able to better serve their clients, while supporting our ongoing efforts to advance D-PAS implementation globally."

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