Payments technology company Worldline said that it has been engaged by BNP Paribas Cash Management to help the latter bring down fraud in SEPA Direct Debit transactions.
SEPA Direct Debit (SDD), which is an automated payment method, is utilised for paying one-off or repeated invoices in the Single Euro Payments Area through a signed mandate.
To address the fraud issues, BNP Paribas Cash Management has deployed a solution from Worldline called Account Validation. The solution clubs together the electronic signature of SEPA mandates and open banking-based account validation.
The integration has been done in Germany, France, and Italy, with more countries to add to the list in a few months.
According to Worldline, Account Validation has been implemented by the BNP Paribas unit into its existing white-label product EasyCollect.
The implementation allows BNP Paribas to capture a first-mover advantage and in setting a new standard in establishing SEPA Direct Debit payments, said Worldline.
The payments technology firm stated that the combination of the e-signature of SEPA mandates with account validation using open banking, allows it to improve its SEPA Payment Suite.
Besides, the solution suggests an innovative extension, using Strong Customer Authentication and delivering advanced security for removing the risk of misuse of International Bank Account Number (IBAN) during the mandate signature process.
BNP Paribas payments and receivables global head Bruno Mellado said: “We were seeking an innovative solution to reduce IBAN fraud in SEPA Direct Debits. We found it with the new account validation functionality of Worldline’s SEPA Payment Suite which is based on the latest innovative technologies through Open Banking opportunities.
“By implementing it in our existing SEPA Mandate and Direct Debit solution EasyCollect, the risk of SDD fraud will be reduced and customer loyalty will be strengthened, which is a huge benefit for our clients and their customers.”
Worldline claimed that the solution will benefit companies and merchants because of being a secure and low-risk payment method. The consumer is also expected to benefit due to an enhanced user experience.
Worldline financial services head Alessandro Baroni said: “Being one of the largest Open Banking providers, we are continuously working on innovative solutions that help our customers to grow and improve their business. We look forward to continuing our long-term partnership with BNP Paribas Cash Management and further build on future products and initiatives.”
