IVR Transactions to get safer in the New Year
27th December, 2010 - Mumbai, India
The Reserve Bank of India has put in a mandate that comes in effect from February 1, 2011 that an additional password will be required for IVRS transactions done through the telephone.
Currently, most IVR transactions go through successfully if the card number, CVV and expiry date are entered by the user at the time of the transaction. However, from February 1, this will not be so. An additional 6 digit numeric password, commonly known as the OTP (one time use password) will be required for the IVR transaction to go through successfully.
This OTP password will be generated at the card holder's request by the card issuing bank either just before or at the time when the transaction is being done. This will be sent via an SMS to the card holder's mobile phone number that has been registered previously with the bank. This is an important point to note. The password is sent only to the card holder's registered mobile number; and in some cases; to his email ID registered with the bank. Without this password, the transaction will not be completed successfully. The OTP password will be valid for one-time use only and in most cases it comes with a time specific expiry period, whether it is used by the card holder or not.
Most major banks have already communicated this new requirement to its customers. While there may be a drop in transactions in the short term till customers get used to this, over the medium to long term, the pace of transaction growth will come back to normal and continue to grow at an accelerated pace. The extra layer of security is always welcome and will increase the public's faith in the system resulting in more customers using this medium to pay. Add to this, the opening out of the Debit Card instrument for IVR transactions will result in a very large population of those who don't own credit cards now being able to pay through the IVR mode. This can only mean more good news for the merchants.
Most banks have put up a detailed explanation of the process to generate the OTP on their respective websites.
Currently, most IVR transactions go through successfully if the card number, CVV and expiry date are entered by the user at the time of the transaction. However, from February 1, this will not be so. An additional 6 digit numeric password, commonly known as the OTP (one time use password) will be required for the IVR transaction to go through successfully.
This OTP password will be generated at the card holder's request by the card issuing bank either just before or at the time when the transaction is being done. This will be sent via an SMS to the card holder's mobile phone number that has been registered previously with the bank. This is an important point to note. The password is sent only to the card holder's registered mobile number; and in some cases; to his email ID registered with the bank. Without this password, the transaction will not be completed successfully. The OTP password will be valid for one-time use only and in most cases it comes with a time specific expiry period, whether it is used by the card holder or not.
Most major banks have already communicated this new requirement to its customers. While there may be a drop in transactions in the short term till customers get used to this, over the medium to long term, the pace of transaction growth will come back to normal and continue to grow at an accelerated pace. The extra layer of security is always welcome and will increase the public's faith in the system resulting in more customers using this medium to pay. Add to this, the opening out of the Debit Card instrument for IVR transactions will result in a very large population of those who don't own credit cards now being able to pay through the IVR mode. This can only mean more good news for the merchants.
Most banks have put up a detailed explanation of the process to generate the OTP on their respective websites.
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