Visa Authenticated Payment available.

Visa International has announced the worldwide rollout of Visa Authenticated Payment. This is designed to improve the payment service for e-merchants, consumers and Visa members by improving convenience, acceptance and security. Using Visa Authenticated Payment, cardholders will, it is said, be better protected shopping online because Issuers will be able to authenticate their cardholders (for example, by checking a password or other means of, identification entered by the cardholder) during the online payment transaction and notify the e-merchant in real time that the buyer is the actual cardholder. Visa is working with financial institutions and e-merchants around the world to deploy the program, which is expected to reduce disputed transactions by at least 50%. To further the success of Visa Authenticated Payment, Visa has partnered with more than 60 Internet Solution Providers and management consulting firms worldwide including Accenture, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, IBM, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems All software solutions can be tested for compliance to the 3-D Secure protocol at Visa's Compliance Testing Facilities in California.

www.visa.com