What is SCA?

SCA (Strong Customer Authentification) is an European requirement to make online payments more secure. If you are making a payment within the EU, more than one authentications are required at the time of the transaction. SCA is based on the use of two or more of the following elements:

• Something that only the user knows (e.g. password, code, PIN).
• Something that only the user has (e.g. token, smart card, mobile phone).
• Something that the user is (e.g. biometric features, such as a fingerprint).

The reason why SCA must be adhered to in the case of Sofortüberweisung is because you as the payer:

1. access your payment account online;
2. initiate an electronic payment transaction;
3. carry out the operations online, i.e. via an external channel that poses an increased risk of fraud or other misuse.