FCA delays SCA to 14 September 2021

The deadline for compliance is now 14 September 2021.

The FCA first delayed the measure in August 2019, as a plan for a phased implementation to give the payments and ecommerce industry extra time to implement Strong Customer Authentication.

The rules, which were originally due to come into place in September, officially fall under the SCA section of PSD2, which came into force in January 2018. The European Banking Authority (EBA) only issued clarity on the technical standards required in June 2018, however.

The FCA had been under mounting industry pressure to delay the rules, with the EBA asserting that more time would be needed to implement SCA, with fears of disruption and loss of faith in the system from consumers if the rollout was in any way problematic.

UK Finance, as coordinator for the industry, will discuss the detailed phased implementation plan and critical path with all stakeholders and agree it with the FCA as soon as possible. In the meantime, companies should continue with the necessary preparatory activities such as robust end-to-end testing.