[co-author: Anna Lewis-Martinez]

On 30 April 2020, the FCA released a statement announcing a six-month extension to the deadline for firms’ implementation of strong customer authentication (SCA) for e-commerce under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 (PSRs 2017). The FCA states that the extension is due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is set to minimise potential disruption to consumers and merchants.

The new deadline for implementation is 14 September 2021. This replaces the original 14 March 2021 deadline.

The FCA expects UK Finance, the industry coordinator for SCA implementation, to 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, the FCA expects firms to continue with the necessary preparatory activities for SCA implementation such as robust end-to-end testing.

The FCA reminds firms to take all necessary steps to comply with the revised detailed phased implementation plan and critical path to avoid the risk of enforcement action. The FCA makes clear that after 14 September 2021, any firm that does not comply with the requirements for SCA will be subject to full FCA supervisory and enforcement action.

This post was prepared with the assistance of Joshua Oyedele in the London office of Latham & Watkins.