Strong security, almost never seen
Every authentication is fully PSD2 and SCA compliant. The difference is what your customer experiences: most pass silently in the background, and a 3-D Secure challenge appears only on the rare payment where the issuer truly insists.
Two roads from one checkout — and almost everyone takes the silent one
When a customer pays, Acquira hands the issuer a rich, structured picture of the transaction before it ever asks for a challenge. With enough signal, the bank authenticates the payment silently — no code, no redirect, no pause. The challenge branch exists, but it is the exception, not the rule.
- Rich data on every authentication — device, history and context, so the issuer can decide without asking the customer.
- SCA exemptions applied for you — we request the right one on each payment, automatically.
- A challenge only when the bank insists — the issuer keeps the final say, and we respect it.
- We recover the ones that stumble — a failed or abandoned challenge is re-presented or retried, not written off.
Compliance stays intact. The friction is what we remove.
Frictionless authentication is not a loophole — it is the path the card schemes built for low-risk payments. Acquira's job is to qualify for it as often as the rules allow, then hand the issuer everything it needs to say yes without a challenge.
Frictionless by default
We send the full authentication data set on every payment, so the issuer can clear low-risk transactions in the background. The customer stays on your checkout the whole time — no redirect, no one-time code, no pause to lose them.
Exemptions, applied for you
PSD2 allows authentication to be skipped on payments that are demonstrably low-risk. Acquira chooses and requests the right exemption on each one — so a routine purchase clears without a challenge while the rule is still honoured.
Challenge only when the bank insists
The issuer always keeps the final word. When it asks for a step-up, we present a clean, fast challenge in-context and carry the customer straight back to the order — so even the rare interrupted payment still has the best chance of clearing.
Fewer interruptions, more cleared payments
A challenge is a moment where customers drop off — they switch apps for a code, mistype it, or simply give up. Removing the ones that were never required is some of the cleanest conversion you can find: the same shoppers, the same intent, just fewer reasons to walk away before the order lands.
- Every challenge avoided is a checkout that never had a chance to stall.
- A high frictionless rate means most authentication happens out of sight.
- Authentication declines fall as fewer step-ups are left to fail or time out.
What silent authentication looks like
What teams ask before turning friction off
Does frictionless mean less secure?
No. Frictionless is still full strong customer authentication — the payment is authenticated by the issuer, just without a visible step for the customer. We send richer data so the bank can be confident silently. Every payment, silent or challenged, remains PSD2 and SCA compliant; we remove the interruption, not the security.
What exactly is an SCA exemption?
PSD2 lets authentication be skipped on payments that are clearly low-risk — for example through transaction-risk analysis, low-value purchases, or a customer who has added you as a trusted beneficiary. An exemption is a documented, regulated reason to clear a payment without a challenge. Acquira evaluates each transaction and requests the appropriate one on your behalf.
What about regions that mandate SCA on every payment?
Where a market or issuer requires authentication on every transaction, we authenticate every transaction — there is no shortcut around it. Even then, most of that authentication can still happen frictionlessly with strong data. We apply the rules of each region rather than overriding them, so you stay compliant wherever your customers are.
What happens when a challenge IS required?
We present a fast, in-context challenge and return the customer straight to the order they were completing — no lost cart, no fresh start. If a challenge fails or is abandoned, the payment is re-presented or routed for a smarter retry rather than written off, so even the rare interrupted authentication keeps its best chance of clearing.
See how many needless challenges your checkout still shows
Book a revenue review and we will look at your authentication mix — your frictionless rate, your challenge rate, and the approvals waiting on the other side.