British Airways adopts MasterCard’s global e-commerce security solution
Purchase, NY, February 23, 2004: British Airways is the first global airline to offer MasterCard® SecureCode™ across multiple regions, with a roll-out to 23 country sites, including the key markets of United Kingdom and United States. With more and more consumers taking advantage of the convenience of purchasing tickets via the Internet, this signifies an important move from the airline industry in protecting consumers when they shop online.
"MasterCard SecureCode is a powerful solution for addressing British Airways’ global Internet security concerns and extends to them a very important payment guarantee," said Stephen Orfei, senior vice president, e-Commerce Center of Excellence, MasterCard International. "Additionally, with the online shopping channel secured, British Airways can focus on what they do best, providing premier service to their global customer base. The business case for MasterCard SecureCode could not be more compelling."
MasterCard SecureCode overcomes two of the most pressing issues in e-commerce today: cardholder concerns about the safety of online shopping, and Internet merchants’ need for an enhanced payment guarantee. MasterCard SecureCode works for both MasterCard credit and Maestro debit transactions. More than 9,000 merchants and 2,500 banks worldwide are now participating in the programme.
"The sheer volume of tickets now processed by the Internet means that we’re constantly striving to have the best security possible," said Simon Parks-Smith, head of e-commerce at British Airways. "We want to keep our customers using the web and encourage e-commerce newcomers to book with us in this way. MasterCard SecureCode is a natural way to achieve that goal."
For cardholders, MasterCard SecureCode delivers enhanced protection against the risk of credit or debit account numbers being used by fraudsters in cyberspace. Online bookings made on the British Airways site will be secured by the cardholders personal MasterCard SecureCode. This is the key to using a MasterCard card on the Internet and an important extra step that gives cardholders the confidence that their account is protected, while the card issuer and British Airways are assured about the identity of the person completing the transaction.
MasterCard is working alongside British Airways to fully implement MasterCard SecureCode with support from Streamline International, who offers multi-currency credit card acquisition services, and CyberSource, a global leader in digital commerce services.
Editorial Note
MasterCard has also signed SecureCode agreements with 115 technology vendors to license the MasterCard SecureCode specification for integration with pre-existing security solutions or for standalone applications. Online merchants who support MasterCard SecureCode benefit from a MasterCard rule change that shifts liability away from the merchant for chargebacks due to cardholder non-authorization ("I didn’t do it") when SecureCode has been utilized. Chargebacks of this nature currently represent as much as 70% of all electronic commerce chargebacks. Merchants may also benefit from an increase in legitimate transactions for existing and new markets, including cross-border transactions – thereby opening up the global marketplace and increasing revenues.
About MasterCard International
MasterCard International is a leading global payments solutions company that provides a broad variety of innovative services in support of our global members’ credit, deposit access, electronic cash, business-to-business and related payment programs. MasterCard International manages a family of well-known, widely accepted payment card brands including MasterCardâ, Maestroâ and Cirrusâ and serves financial institutions, consumers and businesses in over 210 countries and territories. The MasterCard award-winning Pricelessâ advertising campaign is now seen in 98 countries and in 46 languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and scope. For more information go to www.mastercardinternational.com.
About British Airways
British Airways is one of the world’s longest established airlines and has always been regarded as an industry-leader. British Airways has recently embarked on developing a wide range of technology, which will make the airline even easier to deal with from a customer perspective including booking online and self-service. Last year, more than 38 million people chose to fly with the airline on a route network which currently covers some 222 destinations in 93 countries.
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