3DS + FIDO MAKE VS BUY

A make-vs-buy decision typically depends on several factors including Expertise, Cost, Time-to-Market, Market differentiation, and Brand recognition.

Compliancy with international standards – such as EMV 3DS, SCA, FIDO, and W3C – requires effort, time, and cost to (1) design and implement changes in the specification and (2) incorporate updates to client platforms (i.e. browsers, iOS, Android, smart speakers, game consoles, etc.).

mSIGNIA has been leading EMV 3DS specification efforts since 2015; we pioneered testing the EMV 3DS SDK and our complete merchant solution (iOS SDK, Android SDK, and 3DS Server) was first to be certified v2.2 compliant.

Expertise – The EMV 3DS SDKs have been getting more complex with each 3DS version, as of Aug 2021…

  • 18 companies certified EMV 3DS SDKs for v2.1, the spec was active for about a year
  • Just 12 companies have certified EMV 3DS v2.2 SDKs even though the spec (which added SCA exemption and delegated auth complexity) has been active for nearly twice as long (since Aug 2020)
  • In the next 3DS v2.3 spec, availability expected in Q1 2022, 5 of the 7 new features directly affect the SDKs, including increasing required compliant SDKs from the 2 native iOS and Android SDKs to about 8 delivery formats (Split-SDK, Limited-SDK, Web SDK, and various SDK wrappers) not to mention new data handlers for travel, FIDO, browser security, and automated OOB flows

mSIGNIA is one of only 5 companies globally with the expertise and dedication to have certified both v2.1 and v2.2 SDKs.

mSIGNIA is already working on v2.3 compliant SDKs which continue offering innovations such as SCA compliance, enhanced data handling, prompting for biometrics like fingerprints, and server managed SDKs.

Cost – Standards certification is a costly endeavor.  Just the fees to fully certify EMV 3DS SDKs is about $150,000 US; it is about another $110,000 in certification fees for the 3DS Server, and still another $60,000 US for FIDO SDK compliance.

That is about $320,000 US just for the cost of certification fees which are often paid annually… the manpower cost to research the specs, create the products, process certifications, and update products with spec and platform changes is extra.

With the increasing SDK complexity and certification costs, it is easy to see why only 5 companies have certified 3DS SDKs for both available spec versions.

When you consider mSIGNIA’s enhancements for merchant transparency and configurable data collection which improves the number of approved transactions and SCA, the cost to be best is even higher.

mSIGNIA’s commercial terms feature very low monthly fees which include very small per transaction fees only when high volumes of processed; contact us to learn more.

Time-to-Market – mSIGNIA’s EMV 3DS products are already certified 3DS v2.2 compliant and used globally by 2 of the 4 US credit card companies, 3 of the 10 largest payment providers / acquirers, several banks, and leading 3DS technology providers.

mSIGNIA consistently is among the first to certify its merchant solution which includes SDKs (iOS, Android, and soon Browser) and the 3DS Server.

You and your customers could be in-market now with the latest, well-vetted EMV 3DS certified products which include market leading enhancements like SCA compliance.

Market Advantage – Payment service providers and acquirers differentiate on a breadth of payment services, EMV 3DS is typically part of these services operated within a range of merchant web APIs.

Web APIs are vastly different than client SDKs.

With EMV 3DS version 2.2, only 1 in about 4 companies with a certified 3DS Server had certified SDKs.  As of August 2021, just 12 companies offer v2.2 SDKs.  There are likely to be even fewer certified v2.3 3DS SDKs because 5 of 7 new features impact the SDKs and the number of certified SDKs doubles.

EMV 3DS certified SDKs for iOS and Android complete the offering for a payment provider and enable merchants to guarantee their mobile app payments.

Plus, only mSIGNIA’s EMV 3DS certified uSDK also allows payments to be SCA compliant.

White Label Products – Only mSIGNIA allows its uSDK and Server to be renamed and branded by PSPs and acquirers so they become part of the payment provider’s overall service offering.

mSIGNIA’s 3DS Server is sold in cloud-compliant Java containers so it can be run on-premise at the payment provider.

mSIGNIA even certifies some of its EMV 3DS products in our customer’s corporate name so that they appear when prospects search on EMV 3DS certified product lists.

In short:  mSIGNIA provides great technology, you provide the great brand; contact us to learn more or get the details on mSIGNIA’s 3DS and SCA products here.