The European Banking Authority has extended the strong customer authentication deadline until Dec. 31, 2020, following requests from numerous payments companies and trade groups who expressed concerns that the industry was not prepared for the transition.

The change was recommended in an Opinion posted by the EBA yesterday, following months of urging by key stakeholders in the industry. 

The SCA deadline was part of the European PSD2 directive and would have required new authentication protocols to make sure that e-commerce transactions were being conducted by legitimate consumers. The SCA rules required that transactions meet two of three methods of proving a consumer’s identity.