Visa today announced an agreement to acquire CardinalCommerce, an industry leader in e-commerce payment authentication. The acquisition will enable more secure, seamless payments, whether made through a browser, mobile app, or connected device, and will help Visa’s clients and merchant partners accelerate digital commerce.
“This strategic acquisition combines Visa’s industry expertise and Cardinal’s critical role in payment authentication to bring added security to online transactions, reduce fraud, and support digital commerce which is the fastest growing commerce segment today,” said Mark Nelsen, senior vice president of Risk and Authentication Products at Visa.
“By helping merchants, acquirers, and issuers better distinguish between good and bad transactions, Visa is in an even better position to strengthen consumer trust in digital payments, help merchants grow their businesses, and accelerate innovation in commerce.”
As shoppers increasingly make their purchases through digital channels, Visa is committed to equipping merchants, acquirers, and issuers with intelligent, data-driven tools to keep e-commerce fraud in check, while minimizing disruption to consumers at checkout. The payments industry has worked together to recently launch the 3-D Secure 2.0 standard, which will greatly expand the scope and quality of real-time predictive risk scoring for both merchants and issuers, provide more seamless online payment experiences for consumers, and accommodate new devices and ways to pay. More user-friendly authentication experiences can translate to higher conversion rates and increased sales for merchants. Issuers will also be able to better assess risk and make more informed transaction decisions in an increasingly digital world.
“We are excited to embark on this next chapter of Cardinal’s growth with Visa,” said Mike Keresman, founder and CEO, Cardinal. “By combining our authentication expertise and role in supporting both merchants and issuers, and Visa’s payments expertise and global reach, our two companies will be able to fast track the next-generation of digital authentication.”
Visa already provides Cardinal’s services to merchants and acquirers through its CyberSource merchant and acquirer enablement platform. Additionally, Visa will draw upon its global relationships and presence to drive international expansion of Cardinal’s products and services. As Visa plans to integrate tokenization into Visa Checkout over the next 18 months, the addition of Cardinal will allow more seamless integration of 3-D Secure and delivery of these new fraud mitigation capabilities to merchants.
Cardinal will continue to operate and serve all of its clients as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Visa, and its authentication platform will continue to support a broad range of payment brands and partners across the industry. Co-founders Tim Sherwin and Chandra Balasubramanian will remain as leaders of the Cardinal team, based in Mentor, Ohio.
Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed. The transaction, which is subject to the customary closing conditions, is expected to close in Visa’s second fiscal quarter 2017.