Mubasher: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has become the first bank in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to adopt Visa’s 3D Secure 2.0, which provides merchants and issuers with a seamless way to authenticate cardholders for eCommerce transactions before authorising them.

The new system 3D Secure 2.0 delivers a real-time secure information sharing channel that can be used by merchants to send an unprecedented number of transaction details to the issuer, according to a bank statement released on Tuesday.

“At NBK, we prioritise investing in the customer experience to maintain a high level of confidence amongst our consumers and merchants, whether transacting in Kuwait or abroad,” executive manager, consumer banking group, at NBK, Ali Al-Mulla, said.

3D Secure 2.0 enables the bank to authenticate customers with more accuracy without slowing down commerce or requesting a fixed password.

“Collaboration with our partners is key to this process, and we are excited to be bringing this new technology to Kuwait – and, in fact, the wider MENA region - for the first time in partnership with our partners at NBK,” Visa’s country manager, Kuwait, Ankush Devadason, commented.

NBK provides products and services to individuals and corporate organisations through large network expanding across several countries, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, the UK, France, Switzerland, the US, and Singapore.