The financial authentication company, Entersekt, has announced it has acquired the Modirum 3-D Secure software business from Modirum, a digital payment security provider for an undisclosed sum.

Modirum is a leader in enabling authenticated, card-not-present payments with a history dating back 25 years. Modirum’s cloud-based 3-D Secure (3DS) technologies and services authenticate digital payment transactions globally in numerous payment systems, hundreds of issuers, and thousands of merchants, as well as enable 3DS transactions for hundreds of millions of cardholders. With this acquisition, Entersekt will expand its customer base and will secure over 2.5 billion transactions per year, giving it a compelling global footprint and a clear technology advantage of a solution spanning across digital, payment and data channels of issuers, acquirers, and merchants.

“Financial institutions are fighting to stay ahead of fraud threats, and are dependent on disparate, siloed authentication tools used for various banking channels – resulting in inconsistent user experiences and vulnerabilities in their fraud prevention strategies,” said Julie Conroy, Chief Insights Officer at Datos Insights. “The combination of Entersekt’s authentication capabilities with Modirum’s 3DS products promises to provide consumers with a consistent, cross-channel user experience and powerful protection against the latest fraud schemes.”

“The combined capabilities of Entersekt and Modirum will allow us to offer a wider set of solutions and provide our customers with more data sources to use when protecting against fraud,” said co-founder and CEO at Entersekt Schalk Nolte. “At the same time, we are expanding the types of markets and customers we can serve, enabling us to scale globally and grow faster. Entersekt is how the financial world can access one cross-channel platform for secure, frictionless, Context Aware™ Authentication of customers and payments alike.”

Entersekt will add Modirum’s 3DS solutions to its Entersekt Secure Platform for transaction authentication, and the Modirum 3DS team will join the company. The acquisition accelerates product development, expands Entersekt’s existing product offering and bolsters the company’s ability to scale and support customers around the world, while adding a highly skilled team. Modirum also brings an impressive list of customers that increases Entersekt’s market share of financial institutions offering 3DS. The combined offering becomes the most advanced solution available for financial institutions on the market today, providing Context Aware™ Authentication that protects digital payment transactions against continuously evolving fraud threats.

Head of Telecommunications, Media and Technology at Standard Bank South Africa, Kumbi Gundani which was the sole mandated lead arranger for the debt portion of this acquisition says, “Standard Bank is proud to support Entersekt’s strategic acquisition of the Modirum 3DS business. As a global fintech, founded in South Africa, Entersekt’s solutions address critical challenges faced by financial institutions. At Standard Bank we are a firm believer in supporting proudly African companies as they scale internationally. We are pleased to be part of the Entersekt journey in taking African technology, experience and advancement in online identity and payment authentication into the rest of the world. This collaboration showcases our commitment to continue to drive Africa’s growth through supporting the growth aspirations of African fintechs.”

For 13 years, Entersekt has helped financial institutions reduce fraud losses, grow revenue, maintain regulatory compliance, and deliver better customer experiences. With Entersekt’s customer and digital transaction authentication solutions, financial institutions can:

• Increase their revenue with higher transaction success rates.
• Reduce risk and fraud by replacing outdated one-time passcodes with passwordless alternatives.
• Save on costs by reducing unnecessary contact center activity and avoiding non-compliance fees.
• xpand and retain their customer base with optimal, personalized user experiences that ensure trust.

Modirum was founded in 1997 by CEO Jari Heikkinen and other founding partners. Headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, Modirum has staff across 18 countries worldwide. With a global presence spanning over 50 countries, Modirum’s solutions are utilized by more than 100,000 merchants, hundreds of card issuer banks, and over 100 million cardholders. Processing over 2 million transactions daily through its own data centers, Modirum has a strong presence in Northern Europe and enables secure payments for millions of customers daily.

“We are pleased to align our 3DS solution and talented team under one unified brand, Entersekt, to meet the market’s growing demand for an integrated digital payment security platform,” said Modirum CEO Jari Heikkinen. “While major players in this industry focus on either online payment or customer authentication, Entersekt delivers amplified strengths in both areas through a single offering. By converging these key fraud prevention capabilities and breaking down silos, Entersekt enables higher transaction success rates, reduced false declines, and less fraud for financial institutions, and an improved experience for consumers overall.”