Lesson No.
LIÇÃO-PT-003
🇵🇹
PT
Date
2026-05-26
03
Lesson 03 of 08 · Banking
PublishedPushSMS

PSD2 SCA: low-latency OTP delivery for online banking in Portugal

OPortuguese banks (Millennium BCP, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Novo Banco, Santander Portugal, BPI, Crédito Agrícola, Bankinter) implement PSD2 SCA with OTP via SMS or push. 4notify delivers OTP via tier-1 gateway with preserved alphanumeric sender ID and P50 latency <3s across all four Portuguese carriers.
Context

An OTP that doesn't reach the user within 30s causes transaction abandonment. At peak hours (payroll, end-of-month transfers), delays compound on grey routes.

Legal framework
Regulamento (UE) 2018/389 — RTS SCA

Two independent factors mandatory.

Aviso BdP 5/2018

Portuguese SCA implementation for remote transactions.

Lesson (steps)
01

Premium tier-1 routing

OTPs routed over tier-1 premium gateway — never grey route. Alphanumeric sender ID preserved, DLRs <2s.

02

Automatic carrier detection

HLR lookup before dispatch classifies number into MEO/NOS/Vodafone PT/Digi. Per-carrier stats in dashboard.

03

TTL and one-time use

Each OTP issued with 5-min TTL and one-time use.

04

Push fallback for bank apps

If user has bank's official app installed, OTP sent as encrypted push first. SMS only if push fails.

Code
bash
curl -X POST https://api.4notify.net/v1/otp \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "purpose": "psd2_sca",
    "recipient": { "phone": "+351912345678" },
    "session_id": "TRX-PT-2026-39402",
    "transaction": { "amount": 245, "currency": "EUR", "merchant": "PINGO DOCE LISBOA" },
    "ttl_seconds": 300,
    "channels_priority": ["push", "sms"]
  }'
Sample message
SMS

YourBank: Code 482917. PINGO DOCE LISBOA 245.00 EUR. Never share. Expires in 5 min.

Checklist
  • Local P50/P95 benchmarks per carrier
  • Push fallback active for top 5 PT banks
  • Log SCA failures into bank audit log
What 4notify does differently

Premium tier-1 routing on all 4 Portuguese carriers with P95 <6s and live per-carrier dashboard.

FAQ
What is P50/P95 in Portugal?

P50: 2.2s (MEO), 2.4s (NOS), 2.5s (Vodafone PT), 2.8s (Digi). P95 <6s. Push fallback <1s.

Start free

14 days, no card. Support in Portuguese and English.

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