For traditional card companies to become online payment powers they will have to address security issues. If they are smart, they will find ways to make security a huge competitive advantage, yielding many marketable benefits.

Merchants are keenly interested in more secure systems, specifically one-stop systems that are easy to deploy. American Express moved in the right direction when it announced it will buy online payments software security firm Accertify for about $150 million.

This follows similar deals by other card powers. Visa bought e-commerce gateway CyberSource for $2 billion in the summer. And MasterCard bought the DataCash Group, which focuses on online solutions.

Accertify's Interceptas platform "automates front-end screening, order review, and chargeback processing, reducing fraud losses in some cases by 50 percent or or more," according to the firm.  Accertify has enjoyed particular success with air carriers, having signed Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airlines, notes Digital Transactions.

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