Systems and methods for performing financial transactions using active authentication

A financial transaction system, comprising:

• a non-transient computer readable storage medium;
• an engine for generating a substantially random alpha-numeric string;
• and
• a processor coupled to the non-transient computer readable storage medium and the engine, the processor configured to:
• cause the engine to generate a single-use transaction key in response to receiving a request to perform a financial transaction from a user having an account with a financial institution,
• cause at least a first portion of the single-use transaction key in store the single-use transaction key to be stored in the non-transient computer readable storage medium,
• cause the single-use transaction key to be transmitted to the user,
• determine if at least a second portion of the single-use transaction key received from a merchant matches the first portion of the single-use transaction key stored in the non-transient computer readable storage medium, and
• cause a message to be transmitted the merchant authorizing the financial transaction if the second portion of the single-use transaction key matches the first portion of the single-use transaction key.

A non-transient machine readable storage medium encoded with program code, wherein when the program code is executed by a processor, the processor performs a method comprising the steps of:

• causing a single-use transaction key for a financial transaction to be generated in response to receiving a request to perform a financial transaction from a user having an account at a financial institution;
• causing the single-use transaction key to be transmitted to the user that requested the financial transaction;
• comparing a second portion of the single-use transaction key received from a merchant to a first portion of the single-use transaction key stored in the non-transient computer readable storage medium to determine if the transaction should be authorized;
• and
• causing a message to be transmitted the merchant authorizing the financial transaction if the second portion of the single-use transaction key matches the first portion of the single-use transaction key.