In October, Visa announced that it had surpassed the threshold of 100 million tokens issued in 2024. An increasingly consolidated technology in the world of payments. Over time, this will no longer allow the bank card numbers to be mentioned, but only the name of the owner. And pay by sending a simple email.
Tokenization allows various uses in payment. Thanks to this principle, sensitive card data is replaced by another number (a token) that associates a card and a merchant. Specifically, when the customer pays for their purchase, they provide their card details (Pan, expiration date, CVV) on the payment page. This data is transmitted to the payment service provider, who will request tokenization from Visa, MasterCard or CB. These will generate a token, that is, a number that will replace the sensitive data on the card. If the token is stored, it will be saved for use in future purchases.
Fight fraud and facilitate online payment
For Sevrine Dagousset, director of risk products at Visa for France, Belgium and Luxembourg, with tokenization “fraud is reduced by up to 60%.”
The initial card number is no longer accessible online but replaced with a unique number, helping to combat the risk of sensitive data being leaked in the event of a hack. Another important advantage: tokenization makes payment and the customer journey easier.
One of the uses of tokenization, launched since 2017, is to make mobile payments such as with Google Pay, Apple Pay or Samsung Pay. The second use is called Saved Card. Allows you to save payment card information for future use, in the case of a subscription or recurring payment. For example on Spotify or Voyage SNCF. “It works especially for large merchants, because they can manage the complexity of the technology,” explains Brice van de Walle, CEO of Mastercard France.
Click to pay to eliminate the friction of online payment
Finally, the third use is called Click to Pay. Its deployment will be gradual in France. Once generalized, it will allow the bank card number to disappear. This time, all merchants will be affected. The customer will no longer have to enter their card number, but only their email address. The card associated with the email (or cards if there are several) will appear and the consumer can click on them. Two-factor authentication will ensure security, like any remote payment.
The objective of Click to Pay in e-commerce is to eliminate the friction associated with entering the numbers, the expiration date and the secure code, to achieve the same fluidity as with contactless payment in a physical store with a high level of security. as Brice van de Walle explains.
Consequence: the number of transactions increases. For Sevrine Dagousset, tokenization increases approved transactions by 4% to 5% on average. Another advantage, as Brice van de Walle points out, in case of loss, theft or change of bank, with tokenization it will not be necessary to register again with the online merchant.
Finally, with a unique token per merchant, the bank knows where the card is registered. Therefore, the consumer will have more visibility and control and will be able to deactivate subscriptions (respecting contractual clauses).
A gradual rollout of Click to Pay in France
In March 2024, Visa announced the gradual rollout of Click to Pay for online card payments in Europe starting at the end of 2024. In September it was the turn of the bank card group to announce it and in October that of Mastercard. Field implementation is planned for 2026.
A launch that takes time, because for Sévrine Dagousset of Visa, “an entire ecosystem must be launched: banks to offer the service to consumers, payment platforms and their merchants, especially in a market with national payment networks and international. like France.”
So, soon the end of numbers on bank cards?
“The goal of 100% tokenization in e-commerce is 2030 – we will ensure that all banks accelerate their efforts to achieve this timeline,” confirms Brice van de Walle.
Bank cards as we know them today “allow a certain resilience”, that is, “they do not depend on a computer failure”, explains Loys Moulin. Furthermore, we must not forget that there are “3.3 billion cards in circulation in the world,” recalls Brice van de Walle. Visa reminds that consumers who do not wish to access simplified payment can continue entering their card number.
Between the classic uses of the bank card and the use of new technologies, “it is more of a coexistence than a substitution”, concludes Loys Moulin.
Source: BFM TV
