PURCHASE, N.Y.–MasterCard announced Monday it will integrate a tokenized checkout experience within MasterPass, leveraging the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES).
Experts have stated that tokenization is an important step in the fight against fraud, as it combats online card fraud, which is expected to spike stateside as the U.S. converts to EMV. Chip cards do not protect against online fraud.
The tokenization process replaces the personal account numbers (PAN) for consumer credit, debit, commercial and prepaid cards with a secure “token” – a new 16-digit number that represents the existing PAN on the front of a payment card.
“We continue to see exponential growth in online purchases and in the role of connected devices in enabling commerce,” said Barry Rodrigues, head of Citi enterprise payments solutions at Citi. “Our customers want a simple way to make purchases online which Citi MasterPass delivers, by reducing checkout to just a few clicks. Integrating tokenization is important to our digital payments strategy, and will deliver another layer of security for our customers.”
“MasterPass enables consumers to pay for the things they want with the security they demand, online or in-app, using any device,” said Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer at MasterCard. “In tokenizing MasterPass, we’re creating for consumers a secure ‘digital stream’ directly from their bank which can be connected through the online and mobile banking tools they already know. Together with our banks, we are creating the easiest and most secure way to pay today.”