Visa Checkout Is Now Tokenized

Tokenization, it seems, is coming to Visa Checkout. The world’s largest credit card company announced earlier this week that it has officially integrated tokenization tech into its online checkout platform — aptly named Visa Checkout.

“Our goal is always to make payments fast, easy and secure,” said Sam Shrauger, Visa’s senior vice president of digital solutions. “This has been a transformative year for payment security with new technologies that bring added protection to consumer accounts while shopping in-store and in-app, and now online, too.”

Visa’s announced tokenization of checkout follows an announcement that MasterCard will be tokenizing its online payments platform — MasterPass. Vib Prasad, group head of MasterPass Global, told MPD CEO Karen Webster at the time that the integration was “the next logical step” for MasterPass.

For Visa, the tokenization announcement comes in concert with plans to build relationships with merchants so that the tech can be applied to “cards-on-file.” That would allow customer card numbers that merchants already have stored in their system to more easily facilitate multiple payments (subscriptions fees, for example, or billing services) such that all are seamlessly tokenized.

“We’re pleased that Visa has added tokenization to Visa Checkout in an effort to keep the payment details of more Visa cardholders safe with advanced security technology,” said Faisal Masud, executive vice president of global eCommerce for Staples. “Our customers value mobile solutions that let them conveniently, quickly and securely purchase the products they need to run their business.”

Issuers also enthusiastically responded to the announcement.

“Our highest priority is the security of our customers’ transactions, whether they are paying online or in a physical store,” said Tom Kunz, senior vice president of PNC Digital. “That’s why we are working with Visa to integrate their innovative security technology, Visa Token Service, into Visa Checkout on our site. This technology offers greater security, and because it can also be used with EMV chip cards, consumers can benefit from this added security feature, whether paying online, in-app or in stores around the world and across the Web.”

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