Go Smart

“Tokens Will Remove Risk From The Payments Ecosystem”

TS Anil (2)

TS Anil

There is a change happening in the world of digital payments. Consumers in the region have accepted it as a mode of doing financial transaction. In boost this scenario further, Visa, the global payments technology company started its digital token service. Tokenisation is the next level of digital payment service that replaces the credit card number, and is unique and a safer mode of making transactions. TS Anil, Head of Product, Asia Pacific, Visa tells us how Visa Token service is positioned to revolutionise this space.

 How does Visa Token service make digital payments more secure? How does Visa Token service work?

Visa has a simple vision – to be the best way to pay and be paid for everyone, everywhere. We want Visa accounts to be used and accepted in the digital world as easily as in the physical world. If we can do this, then our clients’ businesses will continue to thrive from the growth of digital.

To facilitate the move to digital payments, we need additional capabilities and platforms to make payment details available in a secure fashion across a range of digital devices and applications. One such capability is Tokenisation – the technology that replaces a 16-digit credit card number with a “payments token”. Tokens will remove risk from the payments ecosystem by devaluing the data by replacing sensitive payment account information found on payment cards, such as the 16-digit account number, expiration date and security code, with a unique digital identifier that can be used to process payments without exposing actual account details.

Tokens tied to lost, or stolen mobile devices, can be instantly reissued – without the need to change the consumer’s primary account number or reissue the plastic card. The new service supports issuance of multiple tokens for a single primary account, each tied to a specific mobile device or service. Tokens can be restricted for use with a specific merchant, mobile device, transaction or category of transactions. Tokenisation is based on the industry tokenisation standard we helped to create, which is now managed by EMVCo.

 How adept are the banks today in the region to embrace digital and mobile payments, and what are they doing for that?

 Banks are fully aware of the importance of embracing digital and mobile payments and most have adopted this paradigm one way or the other in order to remain relevant.  Visa is helping banks access our Visa Token Service via the Visa Digital Enablement Program.  The Visa Digital Enablement Program is our commercial framework for digital enablement, which provides Visa issuers with streamlined access to the Visa Token Service and connects issuers to current and future wallet providers of the issuer’s choice without the need to directly contract with a multitude of different vendors. The framework is designed to simplify the implementation of the technology globally, eliminating the need for multiple pricing constructs and bi-lateral agreements between payment providers and financial institutions – ultimately accelerating the delivery of secure digital commerce solutions and protection of consumer data.

Since consumers are slowly moving from plastic to mobile and digital payments, how does having a Token service help them?

The Visa Token Service provides added security for consumers, making digital payments safer.  In addition, if the consumer loses his/her phone, there is no need to reissue the physical card. If consumer loses his/her plastic card, the issuer can link the new plastic card to existing tokens belonging to the same account and let the consumer use the mobile/digital payment service without additional burden to the users. Beyond consumers, tokenisation also offers significant benefits to other stakeholders groups too. Issuers should see a decrease in eCommerce and mCommerce fraud and its associated costs. Acquirers, processors, merchants and their service providers should experience a reduced threat of sensitive cardholder data being usable by fraudsters if compromised. Merchants will also have a powerful tool that will allow them to develop innovative retail experiences without the burden of handling this sensitive payment account data.

The need for tokenisation will take on an added urgency as mobile payments adoption in Southeast Asia continues to gather momentum. According to a Forrester report, “driving this growth is the surging smartphone penetration (local smartphone installed base to grow from 175 million units in 2015 to 230 million units by 2017), a booming market for digital content and favorable government policies, spurring an array of new players to enter the Southeast Asian mobile payments arena”[1]. According to Visa’s 2015 Regional eCommerce Monitor Survey[2], 57 percent of Asia Pacific respondents in the Survey report payment security as their primary concern.

Which are the regions in APAC have you introduced this service? What is your expansion plans for the same?

We recently announced that Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) and Australia’s National Australia Bank (NAB) have implemented Visa Token Service.  Tokenisation is live with NAB Pay, NAB’s new mobile payment service that enables customers to use their mobile phone to make in-store purchases without the need for a physical card.  UOB has also implemented the Visa Token Service as part of its digital wallet UOB Mighty. The service allows UOB Visa credit or debit card members to make contactless payments with an NFC-enabled Android smartphone simply by launching the UOB Mighty app, selecting the ‘Pay’ function, entering a PIN and tapping to pay at all NFC-enabled terminals in Singapore and overseas.

To adopt this service what kind of backend infrastructure do the banks have to put in place?

Banks can utilise their existing infrastructure and connectivity with Visa when integrating with the Visa Token Service.

What are the secure payments solutions or services are you planning to start offering in the APAC region in the coming months?

We are currently in discussions with multiple payment service providers and issuers across the Asia Pacific region to bring exciting mobile and digital payment services to markets using the Visa Token Service.

Apart from Visa payWave and Visa Direct, in Asia Pacific, we already have Visa Checkout, our digital check out service used by merchants and consumers globally to make safe, easy payments online and in-app in just a few clicks. Visa Checkout is already making it easier for millions of consumers to pay with their cards online, on any device. In Asia Pacific, the markets include Australia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Last year, we launched mVisa in India.  mVisa is a new mobile-to-mobile network-based payment service which brings the benefits of secure digital commerce to financial institutions, merchants and consumers in emerging markets. With mVisa, consumers can make cardless purchases, pay bills and send money to friends and family members. The new service is being tested in India with select customers of Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI, and with merchants across the greater Bangalore region.

[1]http://www.4-traders.com/FORRESTER-RESEARCH-INC-9348/news/Forrester-Research–The-Race-For-Mobile-Payments-In-Southeast-Asia-Is-Heating-Up-21272044/

[2]The Visa eCommerce Monitor Survey 2015 was conducted by ORC International Singapore with 11,760 consumers, aged 15 to 55 years and across 13 markets-Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam in May and June 2015.

There is a change happening in the world of digital payments. Consumers in the region have accepted it as a mode of doing financial transaction. In boost this scenario further, Visa, the global payments technology company started its digital token service. Tokenisation is the next level of digital payment service that replaces the credit card number, and is unique and a safer mode of making transactions. TS Anil, Head of Product, Asia Pacific, Visa tells us how Visa Token service is positioned to revolutionise this space.

How does Visa Token service make digital payments more secure? How does Visa Token service work?

Visa has a simple vision – to be the best way to pay and be paid for everyone, everywhere. We want Visa accounts to be used and accepted in the digital world as easily as in the physical world. If we can do this, then our clients’ businesses will continue to thrive from the growth of digital.

To facilitate the move to digital payments, we need additional capabilities and platforms to make payment details available in a secure fashion across a range of digital devices and applications. One such capability is Tokenisation – the technology that replaces a 16-digit credit card number with a “payments token”. Tokens will remove risk from the payments ecosystem by devaluing the data by replacing sensitive payment account information found on payment cards, such as the 16-digit account number, expiration date and security code, with a unique digital identifier that can be used to process payments without exposing actual account details.

Tokens tied to lost, or stolen mobile devices, can be instantly reissued – without the need to change the consumer’s primary account number or reissue the plastic card. The new service supports issuance of multiple tokens for a single primary account, each tied to a specific mobile device or service. Tokens can be restricted for use with a specific merchant, mobile device, transaction or category of transactions. Tokenisation is based on the industry tokenisation standard we helped to create, which is now managed by EMVCo.

How adept are the banks today in the region to embrace digital and mobile payments, and what are they doing for that?

Banks are fully aware of the importance of embracing digital and mobile payments and most have adopted this paradigm one way or the other in order to remain relevant.  Visa is helping banks access our Visa Token Service via the Visa Digital Enablement Program.  The Visa Digital Enablement Program is our commercial framework for digital enablement, which provides Visa issuers with streamlined access to the Visa Token Service and connects issuers to current and future wallet providers of the issuer’s choice without the need to directly contract with a multitude of different vendors. The framework is designed to simplify the implementation of the technology globally, eliminating the need for multiple pricing constructs and bi-lateral agreements between payment providers and financial institutions – ultimately accelerating the delivery of secure digital commerce solutions and protection of consumer data.

Since consumers are slowly moving from plastic to mobile and digital payments, how does having a Token service help them?

The Visa Token Service provides added security for consumers, making digital payments safer.  In addition, if the consumer loses his/her phone, there is no need to reissue the physical card. If consumer loses his/her plastic card, the issuer can link the new plastic card to existing tokens belonging to the same account and let the consumer use the mobile/digital payment service without additional burden to the users. Beyond consumers, tokenisation also offers significant benefits to other stakeholders groups too. Issuers should see a decrease in eCommerce and mCommerce fraud and its associated costs. Acquirers, processors, merchants and their service providers should experience a reduced threat of sensitive cardholder data being usable by fraudsters if compromised. Merchants will also have a powerful tool that will allow them to develop innovative retail experiences without the burden of handling this sensitive payment account data.

The need for tokenisation will take on an added urgency as mobile payments adoption in Southeast Asia continues to gather momentum. According to a Forrester report, “driving this growth is the surging smartphone penetration (local smartphone installed base to grow from 175 million units in 2015 to 230 million units by 2017), a booming market for digital content and favorable government policies, spurring an array of new players to enter the Southeast Asian mobile payments arena”[1]. According to Visa’s 2015 Regional eCommerce Monitor Survey[2], 57 percent of Asia Pacific respondents in the Survey report payment security as their primary concern.

Which are the regions in APAC have you introduced this service? What is your expansion plans for the same?

We recently announced that Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) and Australia’s National Australia Bank (NAB) have implemented Visa Token Service.  Tokenisation is live with NAB Pay, NAB’s new mobile payment service that enables customers to use their mobile phone to make in-store purchases without the need for a physical card.  UOB has also implemented the Visa Token Service as part of its digital wallet UOB Mighty. The service allows UOB Visa credit or debit card members to make contactless payments with an NFC-enabled Android smartphone simply by launching the UOB Mighty app, selecting the ‘Pay’ function, entering a PIN and tapping to pay at all NFC-enabled terminals in Singapore and overseas.

To adopt this service what kind of backend infrastructure do the banks have to put in place?

Banks can utilise their existing infrastructure and connectivity with Visa when integrating with the Visa Token Service.

What are the secure payments solutions or services are you planning to start offering in the APAC region in the coming months?

We are currently in discussions with multiple payment service providers and issuers across the Asia Pacific region to bring exciting mobile and digital payment services to markets using the Visa Token Service.

Apart from Visa payWave and Visa Direct, in Asia Pacific, we already have Visa Checkout, our digital check out service used by merchants and consumers globally to make safe, easy payments online and in-app in just a few clicks. Visa Checkout is already making it easier for millions of consumers to pay with their cards online, on any device. In Asia Pacific, the markets include Australia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Last year, we launched mVisa in India.  mVisa is a new mobile-to-mobile network-based payment service which brings the benefits of secure digital commerce to financial institutions, merchants and consumers in emerging markets. With mVisa, consumers can make cardless purchases, pay bills and send money to friends and family members. The new service is being tested in India with select customers of Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI, and with merchants across the greater Bangalore region.

[1]http://www.4-traders.com/FORRESTER-RESEARCH-INC-9348/news/Forrester-Research–The-Race-For-Mobile-Payments-In-Southeast-Asia-Is-Heating-Up-21272044/

[2]The Visa eCommerce Monitor Survey 2015 was conducted by ORC International Singapore with 11,760 consumers, aged 15 to 55 years and across 13 markets-Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam in May and June 2015.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

To Top