New Tokenization Services Will Strengthen Payment Security and Spur
Commerce Innovation
FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), the global leader in payments, today announced the
creation of Visa Digital Solutions, a comprehensive suite of offerings
that facilitate secure payments across a broad range of
Internet-connected devices and wearables.
In 2014, commerce initiated with mobile phones and tablets is expected
to total $114 billion in the U.S. alone, according to research firm
Forrester. Two-thirds of those sales will happen via tablet computers,
while the remainder will occur on mobile phones.
“Visa Digital Solutions provides the standards, tools and services to
turn any Internet-connected device into a secure vehicle for commerce,”
said Sam Shrauger, senior vice president, Visa Inc. “Smartphone
manufacturers can securely load a Visa account within a device,
merchants can directly embed Visa payment functionality into their
mobile apps and financial institutions can offer mobile and online
payments as part of their mobile banking applications.”
Visa Digital Solutions fall into two main categories:
1. Support for New Payment Methods
Making a purchase with a mobile
device at a physical retailer or online is becoming commonplace,
particularly in countries with a high penetration of smartphones. Visa
is extending its support for mobile payments to enable retailers,
financial institutions and developers to create new ways to pay via
smartphones.
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Wave-to-pay: Visa recently published a software development kit
(SDK) to make it easier for merchants, financial institutions and
application developers to embed Visa payWave, Visa’s mobile payment
technology, into their mobile applications. Issuers now have the
option to host the Visa account information in a virtual cloud or in a
secure chip on the mobile device.
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Scan-to-pay: In June Visa published an initial specification for
presenting Visa account information in the form of a Quick Response
(QR) code. The specification provides retailers with a new, secure
option to accept a Visa payment by simply scanning a QR code on a
smartphone screen.
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Click-to-pay: Last week Visa announced the launch of Visa Checkout, a
quick and easy payment service that enables consumers throughout the
United States, Canada and Australia to pay for goods online, on any
device, in just a few clicks. Visa’s application programming
interfaces (APIs) for Visa Checkout are available to merchant
developers, as well as SDKs for in-app payments.
2. Technology That Protects Consumers and Supports Industry Innovation
As
the number of online and mobile transactions has increased, so has the
need to protect consumer payment account information. In September, Visa
will introduce an innovative tokenization service that strengthens
payment security while facilitating industry innovation. The new Visa
Token Service enables:
-
Consumer Protection: Tokens replace the 16-digit account information
found on plastic cards with a numeric substitute, facilitating payment
transactions without sharing sensitive account information.
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Industry Innovation: Tokens can be stored directly in mobile devices,
online eCommerce applications and cloud-based mobile applications,
which will spur new commerce experiences.
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Restricted Use: Tokens can be limited for use with specific merchants,
mobile devices or types of purchases.
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Convenience and Cost Effectiveness: Tokens linked to lost or stolen
mobile devices can be instantly reissued without changing account
numbers or reissuing plastic cards.
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Easy Processing: Tokens are based on existing ISO standards and can
therefore be processed and routed by merchants, acquirers and issuers
like traditional card payments.
Many offerings within the Visa Digital Solutions suite are available
today, with the full range of capabilities expected to be commercially
available in the U.S. by January 2015, and global rollouts throughout
the year. Visa Digital Solutions will initially be available through the
Visa Ready program, which provides innovators a path for the
certification of devices, software and solutions used to initiate or
accept Visa payments. Visa will also launch an extended Developer Center
in early 2015, providing product specifications, APIs, SDKs, as well as
implementation guidelines for financial institutions, merchants and
third-party payment providers. For more information please visit Visa
Ready.
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company that
connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments
in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable
electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced
processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than
47,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for
consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does
not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers.
Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers
to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time
with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information,
visit corporate.visa.com
and @VisaNews.
Source: Visa Inc.