Visa, the global leader in payments, has launched an innovative technology that provides a secure environment to help drive innovation in online and mobile commerce.

Visa Token Service replaces sensitive payment account information found on plastic cards with a digital account number or “token”. Because “tokens” do not carry a consumer’s payment account details, such as the 16-digit account number, they can be safely stored by online merchants or on mobile devices to facilitate ecommerce and mobile payments.

“When you make the payment environment safer, you open up a world of possibilities where commerce can take place in different forms and consumers can shop anywhere, on any device, with confidence,” said Charlie Scharf, chief executive officer, Visa.

 “Visa Token Service is yet another example of where we have opened up our network to create meaningful solutions in the form of new standards, tools and services that can enable digital payment experiences that are both engaging and secure.”

Visa Token Service will be available to Visa issuing financial institutions globally, starting with US financial institutions next month, and followed by a phased roll-out overseas beginning in 2015. The technology has been designed to support payments with mobile devices using all major mobile platforms.

“Over the past year, Visa has led the global payments industry in the development of new payments standards and services designed to protect consumers’ account information when shopping online and with mobile devices,” said Ryan McInerney, president, Visa.

“More than 750 staff from across the Visa organization globally were involved in the effort, working closely with our initial launch partners - financial institutions, merchants and processors - to ensure the ecosystem was ready. Today, we are making these services available to our clients, and believe it will help transform connected devices and wearables into secure payment vehicles.”

According to a Visa statement, key benefits of Visa Token Service include:

•    Consumer Protection: Tokens replace the 16-digit account information found on plastic cards with a numeric substitute. This new identifier is called a digital account number and it can facilitate payment transactions without sharing sensitive personal account information.

•    Customized Usage: Tokens can be limited to specific merchants, mobile devices or types of purchases – providing another form of innovation and security.

•    Convenience and Cost Effectiveness: Tokens linked to lost or stolen mobile devices can be instantly reissued without changing account numbers or reissuing plastic cards.

•    Easy Processing: Tokens are based on existing International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards and can therefore be processed and routed by merchants, acquirers and issuers like traditional card payments. – TradeArabia News Service