Banks take up Visa Token Service

An extra layer of security for mobile and digital payments has been introduced by Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) and Australia’s National Australia Bank (NAB).

As well as making transactions safer, the new Visa Token Service also makes instore shopping easier.

Credit or debit cards are no longer necessary under the Australian bank’s new mobile payment service,NAB Pay, which lets customers use their mobile phone for purchases.

For UOB customers, the Visa Token Service has been integrated into the UOB Mighty digital wallet. It allows UOB Visa credit or debit card users to make contactless payments via an app on NFC-enabled Android smartphones at selected outlets in Singapore and overseas.

Visa’s new technology replaces sensitive account information found on payment cards with a unique digital identifier or “token” that does not expose account details during the payment process. Tokenised cards are also domain controlled, meaning they link to the user’s phone or wallet application and are validated in real time by the global payment-processing platform VisaNet.

Launched in the US, the Visa Token Service is being rolled out in several markets across Asia Pacific over the coming months. As payments shift from plastic to digital, Visa is working with financial institutions, merchants and technology partners to offer consumers a secure and easy way to buy.

A key benefit of the service is that tokens do not carry the user’s primary account number, so there is less risk of storing them on mobile devices, online (eCommerce merchants) or in cloud-based mobile applications.

Using ISO standards, the tokens can be processed and routed by merchants, acquirers and issues in the same was a traditional card payments.

Tokens tied to lost or stolen mobile devices can be instantly reissued, and multiple tokens can be used for a single primary account, each tied to a specific device or service. Tokens can also be exclusive to specific merchants, mobile devices, transactions or transaction categories.

VisaNet is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants.