Mastercard to tokenize all cards on its network in Europe by 2030

Mastercard said it intends to tokenize all cards on its network in Europe by 2030

Mastercard intends to phase out manual entry of card numbers for online transactions in Europe from 2030.

By the turn of the decade, the US-based payments MNC will not require Europeans to physically enter the 16-digit card number while making purchases online, irrespective of the platform and device. The card number will be replaced by 'token' which would be randomly generated online, and the entire payment process will shift to a one-click method across platforms, Mastercard said.

Mastercard said the process will secure user's card against potential fraud and other cyber-crimes. The payments company cited a Juniper Research report which claims that financial losses due to online payment fraud could exceed $91 billion by 2028.

Mastercard claims that tokenization of card payments has been increasing at 50% annually, and about 25% of all its e-commerce transactions globally are now secured though this method.

Valerie Nowak, Executive Vice President, Product & Innovation at Mastercard Europe said, “we are confident that reaching this vision by 2030 is a win-win-win for shoppers, retailers and the card issuers alike.”

What Is Tokenization
Tokenization is a process that replaces the 16–digit card number with a secure token, thus reducing chances of fraud at the same time improves approval rate of transcactions. The tokenization route also opens a wide range of use cases, helping turn phones and cars into commerce devices.

The process of passkey for payment enables device-based biometric authentication to do away with passwords and one-time codes.