Mastercard to slash risk, add ease to credit card transactions
‘It’s annoying to go around to these services and update your details’
Payments expert Alex Boorman
CUSTOMERS with recurring payments set up for expenses such as ride-sharing, food delivery and streaming services will soon be able to do away with updating their card details.
Payment giant Mastercard is working on a trial to make it easier for consumers to have seamless transactions.
This means customers won’t have to worry about updating their card details if their plastic is compromised or expires, and their sensitive information will be protected.
Using “tokenisation” capabilities, the system secures a customer’s data and replaces it with an algorithm-generated number. This helps prevent credit card fraud.
Mastercard’s vice president of digital and business development, Surin Fernando, said once the functionality was rolled out, customers would not need to update card details.
“As you save your card details to websites, apps will automatically get upgraded with our new tokenisation capability,” Mr Fernando said.
“The cardholder will have a very safe, secure transaction online.”
Mastercard customer details would automatically update at sites where their information was already stored.
Mr Fernando said the current system could be frustrating for customers when their card had been stolen, lost or compromised, and they needed to quickly update it or have payments declined.
Strategic relations firm RFi’s payments expert, Alex Boorman, said tokenisation would be a huge win for consumers.
“We know consumers are saving their cards with more of these types of services,” he said.
“We also know it’s a pain point for consumers when their card has expired or been stolen. It’s annoying to go around to these services and update your details.”
The move was also expected to help prevent card information and account details from being stolen.
Tokenisation can stop fraudsters from duplicating a customer’s bank information and using it elsewhere.
Chip and PIN cards are used to protect customers when they are paying at a bricks-andmortar store, while tokenisation is designed to prevent online or digital breaches.
Mr Boorman said it would also help customers who “had forgotten where they had saved their card details”.
“It’s a friction point for consumers, no-one wants to be in a situation where they think a payment goes through and it doesn’t because the card has expired,” he said.