Card giant Visa is to give its online and mobile payments a serious safety boost by rolling out the Visa Token Service (VTS) to a far wider audience.
The system works by generating a random single-use number to authorise an online payment, rather than the user entering their account number and other card details. In doing so, it dramatically reduces the risk of data theft and fraud.
“Removing card account numbers from the processing and storage of payments represents one of the most innovative and promising technologies we’ve seen in decades,” said Charlie Scharf, chief executive officer at Visa Inc.
“In 2015, Visa will offer secure payments across a wide variety of devices, platforms and apps,” he added.
“In order to enable these innovative new ways to pay, we are deploying smart technologies that help to prevent fraud, while also maintaining consumer and merchant trust in digital
The company says that around 500 financial institutions have already begun adopting VTS. It is looking to broaden its reach by focussing on signing up more merchants this year.
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