Mastercard commits to passkeys for payment, full tokenization in EU by 2030

As the EU gallops into the digital wallet era, Mastercard is going full-token, as it announces a plan to achieve 100 percent e-commerce tokenization in Europe by the end of the decade. A company release says the move supports a global commitment to phase out manual card entry and make online checkout more accessible and secure.

Payment passkeys and secure tokens are driving the change. Tokenization replaces the 16-19-digit number on payment cards with a secure token. Passkeys leverage mobile device-based biometric authentication to avoid passwords in favor of cryptographic technology.  The idea is to create a seamless customer payment experience across devices, browsers and operating systems.

Mastercard’s tokenization service secures a quarter of all e-commerce transactions globally, as users discover the benefits of turning  everyday technology, such as phones and cars, into biometric payment platforms.

“In Europe we have seen tokenization gaining momentum across the ecosystem, the convenience and reduced rates of fraud sell themselves,” says Valerie Nowak, executive vice president of product and innovation for Mastercard Europe. “We are confident that reaching this vision by 2030 is a win-win-win for shoppers, retailers and the card issuers alike.”

Mastercard is also improving integration of its Click to Pay system into merchant sites, to expedite faster and safer checkouts, increase sales and protect against fraud.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  Mastercard  |  passkeys  |  passwordless authentication