At Money 20/20 Europe, Mehret Habteab, Senior VP of Product and Solutions at Visa Europe, unveiled a groundbreaking development in digital payments. Since launching in 2014, Visa has issued over 10 billion tokens, generating $40 billion in incremental e-commerce revenue globally.
Highlighting the success of their tokenization efforts, Habteab explained to Finextra, “Not only is it powering up those merchants with the additional sales conversion, but it’s driving really convenient, secure payment experiences for consumers.” In Europe alone, over 40% of transactions processed by Visa are completed via tokens.
On stage in Amsterdam, Habteab announced Visa’s next big leap: integrating generative AI with tokenization. “When you take generative AI and you take tokens, you’ve got the ability to transform the consumer experience before they get to that checkout stage,” she said.
However, Habteab emphasized the importance of consumer trust. “When it comes to sharing their data, consumers have to be in controlled environments; they have to have trust and confidence around that in order to participate. That’s really what we’re focused on, building this foundation that’s needed to use token technology to secure these data attributes that are shared with merchants in the same way that we’ve done with the payment data.”
She shared an innovative example from Denmark, where tokens are used at tolls. This technology links payment credentials to driver number plates, reducing queues and congestion. “Who would have known the queues that were building up with those frustrated motorists, serious congestion on the public transport network can be eased and easily addressed by ensuring that payment credentials are maintained and up to date?”
Looking ahead, Visa’s primary goal is to ensure that both merchants and consumers “enjoy” tokenization. Habteab concluded, “There is still a huge wave of transactions out there that can be more secure and more frictionless, more convenient for consumers.”
