Mastercard making huge change to payments and it will affect millions of people

18 June 2024 , 13:46

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Mastercard has issued an update about online payments (Image: LightRocket via Getty Images)

Mastercard has announced plans for a major change to online payments - and it will affect millions of customers.

The payment card provider today announced it wants all e-commerce transactions to be 100% “tokenized” in Europe by 2030. This would see the 16 to 19 digit number on your payment card replaced with a unique alternate card number, or “token”, to speed up payments.

These will be used for mobile transactions, in-app purchases and online purchases. Mastercard introduced this payment method in 2014 and it now accounts for around 25% off all online payments made this way worldwide.

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

Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard, said: “As physical and digital experiences continue to converge, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. We’re focused on bringing best-in-class digital services together to deliver more value, access and safety to our customers and the end-consumer. We’ll continue to harness the potential of these technologies to deliver enhanced security, better experiences and overall, new ways to pay.”

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However, consumer rights expert Martyn James told The Sun that this puts more onus on the businesses to make sure our details are secure. He said: "With fraud remaining at record levels, anything that helps protect our cash is a good thing.

"But the more our security details get digitized, the more trust we have to put in the business to get things right. And people who don't use smart phones or find the internet hard to deal with are going to be left behind significantly - just as the use of cash increases in the UK for the first time in years."

Levi Winchester