At Money 20/20 Europe, Mehret Habteab, senior VP of product and solutions at Visa Europe, announced that the company has generated $40 billion in incremental e-commerce revenue globally, after issuing over 10 billion tokens since their launch in 2014.
Discussing their developments in tokenization, Habteab stated: “Not only is it powering up those merchants with additional sales conversion, but it’s also driving really convenient, secure payment experiences for consumers.”
According to Visa, more than 40% of transactions processed in Europe are completed using tokens. During her presentation in Amsterdam, Habteab highlighted Visa’s interest in generative AI, emphasizing its potential to enhance consumer experiences prior to checkout.
However, she noted that “when it comes to sharing their data, consumers have to be in controlled environments; they need to have trust and confidence to participate. That’s really what we’re focused on—building the foundation necessary to use token technology to secure data attributes shared with merchants in the same way we’ve secured payment data.”
Habteab also pointed out the use of tokens in toll payments in Denmark. In this instance, tokenization enables payment credentials to be linked to vehicle number plates, resulting in reduced queues and congestion.
She explained: “Who would have known that the queues building up with frustrated motorists could lead to serious congestion on the public transport network? This can be easily addressed by ensuring that payment credentials are maintained and kept up to date.”
Looking ahead, Habteab stated that Visa’s primary goal is to ensure that both merchants and consumers can fully benefit from tokenization. She remarked: “There is still a huge wave of transactions that can be made more secure, frictionless, and convenient for consumers.”
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