UOB rolls out first Visa Token Service in Asia Pacific

Customers only need their smartphones to pay.

UOB is the first bank in the Asia Pacific to implement the Visa Token Service, according to a report by Visa.

“The Visa Token Service is a new security technology that replaces sensitive payment account information found on payment cards, such as the 16-digit account number, expiration date and security code, with a unique digital identifier or “tokens” that can be used to process payments without exposing actual account details,” stated the report.

Through the UOB Mighty app, all Visa cardholders will be able to make contactless payments with an NFC-enabled Android smartphone. Customers need only to open the app, select the “Pay” function, enter a PIN, and tap to pay at all NFC-enabled terminals both in the country and overseas.

The report notes that there is less risk in storing tokens on mobile devices, online by e-commerce merchant and in cloud-based mobile applications as the tokens do not carry the customer’s primary account number. Also, tokens tied to lost or stolen mobile devices can instantly be re-issued without having to change the primary account or to reissue the plastic card.

Also, customers can be issued a new token for each of their mobile devices even with only one primary account. Tokens can be restricted for use with exclusively with a certain merchant, mobile device, transaction or category of transactions.

Moreover, as the tokens are based on existing ISO standards, they can be processed the same way as traditional card payments.