Fat Zebra partners with Visa and Mastercard to enable network tokens
Network tokenisation is changing online payments, giving both consumers and merchants a seamless payment experience with increased fraud protection. Fat Zebra has partnered with Visa and Mastercard to bring network tokens to its ecosystem, allowing new and existing customers to leverage the technology simply through a single integration.
Tokenisation is a data security process that allows merchants to store credit card information securely. The stored credit card information could be in consumer accounts, so their payment information is available to use as needed and for ongoing, automated account payment schedules. Tokenisation turns valuable data, like credit card details, into a random string of information, also known as a token. There is no direct mathematical relationship between the original value and the random token. Fraud is mitigated as the token has no meaningful value outside of the original provisioning and allows the online transactions to go through securely.
Network tokenisation advances this process even further. It increases fraud prevention and significantly reduces the chance of bounced payments, decreasing any burden on both the consumer and merchant.
Unlike card on file or credential on file systems, network tokenisation provides full token lifecycle management for payments. In the past, if a credit card had expired, was stolen, or was updated for any other reason, each location that had stored the relevant credit card information had to be manually updated with the new credit card information by the cardholder. Often, consumers aren't aware of all the automated payments they have in place, so they don't always remember to update their card details. When the next payment gets processed against those stored credit card details, the payment would be declined.
With network tokenisation, the burden of updating credit card information no longer lies with the customer or the merchant. Instead, it can be securely updated by Fat Zebra, and subsequent transactions can go through successfully.
“Network tokenisation allows Fat Zebra to be proactively notified of any changes to the consumer's card, ensuring we always have the most up-to-date payment details ahead of any transaction," said Fat Zebra's Matt Stevenson.
"When we're alerted to a stolen credit card, all connected tokens are suspended. If an account is closed, all connected tokens get destroyed. If a card is updated, we are alerted to make the relevant changes to ensure the next transaction goes through smoothly. Merchants avoid interruption in recurring accounts, and customers don't get stuck with suspended services or late fees."
Fat Zebra’s partnership with Mastercard means our customers can seamlessly leverage the technology of Mastercard’s network tokenisation offering, Mastercard Digital Enablement Services (MDES).
“As consumers increasingly turn to subscription-based products, such as streaming services and food delivery, it is more important than ever that merchants begin to explore ways to enhance the customer experience, removing any unnecessary friction from the checkout process, while also keeping security front of mind,” said Surin Fernando, Vice President of promoting Products and Innovation, Australasia, Mastercard.
“Change of card details and expired cards are two examples of where Mastercard’s MDES for merchants lifecycle management capabilities supports businesses to grow their sales and reduce any friction in payment management for both the business and their consumers.”
What value does tokenisation bring to our merchants?
Network tokenisation has ample benefits for the merchant and then beneficial flow-on effects for their customers. For the merchant's customers, it helps to ensure their bills are paid on time and to avoid late fees or cancellations on their accounts. It also helps them avoid late payments, which could negatively impact their credit rating.
For merchants, network tokenisation means they can enjoy increased authorisation rates and a more predictable cash flow, as well as removing the burden of the administration involved in updating credit card details or following and collecting late payments. Additionally, merchants in Australia can benefit from reduced interchange fees as a result of processing with Network tokens.
Overall, the process reduces the burden on all parties, and it's also easy to get up and running with Fat Zebra handling all the heavy lifting to ensure transactions can continue safely and effortlessly.
“Our integration process means we handle all the difficult parts. Merchants don’t need to perform any extra technical integration with the Fat Zebra API—it all happens behind the scenes. Fat Zebra will use the scheme token to transact in place of the primary account,” said Mr Stevenson.
Learn more about Fat Zebra’s capability and network tokenisation by contacting us at sales@fatzebra.com
