Visa to launch tokenization in Europe for mobile payments

The tokenization service is set to be available to financial institutions in mid-April 2015 and helps pave the way for the launch of Apple Pay in Europe.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express were among the credit card companies that launched tokenization in the US ahead of the launch of Apple Pay in October 2014. The technology replaces users’ credit card information with a randomized series of numbers during payment authorization to secure their account details when they tap their smartphone on a contactless payment terminal.

Apple Pay remains limited to the US, although an international expansion could start with Canada as early as March 2015, macrumors.com reports. The NFC-based mobile payments service requires an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, and will also be compatible with the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 when paired with an Apple Watch.