Multinational banking group BBVA has announced the development of a platform that can facilitate mobile payments across all the countries within its footprint.
The platform works by connecting to Visa and Mastercard directly from each country’s application and provides the data required to process digital transactions from a smartphone.
Initially only available to customers in Peru, BBVA disclosed it is planning to release the platform to its other markets over the coming months.
Alfredo Sanz, BBVA’s product owner for payment solutions explained: “We want to be the first ones to provide new digital payment features to the customers in our markets, and this is only possible with the designs developed using this platform.
“A global approach to creating and developing products has become an integral part of our work philosophy at BBVA.”
BBVA developed the global platform using token technology and said it will also offer customers new payment experiences via tokenization.
With the platform, BBVA also enables e-commerce providers to request tokens to store them in place of the credit card details in an effort to reduce the risk of fraud.
“We are betting on tokenization as the way forward because it enhances data and transaction security, which can help us reduce fraud while also fostering customer trust in the new solutions,” added Sanz.
The platform connects to Visa and Mastercard directly from each country’s application and provides the data required to process digital transactions from a smartphone.
Therefore removing the need to rely upon local platforms to deliver this functionality to each market; the Spanish-based firm expect this to save time and resources for all customers and believe this platform is a “key piece” to its future payment strategy.
Sanz said: “The trend in payment mechanisms is moving toward the tokenization of credit cards. This is being driven by companies like Visa and Mastercard, who are providing new digital use cases.
“We go even further with our platform. We intend to cover all of these cases as well as providing our customers new experiences they’ve never seen before.”
BBVA’s goal is to create a single user experience across the bank’s operating countries and creating global products is instrumental to this aim.
The company also said it is preparing to meet the customer requirements that emerge when the use of this type of system extends to cover solutions that give customers total control over their tokens directly from the banking app.
“Being the first ones to offer our customers all these options when they are making payments is a key part of the bank’s digital transformation strategy,” concluded Sanz.
