Overview

Network tokenization replaces PAN and expiration date with a payment network token. A Token Service Provider (TSP) issues the token, for example VTS or MDES. The token is bound to a token requestor that is the merchant. Use it for Card-on-file (COF) payments and avoid storing PAN in your systems.

Payment network tokenization actors

Actors

In a typical flow, you have:

• End user: Uses a card to complete an e-commerce transaction.
• Merchant or PSP: Acts as the token requestor for COF payments.
• Acquirer: Sends the transaction to the payment network.
• Issuer: Authorizes (or declines) the token creation and the transactions.
• Payment network TSP: Issues tokens, performs detokenization, and publishes LCM events.
• Thales platform: Provides a single integration point to multiple payment networks through one API.

Benefits

• Reduce risk for COF data by storing tokens instead of PAN.
• Stay current with LCM using automated updates from the payment network TSP.
• Simplify multi-network connectivity by integrating once with Thales.

Payment network Tokenization reduces PAN exposure, but it does not remove all PCI DSS obligations. Scope depends on your end-to-end flow.