MasterCard predicts that, by 2020, 38% of payments made in Europe will be digital.
With the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES), it will be possible to respond to changing consumer behaviors and enable digital payments on any commercial device, through the introduction of industry-adapted tokenization standards.
Digital wallet services were launched in the United States in 2014 with Apple Pay. Today, card issuers and service providers have several MDES-based projects under development in more than 18 countries across Europe. In the United Kingdom, MDES already connects banks, representing more than 70% of Apple Pay account holders. Among the digital wallet operators linked to MDES is Google, which recently announced its intention to launch Android Pay in the UK. “ MDES is the foundation for many of the developments we have been investing in to offer secure digital transactions, allowing consumers to pay where and how they want, with peace of mind, knowing that their payment and transaction information is protected ,” explains Paulo Raposo, Country Manager of MasterCard Portugal.
MDES was launched in 2013 and forms the basis of secure digital payments, ensuring the highest levels of security regardless of how payments are made. The launch of Apple Pay in 2014 incorporated MDES into Apple's digital wallet, followed later by the adoption of the platform by Samsung Pay and Android Pay.
In addition to digital wallets, MasterCard has been cooperating with issuers and merchants of all sizes to offer them access to tokenization services based on MDES Express and MDES for merchants. MDES Express represents a critical evolution for the service, simplifying the adjudication process between financial institutions and digital payment services. MDES for merchants offers security based on EMV (chip) technology for card transactions. The service helps merchants minimize fraudulent transactions and associated costs, such as storing card numbers, and has the potential to improve approval rates.
The platform has also been used to enable payments for a wide range of consumer products in categories such as automotive, fashion, technology and wearables, offering consumers greater freedom by allowing them to choose the most convenient and secure devices when making their purchases. At the Mobile World Congress in 2016, MasterCard and Coin announced a developer program aimed at enhancing the integration of payment solutions into wearables and reducing barriers to entry for device manufacturers. “As the payments ecosystem shifts from plastic to digital and consumers gain easier access to a variety of gadgets and devices to make their payments, MDES offers security throughout the value chain, ensuring that issuers, merchants and consumers have access to the safest way to make their payments,” concludes David Dechamps, Director of Digital Payments Europe at MasterCard.
