Teaming Up to Find a More Secure Fintech Footing

Human beings are known for many different things, but more importantly, they are known for getting better on a consistent basis. This tendency, in particular, has already got us to hit upon some huge milestones, with technology appearing as a major member of the stated group. The reason why technology enjoys such an esteemed stature is, by and large, predicated upon its skill-set, which realized all the possibilities for us that nobody could have ever imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, if we dig a little bit deeper, it will become clear how the whole runner was also inspired from the way we applied those skills across a real-world environment. The latter component was, in fact, what gave the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and consequentially, kickstarted a tech revolution. Of course, this revolution then went on to scale up the human experience beyond every known limit, but even after achieving such a monumental feat, technology will somehow keep on delivering the right goods. The same has grown to become a lot more evident in recent times, and assuming a newly-formed partnership ends up having the desired impact, it should only make that trend bigger and better moving forward.

Bluefin, a leader in integrated payments and data and payment security, has officially teamed up with Visa to use the latter’s cutting-edge technology and provide its customers with network tokenization service. But how will the companies achieve that goal from an actionable standpoint? Well, under the agreed arrangement, Bluefin will integrate directly into Visa’s core setup, thus unlocking a possibility where it can offer network tokens across multiple card brands. Notably enough, the entire operation will be facilitated through ShieldConex, which is basically a vaultless tokenization service known for providing data security by protecting payment and ACH account data, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and Protected Health Information (PHI) entered via an iFrame or API. Another detail that is worth a mention is how the Atlanta-based Bluefin is entrusting its payment gateway, PayConex to ensure seamless processing of all tokens.

“The acceleration of digital commerce and card-not-present (CNP) transactions has underscored requirements for secure payment processing and data input,” said Tim Barnett, Chief Information Officer at Bluefin. “We are excited to provide our partners and merchants with greater flexibility around how they tokenize cardholder data through the addition of this network tokenization option.”

The reason why this collaboration could eventually become a big deal is evident in the difference between network tokenization and traditional payment card tokenization. You see, while the traditional methodology is used to witnessing tokens for credit and debit card data get issued by a merchant’s acquirer or payment processor, the modern concept focuses more on card brands issuing a token and unique transaction cryptogram. This shift, in turn, has made it possible for the stated technology to be interoperable across acquirers, payment processors, and payment gateways.

The partnership also provides an interesting follow-up to a recently-conducted LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ 2022 True Cost of Fraud Study: Retail and Ecommerce. According to that study, the cost of every $1 lost to fraud for U.S. merchants increased 19.8% since 2019, rising from $3.13 to $3.75. Network tokenization, if we trust Visa’s word, can solve the problem by not only reducing the general pain points in our payment and checkout experience, but also by increasing authorization rates. To give you concrete numbers, Visa claims that the said technology can realize a 28% cutback in fraud.

“Tokenization is an imperative aspect of a safe and secure digital economy,” said Ansar Ansari, global head of platform products at Visa, Inc. “Bluefin’s collaboration with Visa helps not only secure payments, but also improves customer experience.”

Founded in 2007, Bluefin has made a name for itself in the integrated payments, encryption, and tokenization space. The company’s product suite has successfully managed to deliver tailored solutions for both contactless and face-to-face call centers, mobile operations, ecommerce, unattended payments and data in the healthcare, higher education, as well as government and nonprofit industries. At the moment, Bluefin has a sizeable 300 global partners, who are serving 34,000 connected enterprisse and software clients that stretch through 55 countries.