Fed Sets Up Tokenization Workgroup

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has created a working group to study the implications of using digital account tokens to replace card numbers, for both in-store and E-Commerce use.

“In the U.S., bodies such as EMVCo, The Clearing House, and card networks, are focusing their efforts exclusively on payments, while others-such as the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council and the Accredited Standards Committee X9-are designing protocols to protect stored card data or data at rest,” said a Finextra story.

The story quoted Marianne Crowe, vice president of payment strategies at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and chair of the working group, saying that Apple Pay helped influence Fed leaders that such a working group is needed.

“With the recent introductions of new platforms that use tokenization technologies including ApplePay, we are even more convinced of the need to evaluate the optimal approach to tokenisation and determine how the payments industry can better coordinate efforts to protect consumers and businesses alike,” the story quoted Crowe saying.