Mastercard to phase out manual card entry for online payments in Europe by 2030
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LONDON — The experience of paying for products and services online could feel a lot different in the coming years.
Starting from 2030, Mastercard will no longer require Europeans to enter their card numbers manually when checking out online — no matter what platform or device they’re using.
Mastercard will announce Tuesday in a fireside chat with CNBC that, by 2030, all cards it issues on its network in Europe will be tokenized.
In other words, instead of the 16-digit card number we’re all accustomed to using for transactions, this will be replaced with a randomly generated “token.”
The firm says it’s been working with banks, fintechs, merchants and other partners to phase out manual card entry for e-commerce by 2030 in Europe, in favor of a one-click button across all online platforms.
This will ensure that consumers’ cards are secure against fraud attempts, Mastercard says.
Users won’t have to keep entering passwords every time they try to make a payment, as Mastercard is introducing passkeys that replace passwords.
It will also enable customers to make one-click payments at checkout using biometric authentication with a thumbprint.
Cards stored in a merchants’ page or electronic wallet via tokenization can be automatically updated wherever they’re stored when they’re replaced or renewed.
Reducing fraud
Mastercard says 100% tokenization across e-commerce sites will reduce fraud rates dramatically.
According to market research firm Juniper Research, losses from online payment fraud are expected to exceed $91 billion by 2028 — totaling more than $362 billion globally over the next five years.
Adoption of tokenization, Mastercard says, has been increasing at a rate of 50% each year and now secures about 25% of all e-commerce transactions globally across its network.
Mastercard said it’s rolling out the change in Europe as the Continent has long been a leader in payments innovations, such as contactless payments and online banking, which allowed banking users to share their accounts’ data to access new financial products.
“In Europe we have seen tokenization gaining momentum across the ecosystem, the convenience and reduced rates of fraud sell themselves,” Valerie Nowak, executive vice president, product and innovation at Mastercard Europe, said in a statement.
“We are confident that reaching this vision by 2030 is a win-win-win for shoppers, retailers and the card issuers alike.”
Future of payments
From the arrival of credit cards for the first time in the 1950s and 1960s, to the shift toward paying for things online that came with the widespread adoption of the internet in the early 2000s, the ways we pay have undergone a few pretty dramatic changes throughout the decades.
In the early days when credit cards were first introduced, bank clerks would check card numbers against a book of invalid numbers or call the issuing bank to check the person making the payment is who they say they are.
So-called zip-zap machines that would imprint card numbers on carbon paper packets were the primary way of paying via credit card at the checkout counter.
That was until the 1970s and 1980s, when magnetic stripes and electronic payment terminals took over.
They were succeeded by cards with microchips that stored data on the card’s owner, number and expiry date.
Mastercard is betting its move toward this new “embedded” payment system will be as dramatic a shift as the move toward chip and PIN, or the adoption of contactless payments, which are now widely used in developed economies across the world.
The company says its technology will make the experience of paying for items online as smooth as making a contactless payment in-store. It says it means that consumers will be able to make payments with one click across any device including smartwatches, home assistants and even cars.
For example, Mastercard has a partnership with Mercedes-Benz that allows the automaker’s customers to use a fingerprint sensor in their car to make digital payments at more than 3,600 service stations across Germany.
Technology
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Chinese bargain retailer Temu changed its business model in the U.S. as the Trump administration’s new rules on low-value shipments took effect Friday.
In recent days, Temu has abruptly shifted its website and app to only display listings for products shipped from U.S.-based warehouses. Items shipped directly from China, which previously blanketed the site, are now labeled as out of stock.
Temu made a name for itself in the U.S. as a destination for ultra-discounted items shipped direct from China, such as $5 sneakers and $1.50 garlic presses. It’s been able to keep prices low because of the so-called de minimis rule, which has allowed items worth $800 or less to enter the country duty-free since 2016.
The loophole expired Friday at 12:01 a.m. EDT as a result of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in April. Trump briefly suspended the de minimis rule in February before reinstating the provision days later as customs officials struggled to process and collect tariffs on a mountain of low-value packages.
The end of de minimis, as well as Trump’s new 145% tariffs on China, has forced Temu to raise prices, suspend its aggressive online advertising push and now alter the selection of goods available to American shoppers to circumvent higher levies.
A Temu spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that all sales in the U.S. are now handled by local sellers and said they are fulfilled “from within the country.” Temu said pricing for U.S. shoppers “remains unchanged.”
“Temu has been actively recruiting U.S. sellers to join the platform,” the spokesperson said. “The move is designed to help local merchants reach more customers and grow their businesses.”
Before the change, shoppers who attempted to purchase Temu products shipped from China were confronted with “import charges” of between 130% and 150%. The fees often cost more than the individual item and more than doubled the price of many orders.
Temu advertises that local products have “no import charges” and “no extra charges upon delivery.”
The company, which is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, has gradually built up its inventory in the U.S. over the past year in anticipation of escalating trade tensions and the removal of de minimis.
Shein, which has also benefited from the loophole, moved to raise prices last week. The fast-fashion retailer added a banner at checkout that says, “Tariffs are included in the price you pay. You’ll never have to pay extra at delivery.”
Many third-party sellers on Amazon rely on Chinese manufacturers to source or assemble their products. The company’s Temu competitor, called Amazon Haul, has relied on de minimis to ship products priced at $20 or less directly from China to the U.S.
Amazon said Tuesday following a dustup with the White House that had it considered showing tariff-related costs on Haul products ahead of the de minimis cutoff but that it has since scrapped those plans.
Prior to Trump’s second term in office, the Biden administration had also looked to curtail the provision. Critics of the de minimis provision argue that it harms American businesses and that it facilitates shipments of fentanyl and other illicit substances because, they say, the packages are less likely to be inspected by customs agents.
— CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge contributed to this report.
WATCH: Trump tariffs mean higher prices, big losses for Amazon sellers
Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, takes the stage during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, Dec. 4, 2024.
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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell up to 25 million shares in the company over the next year, according to a financial filing on Friday.
Bezos, who stepped down as CEO in 2021 but remains Amazon’s top shareholder, is selling the shares as part of a trading plan adopted on March 4, the filing states. The stake would be worth about $4.8 billion at the current price.
The disclosure follows Amazon’s first-quarter earnings report late Thursday. While profit and revenue topped estimates, the company’s forecast for operating income in the current quarter came in below Wall Street’s expectations.
The results show that Amazon is bracing for uncertainty related to President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs. The company landed in the crosshairs of the White House this week over a report that Amazon planned to show shoppers the cost of the tariffs. Trump personally called Bezos to complain, and Amazon clarified that no such change was coming.
Bezos previously offloaded about $13.5 billion worth of Amazon shares last year, marking his first sale of company stock since 2021.
Since handing over the Amazon CEO role to Andy Jassy, Bezos has spent more of his time on his space exploration company, Blue Origin, and his $10 billion climate and biodiversity fund. He’s used Amazon share sales to help fund Blue Origin, as well as the Day One Fund, which he launched in September 2018 to provide education in low-income communities and combat homelessness.
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