American Express Token Service replaces a card’s primary account number with a payment token for online and mobile commerce. The service includes a token vault, token issuance and provisioning, lifecycle management, and risk management. Tokens follow EMVCo Payment Tokenization specifications and can be limited by retailer, number of uses, lifetime, and other variables. During provisioning, issuers can check whether a card is active, not suspected of fraud, eligible for tokenization, and belongs to the person requesting the token. Lifecycle management can keep tokens current when cards are replaced, reducing manual updates to stored payment details. Listed uses include card-on-file transactions, Click to Pay, digital wallets, virtual cards, browser autofill virtual card numbers, and digital or numberless cards. The service supports payment cards, card-on-file credentials, digital wallets, wearables, Click to Pay, and QR code payments. Availability varies by market and is arranged through an American Express relationship manager. The listing states no deployment or use fees, but enablement and network authorization certification are required for specified transactions.
Who it is for
It is intended for issuers, merchants, acquirers, and service providers seeking tokenization for online and mobile commerce. Issuers and merchants must contact an American Express representative or relationship manager to discuss enablement.
What is good
- Replaces card numbers with restricted payment tokens
- Includes token vault and lifecycle management
- Can keep tokens current after card replacement
- Supports card-on-file, wallets, Click to Pay, and virtual cards
What to know first
- Availability varies by market
- Enablement through an American Express relationship is required
- Network authorization certification is required for wallet and card-on-file transactions
Verdict
American Express Token Service combines token issuance, risk checks, and lifecycle management for several digital payment uses. The listing states no deployment or use fees, but market availability, enablement, and transaction certification requirements matter.
American Express Token Service plans and pricing
All plansCompared on payment tokenization software
- Network tokenization
- Yes
- Token vault hosting
- vendor
- Detokenization API
- Yes
- Payment methods
- payment cards, card-on-file credentials, digital wallets, wearables, Click to Pay, QR code payments
- Deployment model
- cloud
