Card tokenisation

Card tokenisation is the process of replacing a customer's sensitive card details — such as the Primary Account Number (PAN) — with a unique digital token that can be used to process payments without exposing the underlying card data. There are two main types: gateway or PSP tokens, which are issued and managed by a specific payment provider and can only be used within that provider's ecosystem; and network tokens, which are issued by card networks (Visa, Mastercard) and are portable across multiple providers. Network tokenisation is the more flexible option for enterprise businesses managing multi-PSP environments.