Mastercard and Checkout.com Report Record Growth in Tokenization Powering MENA’s Digital Commerce Boom

A new white paper by Mastercard and Checkout.com reveals a massive year-on-year surge in tokenization transactions processed through Mastercard  in the MENA region at 344.9% – emerging as one of the world’s fastest accelerating regions for network tokenization, according to Checkout.com ’s data. This trend is fueled by rapid digital commerce growth and ecosystem commitments, such as one of the region’s largest network tokenization enablement programs, launched last year by the two companies.

The global report, titled ‘Network tokenization: Powering the e-commerce of today and tomorrow’, highlights the importance of tokenization as the foundation for the future of digital commerce.

Key data points

• MENA tokenization adoption recorded as one of the world’s fastest growth at 344.9%
• On average, tokenized transactions result in a 3-6 ppt improvement in approval rates compared to conventional card transactions.
• False declines cost merchants worldwide $443 billion annually, making approval uplift an important driver of increased revenue.
• Checkout.com’s global merchant portfolio saw a 10.3 ppt increase in transaction approval rates, rising to 12.4 ppt in the MENA region, as well as a 49% reduction in fraud-related chargebacks and a 7.2% boost in gross sales revenue.

Tokenization replaces a payment card number with a token, or stand-in number. This protects a consumer account because the merchant never sees or stores the original number, and even if a physical card is lost or stolen, the tokenized version can still be used. This way, tokenization safeguards sensitive data and secures every transaction.

In addition, tokenization enables fast, frictionless checkouts that can deliver enhanced payment experiences to consumers and meaningful financial benefits to merchants. Fewer unnecessary declines reduce transaction retries as well as switching and processing costs, while lower fraud exposure decreases operational and risk management expenses.

“At Mastercard, we’re focused on delivering payment experiences that are both seamless and secure. Tokenization plays a critical role in this, helping reduce false declines, improve approval rates and strengthen protection across every transaction. As adoption accelerates, it’s clear that businesses investing in tokenization today are not only improving performance, but also building the foundation for the next phase of digital commerce,”

– Prakriti Singh, Executive Vice president, Core Payments, EEMEA, Mastercard

Mastercard has been at the forefront of network tokenization for nearly a decade. The company has been driving tokenization across all checkout experiences – whether consumers shop online with a saved card, subscribe to a service with recurring payments or use guest checkout through Click to Pay.