Google Pay introduces new features with a focus on transaction security

Google Pay has announced the introduction of new features that focus on improving online transaction security.

New Features in Google Pay

While speaking at Google I/O May 2022 annual developer conference, Google announced that the following features will be available in Google Pay.

Virtual Cards: Chrome and Android have an existing feature where you can securely save your card payment details and they will be auto-filled for future transactions. If you enable virtual card, your card number details used in autofill are replaced with a unique virtual number when filling out checkout forms. This reduces fraud and improves security. This feature will initially be available for users in the US (United States) that use Visa, American Express, and Capital One. MasterCard will also be available before the start of the holiday season (2022). You can enable virtual card through pay.google.com.

Card Verification: Google Pay has introduced Card OTP for additional verification of cards when making payments with Google Pay for the first time. This involves sending an OTP code to your payment statement (a few dollars will be deducted from your account for verification and then reversed immediately). You will be required to login into your bank account, get the OTP code and use it for verification.

API Integration demos: These are open source samples showing how to integrate Google Pay with popular payment service providers (PSPs). Learn more at the Github repository, Google Pay server demos.

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) compliance adjustment: In order to make the work of developers easy in implementing SCA across multiple processors and minimize user friction, Google Pay is leveraging on device binding for Android devices. Users in European Economic Area will bind their payment information to their device and verify their credentials using device PIN or biometrics. More information about SCA.
Google Wallet: This is a digital wallet for Android devices. Unlike Google Pay which focuses on payment cards only, Google Wallet can be used to store loyalty cards, gift cards, event tickets, boarding passes, vaccine cards, driver’s licenses, etc. Google Wallet will also have an API for building generic cards that are not available in the already supported cards.